At Val d’Isere, France, Michael Mair scored...

At Val d’Isere, France, Michael Mair scored his first victory in a World Cup downhill to provide Italy with its first downhill win in more than five years. The last Italian skier to win a World Cup downhill was Herbert Plank in 1980 at Lake Louise, Canada.

Mair, 23, who won a World Cup super giant slalom three years ago in Italy, had a time of 2 minutes 1.32 seconds. Defending World Cup champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg finished 0.34 seconds behind Mair. Austrian Peter Wirnsberger was third in 2:01.99, and Switzerland’s Peter Mueller was fourth in 2:02.15.

Doug Lewis, the 1985 World Championship bronze medalist from Salisbury, Vt., had the fastest time in the final practice session but finished 19th at 2:03.31. American 1984 Olympic champion Bill Johnson was 49th.