ARE, Sweden (AP) – Aksel Lund Svindal became the first Norwegian to win the downhill gold medal at the world championships.

Jan Hudec of Canada captured the silver medal Sunday, and 37-year-old Patrik Jaerbyn of Sweden took the bronze to become the oldest skier to medal at the worlds. Defending champion Bode Miller was unable to hold an early lead and finished seventh.

Svindal, who won the downhill at Are at the World Cup finals last season, hurtled down the Olympia course in 1 minute, 44.68 seconds for his first major championship title.

It was the best downhill result by a Norwegian man at the Olympics or world championships. Helen Marken won the women’s Olympic downhill at Nagano, Japan, in 1998.

Miller was leading by 0.01 seconds at the top split but went through fog that briefly shrouded part of the course and nearly fell.

“There are four or five guys that can win on this course and he’s one of them,” Miller said of Svindal. “Today if you didn’t have a pretty clear course, you couldn’t ski aggressively.”

Hudec, who finished in 1:45.40, had never finished in the top three of a World Cup race. It was also the best downhill result at a worlds for Canada.

‘s men. The best result by a Canadian man in the downhill at the worlds was Steve Podborski’s third-place finish at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, which also counted as world championships.

Hudec – who was born in Czechoslovakia but left with his parents when he was only 10 months old – has had three knee operations in the past three seasons.

“This is basically my first full season on the World Cup tour,” Hudec said.

Jaerbyn won the bronze in 1:45.65 and also gave Sweden its first top-three finish in the downhill at a world championship. Sweden’s previous best result at worlds in downhill was from Pernilla Wiberg, who took the bronze in 1997.

“This is so big for me,” Jaerbyn said. He has never won a World Cup race but took a silver in the super-G at the worlds in 1996.

Previously, the oldest man to medal at worlds was Switzerland’s Bruno Kernen who was 34 when he finished third in the super-G on Tuesday.

It marked the first time since 1997 at Sestriere that an Austrian man had not been among the top three in the downhill at the worlds. The best Austrian result was eighth by Mario Scheiber.

France’s Antoine Deneriaz, the surprise downhill winner at the Olympics last season, finished 33rd.

“I’m so slow. I wasn’t very fluid. I was expecting to be at least near the others,” Deneriaz said. “I really thought I could re-create another big surprise.”

The start of the race was delayed 15 minutes because of fog and it was interrupted after 11 racers because of more fog.