Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal reacts after his run of the men's downhill at the Alpine skiing world championships in Schladming, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. United States' Andrew Weibrecht has is face covered with snow after falling at the men's downhill at the Alpine skiing world championships in Schladming, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal is airborne as he speeds down the course during the men's downhill, at the Alpine skiing world championships in Schladming, Austria, Saturday, Feb.9, 2013. United States' Andrew Weibrecht takes a jump during the men's downhill, at the Alpine skiing world championships in Schladming, Austria, Saturday, Feb.9, 2013. Norway's gold medal winner Aksel Lund Svindal receives flowers by Austrian President Heiny Fischer, right, after the men's downhill at the Alpine skiing world championships in Schladming, Austria, Saturday, Feb. 9, 2013. Watched by thousands of spectators, Svindal kept a near-perfect line down the icy and bumpy course despite foggy conditions that caused problems for several skiers. The Norwegian finished in 2 minutes, 1.32 seconds to win by nearly half a second. "I knew I could not have skied better here," said Svindal, who raised both arms in the air and shouted out in celebration after his run. Svindal added to his 2007 world downhill title, earning his fifth world title overall. His father Bjoern Svindal was among the first to congratulate the champion in the finish area. "I knew from the start that he was going to do something special," he said. He was very focused. I expected a medal as he had already done well in the super-G. Defending champion Erik Guay of Canada failed to finish, narrowly avoiding a crash and missing a gate. With 2005 champion Bode Miller sitting out the season to recover from knee surgery, the Americans failed to make an impact. Less than 2 hours before the start of the race, Andrew Weibrecht posted the fastest time in an additional 50-second training run on the difficult, turning bottom part of the course. But the American only managed 22nd in the race, 3.25 seconds behind Svindal. It's definitely one of the rougher courses we ski. The bumps were frozen up," Weibrecht said. There was flat light, it was overcast, so you were kind of going into stuff and you can't see it. Marco Sullivan slid off course when his left ski lost contact with the snow in a right turn. He landed in the safety nets and wasn't injured. "I am not really sure what happened," Sullivan said. My ski got clicked out. The next thing was I saw the fence coming. Svindal earned a bronze in Wednesday's super-G, a discipline he has dominated on the World Cup this season. He said it gave him extra motivation for the downhill. Svindal has now won 11 medals at major championship, still nine short of the all-time record held by fellow Norwegian Kjetil Andre Aamodt, who watched the race from the stands. "I tried to go for a medal, but I didn't think I could do it," Paris said. Walchhofer's silver medal at the 2006 Turin Olympics downhill remains the last speed medal for Austria. "I am very disappointed," said Kroell, last season's World Cup downhill champion who grew up in a nearby village.