Craig Branch has crashed out of the Wengen downhill overnight, but escaped injury in one of the most famous races on the circuit.

Skiing from bib number 42, Branch went out halfway down the course, but will be fit to tackle the mighty Kitzbuhel downhill next weekend.

“It happened . . . in one of the tougher sections, a long left footed turn know as Canadian Corner,” the NSWIS scholarship athlete said.

“You come off a small jump and as soon as you land you are straight onto the left foot hard. It takes you down into a compression and around a long, bumpy turn that is off-camber, so you really need to be balanced on the ski.”

“I landed off the jump coming in on a fairly straight and aggressive line. I knew I really had to put the hammer down so I laid the ski over coming into the compression. I was leaning a little far inside and as I came into the compression my inside had caught in the snow, totally twisting my upper body around and causing me too fall on my inside hip.”

“I slid and bounced down towards the nets, coming to a stop just before hitting them. I tried to keep my feet up off the snow through the whole slide. When they dig in hard it’s one of the most common ways to blow out a knee! All was ok and my knee feels fine.”

“Off to Austria tomorrow to start the first training run at the famous Kitzbuehl downhill. From all reports I hear they have iced the hell out of the hill so it’s going to be as gnarly as ever. Time to bring some intensity to it!”

The event was won in a superb performance by US champion Bode Miller, his second consecutive victory on the Lauberhorn course.

Miller covered the 4.5km distance in a time of two minutes 30.40 seconds, more than half a second faster than Swiss defending World Cup champion Didier Cuche and a massive 1.33 seconds ahead of bronze medallist Manuel Osborne-Paradis of Canada.

Cuche leads the World Cup standings on 284 points, just one point clear of Miller, with 2005 and 2006 World Cup downhill champion Michael Walchhofer of Austria another three points further back in third place.

The Kitzbuhel event is scheduled for January 18.