VAL D'ISERE, France — John Kucera of Canada won the downhill at the world championships on Saturday, while Bode Miller finished eighth in foggy conditions.

The 24-year-old Kucera clocked 2 minutes, 7.01 seconds Saturday down the steep and icy Face de Bellevarde course. Didier Cuche of Switzerland was 0.04 behind and Carlo Janka of Switzerland was third.

"It was the race of my life," said Kucera, who became the first Canadian men's downhill world champion.

Kucera had to wait an hour for official results after Michael Walchhofer of Austria was allowed a second chance to race. Walchhofer was mistakenly allowed to run despite the call for a fog delay.

Walchhofer, who was 1.84 seconds behind Kucera after the first run, finished ninth.

"It was a long wait," Kucera said. "I was definitely nervous when Walchhofer came down the second time. To get my first downhill podium in a World Championship is unbelievable."

Kucera's previous best downhill finish was seventh in November 2007 at Lake Louise, Canada.

Early racers were clocking 82 mph on the fastest upper sections of the 1.86-mile course, which was used for the 1992 Albertville Olympics. However, by the time Miller went at No. 19, the American was shrouded in mist at the top half.

Miller was followed in poor light by fellow former world champions Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway and Walchhofer. None could come close to challenging Kucera's time. But Walchhofer was granted his second chance after it was determined he raced in error.

Miller, who races independently of the official U.S. Ski team, didn't protest to race again.

"Team America does not file protests," said Miller, who trailed the winner by 1.37. "I don't really care. I wouldn't want to run this thing again. It's just too demanding."

U.S. men's head coach Sasha Rearick said he talked with the race jury about getting Miller a second chance.

"There's nothing I could do," Rearick said. "Walchhofer got to go again because he got mixed signals. Bode had the worst light of anybody, him and Svindal. They both could have stopped and asked for a rerun."

Kucera raced second, competing under clear skies and good light after a forecast had predicted a blanket of cloud and poor visibility. However, patches of fog soon began rolling in.

Kucera's win comes a year before the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

"This is huge for us going into the Olympics," said Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis. "Especially for John who has been struggling in giant slalom. There were some questions about the weather but some of the later guys had good weather, including Cuche."

Austrian great Hermann Maier finished sixth after being first to run, paving the way for Kucera.

"John skied almost the same line as me," Maier said. "Maybe that is why he won today. On top, the snow was pretty fast."

Didier Defago of Switzerland had trouble making a tight right-hand turn halfway down and lost control in trying to squeeze inside a gate. He crashed and slid face-first into the fence but got up and seemed unhurt.

Canada's Jan Hudec — defending the downhill silver medal he won two years ago — also crashed out after his left ski went away from him at a turn near the finish. He slid for 50 yards with his skis still attached before being stopped by the fences. He took some time to get up but skied down to the finish area.

Kucera's other Canadian teammates were among 10 racers who failed to finish. Erik Guay fell near the same spot as Hudec and Osborne-Paradis skied out after missing a gate at the halfway point.

After Marco Buechel finished fourth, the 37-year-old from Liechtenstein announced it would be his final world championships.