Daron Rahlves gets first World Cup super G victory in Kitzbuehel

Daron Rahlves gets first World Cup super G victory in KitzbuehelDaron Rahlves of Truckee, California roared to his first World Cup super G win on Friday, edging out favorite Hermann Maier by a fraction of a second to end the Austrian’s stranglehold on the Kitzbuehel super G.

“Today at the start I kind of just kind of walked off in the sun and closed my eyes and took a little moment with the sun beating down,” said Rahlves. “That’s how it is back home in Tahoe.”

Brimming with confidence after finishing third in Thursday’s downhill, the 30-year-old Rahlves ripped a nearly flawless run down the sun-drenched Streifalm course for a winning time of 1:23.08, picking up the sixth World Cup win of his career.

Rahlves didn’t think his time would stand up to the efforts of the higher-ranked skiers starting after him. That’s what he said to an interviewer who was broadcasting the video interview to 15,000 fans over the resort loudspeakers and giant movie screens. When his teammate Bode Miller heard Rahlves’s words, Miller ran to his side and told him otherwise.

“He was nervous, thinking they were going to beat him,” said Miller. “And I was telling him I didn’t think they were. He just looks so fast to me. His skis are going the whole time. He kind of chunked a few turns, but he just didn’t lose any speed. I told him that. He believes me. I’m a pretty good judge of things like that.”

Maier, starting 11 places after Rahlves and egged on by thousands of spectators, looked ready for a victory with a faster intermediate time but made a mistake halfway down to end a tantalizing three hundredths of a second behind. Michael Walchhoffer wrapped up a successful day for the host nation by charging into third place, 0.38 seconds off the pace. Teammate Andreas Schifferer (1:23.52) was fourth.

“I knew I had the speed and I got a little bit of luck as well,” said a delighted Rahlves, who also won the super G at the 2001 world championships in St. Anton, Austria. “It’s an unbelievable feeling, I love the atmosphere in this place. Today was amazing, yesterday was great, I’m ready to rock!”

A disappointed and quiet crowd left the finish not long after the top 30 finished their runs. A hush fell over the crowd after Stephan Eberharter, the last top-ranked skier, failed to top the time set down by Rahlves.

As Rahlves arrived in the press room, Maier and Walchhoffer were finishing up their conferences. Just as Rahlves entered, Maier said that last season´s downhill was “not a real downhill.” When asked for his reply 10 minutes later, Rahlves said “I’ve been asked that question a lot of times, and I don’t care what any of these other guys say. I’ll just make him eat his words tomorrow.”

Bode Miller, in 28th, was the only other American to score. He was hard on his edges, and said that his skis never “broke,” meaning that either the wax or the grind wasn´t right. Miller was happy nonetheless, saying that he knew his teammate had won when he watched the run on the video screen near the start house.

Jakub Fiala was 33rd and Thomas Vonn 49th. Bryon Friedman and Wade Bishop were DNF’s.

Friedman got a concussion in his fall, but was in good spirits, if spacey. “My first concussion,” he said. “Now I know how [Scott] Macartney felt.”

Friedman had a small scrape on his nose, and a serious case of “shin-bang” — the bruises that come from wrenching one’s ankles within stiff ski boots. The Park City native, has broken out on the World Cup this year, won’t start again until Garmisch-Partenkirchen next week. Team doctors reported that he has a “one to two degree concussion,” and won’t be able to race for the remainder of the Kitzbuehel weekend.

Rahlves was also on the podium in Thursday’s downhill and will be among the favorites when the men take on the Streif again Saturday in the Hahnenkamm downhill. A slalom on Sunday will be added to the downhill results for the season’s second combined.

Norway’s Lasse Kjus held on to his overall lead in the World Cup standings after finishing fifth.

Rahlves said that tonight he’ll celebrate his second win of the season — he also took the downhill last month in Beaver Creek, Colorado — but will conserve most of his energy for the next day´s race.

The night before his win, Rahlves appeared at an Atomic function, speaking with reporters and posing for photographers alongside other Atomic-sponsored downhillers. Afterwards, he and Miller dined with donors of the U.S. Ski Team.

“It’s hard to do what he just did today,” said the American team’s CEO, Bill Marolt. “I think that a little over a year ago he figured out what it takes for him to be ready physically and mentally, and on top of that, I think he really likes it here…He loves the history and the tradition. It just gives him a little bit of extra motivation.”

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Super G

Kitzbuehel, Austria

January 23, 2004

1. Daron Rahlves (U.S.) 1:23.08

2. Hermann Maier (Austria) 1:23.11

3. Michael Walchhofer (Austria) 1:23.47

4. Andreas Schifferer (Austria) 1:23.52

5. Lasse Kjus (Norway) 1:23.61

6. Hannes Trinkl (Austria) 1:23.72

7. Ambrosi Hoffmann (Switzerland) 1:23.77

8. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 1:23.83

9. Stephan Eberharter (Austria) 1:24.09

10. Paul Accola (Switzerland) 1:24.11

11. Patrik Jaerbyn (Sweden) 1:24.25

12. Stephan Goergl (Austria) 1:24.28

13. Tobias Gruenenfelder (Switzerland)1:24.29

14. Marco Buechel (Liechtenstein) 1:24.30

15. Hans Knauss (Austria) 1:24.32

16= Arnold Rieder (Italy) 1:24.41

16= Michael Gufler (Italy) 1:24.41

18. Bjarne Solbakken (Norway) 1:24.44

19. Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) 1:24.45

20. Peter Fill (Italy) 1:24.46

21. Fritz Strobl (Austria) 1:24.49

22. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:24.53

23. Didier Defago (Switzerland) 1:24.56

24. Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin (France) 1:24.57

25. Christoph Gruber (Austria) 1:24.60

26. Bruno Kernen (Switzerland) 1:24.77

27. Johann Grugger (Austria)1:24.78

28. Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:24.86

29. Vincent Lavoie (Canada) 1:24.94

30. Alessandro Fattori (Italy) 1:24.97

Other North Americans:

33. Jakub Fiala, USA 1:25.12

36. David Anderson, CAN 1:25.40

43. Jeff Hume, CAN 1:26.00

49. Thomas Vonn, USA 1:26.83

DNF: Wade Bishop, Bryon Friedman, USA.

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Super G

Kitzbuehel, Austria, January 23, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Rahlves, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

2 Maier, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

3 Walchhofer, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

4 Schifferer, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

5 Kjus, Dynastar/Atomic/Look

6 Trinkl, Head/Lange/Tyrolia

7 Hoffmann, Stoeckli/Atomic/Atomic

8 Cuche, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

9 Eberharter, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

10 Accola, Stoeckli/Lange/Atomic

The 20th of 38 scheduled men’s races, and the fourth of seven super G’s. It’s the 13th win of the season for Atomic. … A close race with the top eight in the same second. … Win is by 0.03. … Daron Rahlves gets his sixth career win and first in super G; all others in DH. (He did win the 2001 world championship super G at St. Anton). … It’s his second win at Kitzbuehel (also won DH 1/25/03), and second win of the season (Beaver Creek DH 12/5/03). … It is the 137th World Cup win for the U.S.

Rahlves moves into a tie with Kristina Koznick and Cindy Nelson for sixth on the all-time U.S. win list. … It is the fourth World Cup SG win by an American and the first since 1994 when both Diann Roffe-Steinrotter and Tommy Moe won SG’s. … It is the fourth U.S. win at Kitzbuehel, including Phil Mahre’s two combined wins. … It is the fifth win of the season for the U.S., all by Rahlves or Miller. … The U.S. has not had more than five wins i
n a season since 1984.

The 75th career podium for Hermann Maier and fifth this season. … It’s the 26th SG podium of Maier’s career; he’s been on the podium in every SG this season. … The 15th career podium for Michael Walchhofer, fifth this season, and second in SG (both this season).

It is the 11th scoring finish of the season for Bode Miller and the fourth for Vincent Lavoie.

Men’s overall standings are very close. Lasse Kjus maintains the overall World Cup lead 740-698 over Benjamin Raich. … Maier is third at 685, Eberharter fourth at 567 and Walchhofer fifth at 565. Miller leads the U.S. in sixth at 536. … Rahlves is ninth at 476. … Maier leads the super G standings 320-230 over Kjus, with Rahlves third at 198. … With 11 scoring finishers and four of the top six, Austria extends its runaway overall Nations Cup lead to 9781-2752 over Italy. … U.S. is third at 2715. … Austria leads the men’s standings 5836-1684 for Italy. … U.S. is fourth at 1280.