Miller in form in training

The 30-year-old Gruber took the Canadian course in one minute and 54.27 seconds, edging Italy's Kurt Sulzenbacher by 0.01 seconds and Switzerland's Didier Cuche by 0.02 seconds.

Miller, last year's world number three, was a quarter of a second behind Gruber.

The Austrian won the Garmisch-Partenkirchen super-G twice last season, but has never won a World Cup downhill, his best finish coming with a second-place at Wengen two seasons ago.

The American Miller, World Cup champion two seasons ago, is trying to recover from a disappointing Olympic year in which he failed to medal in Turin and lost his Crystal Globe to Austria's Benjamin Raich.

Though Miller failed to finish in a mediocre first race of the season two weeks ago at Levi's slalom, US men's coach Phil McNichol is confident that his star pupil can return to top form.

"He's had a great summer, he's rediscovered some motivation. He's more in tune with his sport, the sportsman in him. He's more fit than I've seen him in many years, he's training harder on snow," McNichol said.

The men return to the slopes on Thursday for a second training, and Friday for a final training before this weekend's opening speed events.