Bode Miller takes first win of season

BORMIO, Italy (Reuters) - American Bode Miller blew away the field to claim his first World Cup win of the season in Saturday's men's downhill, according to provisional results.

The 30-year-old, skiing as an independent racer after parting company with the U.S. team, finished an impeccable run on the demanding Stelvio course, where he won downhill and super-G gold in the 2005 world championships, with a time of two minutes 0.57 seconds.

Austria's Andreas Buder came down 0.45 seconds behind the American, who clinched his fifth career win in this discipline.

Canada's Jan Hudec, who triumphed in the opening downhill of the season at Lake Louise in November, completed the podium with a time of 2:01.11.

(Writing by Paul Virgo in Rome, Editing by Clare Fallon)