Alpine skier Cuche adds another chapter to his legend

Fuelled by the season-opening speed races, the World Cup tour heads to Colorado with a little-known Frenchman raising eyebrows and a Swiss veteran already reproducing his sparkling form. Reigning World Cup downhill and super-G champion Didier Cuche continues to defy his age by capturing the FIS World Cup season opening downhill in Lake Louise. He followed that up with a second place in Sunday's super-G, giving the Swiss early season bragging rights over rival Austrian racers. "Tired? Maybe when I cross the finish line or don't have enough sleep," said the 37-year-old Cuche. Nipping at his heels all weekend was French racer Adrien Theaux who dominated the training runs and had two top ten race finishes, placing third in the super-G and sixth in Saturday's downhill. "I am very happy. I had two good training runs, a good downhill and third place in super-G so it is very, very good," Theaux said. "It is not my preferred slope but I did some good things." Not showing his age at all, Cuche became the oldest man to win an World Cup alpine race by claiming Saturday's downhill at age 37 years, four months. He finds questions about still winning races amusing and jokes about how the young bucks on the tour are going to have to get used to it. "Maybe the mirror reminds me in the morning that I am not the youngest one," Cuche said. "Hopefully they are not mad about me because I am still here and fighting for the victory." The Swiss speed specialist says the secret to his success in the second phase of his career, is a rigid training programme that begins in the summer and continues throughout the 45-race World Cup season. "Everybody has to do the heavy work in the summer but when you have the success in the first race you start to feel more confident," Cuche said. "You don't have to struggle too much thinking about how to go faster and how to get to first place." Cuche, who suffered a bad head injury in the weeks leading up to the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, is outrunning father time and putting any thoughts of retirement on hold. "In spring I was thinking about the future and so I knew I had to work really hard to stay at the same level," Cuche said. "I did that work and I can tell you it was not really fun every day. "As you get older it gets harder to stay on the same fitness level but it worked pretty well. I am going to go season by season." Canada's Erik Guay says it is amazing what Cuche has been able to accomplish after turning 35. The road to victory this year is through Cuche, Guay said. "He was the master of the speed events last year and it looks like that?s not going to change this year. He?s going to be strong and consistent. If you want to win speed races, you?re going to have to beat Didier," Guay said. Cuche has four downhill Crystal Globes and one more would tie him for the most in history with the iconic Austrian Franz Klammer. But Cuche said he can't afford to think about catching Klammer or look too far into the future. "I don't even know what is going to happen tomorrow," he said. Not as well known, but also impressive was 27-year-old Theaux, who capped his week in Lake Louise by reaching the podium in super-G. Last season, Theaux won his first downhill in Lenzerheide and posted the first three podium finishes of his career. Theaux says he is excited about next week's races in Beaver Creek, Colorado and will be trying to build on his success in Lake Louise. "It was soft snow here so now we will see how it goes on the hard snow," Theaux said. "I like Beaver Creek because it is more steep and there are many jumps." Theaux is hoping that 2011-12 will be a breakthrough season but he is not making any bold predictions. "I hope I can do it," said Theaux who finished second in the Beaver Creek super-G last year. "It would be a good thing for me and the team. Right now we are both on a good line."