Rahlves captures downhill at Finals; Maier, Miller and Raich all miss the points

Rahlves captures downhill at Finals; Maier, Miller and Raich all miss the pointsAmerican Daron Rahlves won the final World Cup men’s downhill of the season on Wednesday with a time of 1:51.88. Rahlves passed Hermann Maier in the downhill standings to finish the season in second place in that discipline.

The plot thickened in the battle for the overall World Cup title. Three of the four athletes in contention failed to score points. Hermann Maier, Bode Miller and Benjamin Raich each finished outside of the top 15, which, because of the reduced size of the field, is the cut-off for point-scoring at World Cup Finals. The other athlete with a shot at the sport’s biggest trophy, Stephan Eberharter of Austria, finished third.

Maier finished in 18th place, 2.08 seconds off Rahlves’s time. He said that his skis were not prepared right for the snow, which was extremely cold, with densely-packed, angular crystals.

The results allowed Austrian Stephan Eberharter, who had already wrapped up the downhill title for the season, to close the gap on Maier in the overall standings. His third place finish took him to within 22 points of Maier with Miller third in the standings, 45 points further back.

Another Austrian, Fritz Strobl, took second place in the downhill, 0.10 seconds behind the impressive Rahlves. Switzerland’s Ambrosi Hoffmann was fourth ahead of Austria’s Michael Walchhofer. Strobl, who has won several training runs this year, said he will do everything he can to return to Sestriere in two years and defend his Olympic downhill title. “But on our team it can be very difficult,” he said. “We never know if we will for sure be on the team, even after we win a race.”

Maier was bitterly disappointed with his result, which meant he had to settle for third place in the downhill standings.

“It seems I took the wrong skis and I couldn’t hold on to the track. It is very frustrating. I was not sure of getting a good result here but to not even get points is very disappointing. It makes things difficult for me now,” he said.

Maier’s misfortune means Eberharter, who won the overall Cup last season, now has a real chance of retaining his title but he was disappointed that a late error cost him top spot in the race.

“I was flying down the mountain today and so it was a shame that I made a mistake near the end,” said the 34-year-old, who hinted again that he may be considering retirement.

“This may have been my last downhill, who knows? So it would have been nice to win. My aim at the start of the season was to win my third downhill title and since January the season has been fantastic. Whatever happens in the overall, we will see tomorrow,” he said referring to Thursday’s super G.

Later, in the post-race press conference, Eberharter said that he would decide this summer whether he will race or not, but at the moment the chances are “50-50.”

Rahlves, who watched nervously as Eberharter powered down last but lost time in the latter stages, was delighted with his second downhill win of what has been an excellent season.

“It’s not such a tough course here but you really have to work hard all the time and that makes it a good course for me,” said Rahlves, 30. “This has been an awesome season for me with two super G and two downhill wins but at the end of next season I want to be where Eberharter is, on top of the downhill podium.”

The night before the race, Rahlves was spurred on by Libby Ludlow, his teammate from the U.S. Ski Team. During a workout, she suggested that the glider’s course didn’t suit his specific abilities. “That’s all the motivation I needed,” said Rahlves.

Rahlves, who finishes second in the season’s downhill standings, won a downhill at Beaver Creek and claimed super G victories in Kitzbuehel and last week in Kvitfjell.

Before leaving the finish area, Miller answered the media’s questions. An interviewer from ORF, the Austrian television station with the biggest World Cup presence, asked who he predicted would win the World Cup overall title. Miller didn’t hide how frustrated he is with that question, which he answers repeatedly.

“If [Maier] wins tomorrow, then I have to win the giant slalom and the slalom,” he said. “And he has to not score points in the slalom. And Eberharter can’t score points in the giant slalom. And Raich can’t win both. And I can’t crash in any. How many scenarios do you want to go through before you say, why can’t we just wait and see?”

Alpine World Cup Finals

Men’s Downhill

Sestriere, Italy

March 10, 2004

1. Daron Rahlves (U.S.) 1:51.88

2. Fritz Strobl (Austria) 1:51.98

3. Stephan Eberharter (Austria) 1:52.01

4. Ambrosi Hoffmann (Switzerland) 1:52.06

5. Michael Walchhofer (Austria) 1:52.12

6. Alessandro Fattori (Italy) 1:52.62

7. Bruno Kernen (Switzerland) 1:52.84

8. Antoine Deneriaz (France) 1:52.85

9. Bjarne Solbakken (Norway) 1:52.99

10. Klaus Kroell (Austria) 1:53.06

11. Andreas Schifferer (Austria) 1:53.14

12. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 1:53.17

13. Christoph Gruber (Austria) 1:53.26

14. Didier Defago (Switzerland) 1:53.34

15. Johann Grugger (Austria) 1:53.44

16. Kristian Ghedina (Italy) 1:53.53

17. Hans Knauss (Austria) 1:53.61

18. Hermann Maier (Austria) 1:53.96

19. Hannes Trinkl (Austria) 1:53.98

20. Roland Fischnaller (Italy) 1:54.03

21. Patrik Jaerbyn (Sweden) 1:54.09

22. Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:54.12

23. Paul Accola (Switzerland) 1:54.52

24. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:55.13

25. Marco Buechel (Liechtenstein) 1:55.46

26. Romed Baumann (Austria) 1:56.46

27. Giorgio Rocca (Italy) 1:58.47

DNS: Kurt Sulzenbacher (Italy)

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Downhill

Sestriere, Italy, March 10, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/binding

1 Rahlves, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

2 Strobl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

3 Eberharter, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

4 Hoffmann, Stoeckli/Atomic/Atomic

5 Walchhofer, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

6 Fattori, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia

7 Kernen, Rossignol/Rossignol/Rossignol

8 Deneriaz, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

9 Solbakken, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

10 Kroell, Head/Tecnica/Tyrolia

Just three races remain for the men: one super G, one GS and one slalom. … The 24th win of the season for Atomic skis.

It’s the eighth career win for Daron Rahlves, his fourth this season and second in a row. … The 142nd World Cup win for the U.S. … Rahlves is one win behind Steve Mahre and sits sixth on the all-time U.S. win list, fourth among men. … It’s the third U.S. win at Sestriere: Kristina Koznick won a slalom 3/10/2000 and Tyler Palmer won a slalom 12/19/71. … The 10th win of the season for the U.S. (Rahlves 4, Bode Miller 6), the most since 1983.

It’s the 22nd career podium for Fritz Strobl and his third of the season, all second places. … It is the 74th career podium for Stephan Eberharter and his 11th of the season, nine of them coming in DH.

Bode Miller is the only other North American besides Rahlves qualified for the race and finishes 22nd. … He does not gain any points in his quest for the overall title, but neither do chief competitors Hermann Maier or Benjamin Raich who finish 18th and 24th, respectively.

Maier maintains the overall World Cup lead, but his lead shrinks to 22points as Eberharter moves into second, 1165-1143. … Bode Miller is third (1098) and Benjamin Raich fourth (1063). … Just the top 15 score (as opposed to the top 30) in World Cup Finals due to the smaller size of the select field.

Eberharter had previously claimed the DH title. … Rahlves mov
es into second 831-627. … It is the highest any U.S. male has ever finished in the final World Cup DH standings. Rahlves was also the runner-up last year. … The U.S. moves past Italy into second in the overall Nations Cup behind Austria 15735-4664 (Italy at 4657). … The U.S. is fourth in the men’s standings.