Switzerland's Didier Defago speeds down the course during training for the men's downhill, at the Alpine skiing world championships in Schladming, Austria, Thursday, Feb.7, 2013. (AP Photo/Alessandro Trovati)
February 08, 2013 - 6:33 AM
SCHLADMING, Austria - France's Brice Roger led the shortened second training session for the men's downhill at the skiing world championships on Friday.
Roger clocked 1 minute, 37.70 seconds on the Planai course, which was hard and icy after the temperature fell overnight.
Andrej Sporn of Slovenia finished second, 0.33 behind, and Marco Sullivan of the United States was third, 0.48 back.
Andrew Weibrecht, another American, was fourth, 0.53 behind.
Racers did not ski the final 25 seconds of the course — the most technically demanding section — because it was being prepared for the women's super-combined.
Instead, there will be a shortened training run on the bottom early Saturday before the race a few hours later.
Roger has a career-best finish of 10th in the Val Gardena, Italy, classic downhill in December.
News from © The Associated Press, 2013