Cameron Alexander ended an eight-year Canadian wait for a menB次元官网网址檚 World Cup downhill win on Friday, sharing victory with Swiss rival Niels Hintermann after the pair upset the top contenders for the season title.

Alexander, a late starter with bib No. 39, matched HintermannB次元官网网址檚 time of 1 minute, 44.42 seconds. The sunny conditions on the Olympiabakken course allowed several lower-ranked skiers to post top-10 results.

No Canadian had won a World Cup race in the sportB次元官网网址檚 fastest discipline since Erik Guay, the 2011 world downhill champion, triumphed on the same course in Norway in 2014.

B次元官网网址淭o win in the same place that somebody like Erik has B次元官网网址� to be at the same level as he was at the same race, is crazy, phenomenal,B次元官网网址� said Alexander, a native of North Vancouver, B.C., who called now-retired Guay one of his idols. B次元官网网址淗e has obviously shown greatness throughout his career in this sport and he is someone I looked up to coming up as a ski racer.B次元官网网址�

CameronB次元官网网址檚 run came more than half an hour after Hintermann became the first to beat the leading downhill racers.

Hintermann started 17th, after most pre-race favorites had done their runs, edging then-leader Matthias Mayer of Austria by 0.12 seconds for his second career victory.

Olympic downhill champion Beat Feuz, a teammate of HintermannB次元官网网址檚, was 0.19 behind in fourth, and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde was one-hundredth further back in fifth.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 amazing. He did extremely extraordinary well,B次元官网网址� Hintermann said after Alexander posted the same time.

AlexanderB次元官网网址檚 result meant that Kilde stayed at the top of the downhill season standings. With another downhill on Saturday and the season-ending event in France the only races remaining, the former overall champion from Norway leads Feuz by three points. Mayer trails by 28 in third.

Kilde remained the only racer to win multiple World Cup downhills this season. He has not won a downhill season title before. Feuz won the globe in each of the past four seasons.

When many believed the race was over, Alexander used his knowledge of the course to stage the upset.

After failing to make the Canadian team for last monthB次元官网网址檚 Beijing Olympics, Alexander went to Kvitfjell to compete in three speed races on the second-tier European Cup circuit B次元官网网址� and with success. He won a downhill, finished fifth in another and placed second in a super-G.

B次元官网网址淚 just tried to give it everything I had,B次元官网网址� Alexander said about FridayB次元官网网址檚 race. B次元官网网址淚 knew I had speed here, so all I had to do was go out there and try to let it go.B次元官网网址�

His only previous top-10 result in the World Cup came on the same course in Norway, when he finished 10th in the downhill two years ago.

HintermannB次元官网网址檚 win followed downhill podiums in Italy in December, when he finished third in Val Gardena and Bormio in the span of 10 days, his only previous top-three results in the discipline.

B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a childhood dream to win a downhill race. Even with my two podiums it still feels a kind of unreal because everything needs to be together on a day like this,B次元官网网址� said Hintermann, who revealed he has a love-hate relationship with the course.

B次元官网网址淚 had two of my worse injuries here, but I kept on liking the track, but the track didnB次元官网网址檛 like me, yet,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淏ut today we kind of liked each other.B次元官网网址�

FridayB次元官网网址檚 win came more than five years after his first, when he stunned the field at a combined event in Wengen. Hintermann led the decisive downhill portion when heavy snowfall set in and robbed the favorites from any chance to beat his time.

FridayB次元官网网址檚 race replaced the downhill that was canceled in Lake Louise, Alberta, in early December.

B次元官网网址擳he Associated Press