Beat Feuz wins Sochi men's downhill

Beat Feuz of Switzerland celebrated his birthday Saturday with a win at the men's World Cup downhill in Sochi, Russia. Feuz, now 25, turned in a time of 2 minutes, 14.10 seconds, topping second-place Benjamin Thomsen of Canada and Frenchman Adrien Theaux. It was the first career podium for Thomsen. American Bode Miller took fourth place in 2:14.71. The race was the first World Cup downhill ever held in Russia and drew President Dmitry Medvedev to the grandstands. It was also a preview of the 2014 Olympics, which will be held in Sochi. Miller said afterward that while Saturday's course was well laid-out, he did not think it was optimal for an Olympics. "The Olympic downhill has to be the real thing and when you have such a great venue as this, it would be awesome to showcase it, but this is way too turny for a downhill," he said. "The setup of this hill is good, the jumps are awesome … but they have good landings and straight take-offs, so it sets up for a great natural downhill," Miller added.