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The last World Cup event of the 2010 took place earlier this week with Michael Walchhofer becoming the first skier of the season to win three downhill races.
Bormio's Stelvio piste made for an exciting race with the top three separated by less than half a second. Austrian Walchhofer took the win by 0.08 seconds from second placed Swiss skier Silvan Zurbriggen, who in turn was 0.28 seconds ahead of third placed local favourite Christof Innerhofer.
Walchhofer resorted his lead in the downhill World Cup with the win, but Zurbriggen holds onto the overall World Cup number one spot.
Walchhofer, who is due to retire at the end of the season, said: "I was not too confident at the start. I did not feel so good in training so I told myself 'This is your last time here, just enjoy it while it lasts'. It was the key to my victory... Now I can say goodbye Stelvio, I really had fun here. I missed a similar treble in Val Gardena so this is great revenge."
Zurbriggen said: "It's unexpected again as I only decided to come here at the last minute... The conditions helped me because the snow was very icy and hard which favoured my technical style."
The next men's World Cup fixture is a parallel slalom in Munich on Sunday, featuring the top 15 in the overall standings.
Written by Charlie Hamilton-Beaufort