Fritz Strobl wins Birds of Prey training run; American women in Lake Louise

Fritz Strobl wins Birds of Prey training run; American women in Lake LouiseFritz Strobl of Austria won the training run for the Birds of Prey downhill today in Beaver Creek, Colorado, but American all-rounder Bode Miller was winning at nearly every split before he threw them sideways just before the finish, dumping time to leave his competitors guessing as to whether he can continue his historic winning streak.

“He’s good again,” said Austria’s head coach Toni Giger, when asked about Strobl’s recent eye injury. “He was in Vail yesterday, and an eye specialist saw him.”

Women in Lake Louise for speed series
The women’s alpine World Cup is in Lake Louise this week, and the American women have finished solidly in the two training runs there.

On Tuesday, Brigette Obermoser of Austria won. Two Canadians, Emily Brydon and Melanie Turgeon, finished sixth and seventh, and the top American was Bryna McCarty, 1.44 seconds off the pace.

In Wednesday’s training run, four American women finished within 0.05 seconds of each other: Caroline Lalive and Lindsey Kildow tied for 11th, while Stacey Cook and McCarty were 13th and 14th. Cook is keeping an online journal, called”Cookie’s Corner,” at this website all winter.