Kristian Ghedina came sixth in the Italian downhill championships Wednesday in a one-off 'comeback' event three years after he quit the sport.
''I made a couple of mistakes that prevented me from scoring a shock win,'' joked Ghedina, 39.
''I'm an old man now, I had to ski rigid, I'm not used to competing any more,'' said the downhill great, who came in 0.79 seconds behind winner Stefan Thanei.
Thanei, 27, who beat Italy's current top downhiller Peter Fill into second to claim his second crown after 2005, said: ''Knowing Ghedina was there spurred me on''.
''I knew Kristian wasn't coming just to make up the numbers. He's someone who cares about winning and, in spite of his age, he showed he hasn't lost it''.
Ghedina left his newfound love of car racing for the special comeback, where he said he was ''looking for a result''.
The exuberant former crowd favourite of the 'White Circus' was aiming to upset the likes of Fill, 26, who became the first Italian since Ghedina to win a downhill, at Lake Louise last November.
Ghedina hung up his skis in April 2006 after 13 wins in 15 seasons, becoming a professional race driver for BMW in the Italian Superturismo Championship as well as for Lola in the F3000 International Masters.
Despite his age, in the latter stage of his career the freewheeling Italian twice thrilled the fans at Kitzbuehel in Austria, cradle of downhill skiing, by doing the flying splits on the legendary Streif's last breakneck jump.
He is the only skier ever to perform a spread eagle on the famous course - to gasps of ''Total verrueckt'' (''Completely mad'') from the Kitzbuehel faithful.
The daredevil from the famed Dolomites resort of Cortina di Ampezzo is the only Italian to have won at Kitzbuehel, in 1998.
In his career, Ghedina picked up two World Championship silver medals, one in the downhill and one in the combined event, as well as a downhill bronze.
Aside from his 13 World Cup wins - 12 in downhill and one in SuperG - Ghedina holds the record for World Cup downhills completed, 169, and became the oldest podium placer in 2005 - a distinction of which Sweden's Frederik Nyberg stripped the following year.
Ghedina also holds the record of four wins on Val Gardena's famous Saslong run - an achievement he shares with Austrian legend Franz Klammer.
He would have had a fifth but for a close encounter with a roebuck.
