Deneriaz breaks up Austrian sweep at Val Gardena; Rahlves seventh for U.S.

Deneriaz breaks up Austrian sweep at Val Gardena; Rahlves seventh for U.S.Antoine Deneriaz of France broke up an Austrian rout in the men’s downhill at Val Gardena, Italy, winning the race by nearly a second from the 30th start. At the time he ran the course, Austrians were standing in first through fourth, and wound up finishing second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth.

It took a flawless run from Deneriaz, who finished in 1:52.99 to win at Val Gardena for the second straight year, to hold off the Austrians, led by Michael Walchhofer, the runner-up, 0.89 back, and Hans Knauss, in third, 0.92 behind the leader. Right behind them were teammates Fritz Strobl, Hermann Maier and Stephan Eberharter.

American Daron Rahlves, starting 27th, led at every interval until the final one, and crossed the finish line in 1:54.27, fourth at the time. He would wind up tied for seventh with Austria’s Klaus Kroell. Yet another Austrian skier, Norbert Holzknecht, was ninth. In all, Austrians had seven of the top 10 finishes.

The U.S. Ski Team’s Bryon Friedman continued his strong early season skiing, landing in 19th, 2.27 seconds out, from the 29th start, his best World Cup finish. His top World Cup result had been 23rd, in the downhill earlier this month at Beaver Creek.

Jakub Fiala was next for the U.S., finishing just out of the points in a tie for 31st with Vincent Lavoie, Canada’s top finisher. Bode Miller had a rough trip, finishing 4.66 seconds behind the winner and well out of the top 30.

“This is a huge win, even bigger than last year’s. It’s just incredible,” said a delighted Deneriaz. “I knew Knauss was in the lead but I really didn’t expect such a race. I felt fast, I knew I could go quickly and as I was going down I thought to myself, ‘Come on, take a chance.’ It really is fantastic.”

Deneriaz said it was not just the win and the margin, “but that I beat the full Austrian team, including (Hermann) Maier and (Stephan) Eberharter who weren’t here last time.”

The race was stopped several times because of crashes. A forerunner, Manuel Crazzolara, was airlifted to the hospital suffering from a concussion, Swiss Daniel Zueger injured his arm and Italian Peter Fill escaped with a bloodied nose and broken skis after flying into safety netting. Germany’s Max Rauffer and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal also failed to complete the Saslong course.

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Downhill

Val Gardena, Italy

December 20, 2003

1. Antoine Deneriaz (France) 1:52.99

2. Michael Walchhofer (Austria) 1:53.88

3. Hans Knauss (Austria) 1:53.91

4. Fritz Strobl (Austria) 1:54.07

5. Hermann Maier (Austria) 1:54.18

6. Stephan Eberharter (Austria) 1:54.25

7= Daron Rahlves (U.S.) 1:54.27

7= Klaus Kroell (Austria) 1:54.27

9. Norbert Holzknecht (Austria) 1:54.38

10. Nicolas Burtin (France) 1:54.56

11. Kristian Ghedina (Italy) 1:54.78

12. Bruno Kernen (Switzerland) 1:54.80

13. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 1:54.82

14. Patrik Jaerbyn (Sweden) 1:54.83

15. Roland Fischnaller (Italy) 1:55.01

16. Werner Franz (Austria) 1:55.09

18= Lasse Kjus (Norway) 1:55.16

18= Ambrosi Hoffmann (Switzerland) 1:55.16

19. Bryon Friedman (U.S.) 1:55.26

20= Kurt Sulzenbacher (Italy) 1:55.33

20= Andreas Schifferer (Austria) 1:55.33

22. Alessandro Fattori (Italy) 1:55.46

23. Bjarne Solbakken (Norway) 1:55.58

24. Paul Accola (Switzerland) 1:55.59

25. Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin (France) 1:55.60

26= Marco Buechel (Liechtenstein) 1:55.61

26= Yannick Bertrand (France) 1:55.61

28. Hannes Trinkl (Austria) 1:55.70

29. Tobias Gruenenfelder (Switzerland) 1:55.71

30. Claude Cretier (France) 1:55.73

Other North Americans:

31. Vincent Lavoie (Canada) 1:55.74

31. Jakub Fiala (U.S.) 1:55.74

38. Darin McBeath (Canada) 1:56.05

52. Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:57.85

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Downhill,

Val Gardena, Italy, December 20, 2003

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Deneriaz, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

2 Walchhofer, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

3 Knauss, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

4 Strobl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

5 Maier, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

6 Eberharter, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

7 Rahlves, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

7 Kroell, Head/Tecnica/Tyrolia

9 Holzknecht, Head/Lange/Tyrolia

10 Burtin, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

It’s the 12th of 38 scheduled men’s races, and the fourth of 12 downhills. … The largest margin of victory of the season in men’s DH. … All three previous races had been won by 0.69. … This one is won by 0.89. … It’s the third career win for Antoine Deneriaz, and the second at Val Gardena (also won 12/21/02). … It’s his second podium of the season; he was third in the Lake Louise DH. … Deneriaz is the only Frenchman to win a DH since Nicolas Burtin in 1998. … The third DH win of the season for the French team; Carole Montillet won two races at Lake Louise.

It’s the 13th podium for Michael Walchhofer, and third of the season. … It’s also the third time he’s been second at Val Gardena in three years. In the last year (last 10 races) he has only one DH result outside the top 11 and five podiums. … The 17th podium for Hans Knauss, and fourth of the season.

It’s the 24th time Daron Rahlves has been in the top seven of a World Cup race. … The best result of his career for Bryon Friedman. … He now has four scoring results in his career, all this season. … The U.S. and Canada just missed scoring points when Vincent Lavoie (CAN) and Jakub Fiala (USA) tied for 31st, just 0.01 from the last scoring position in 30th.

In fifth place, Hermann Maier maintains the overall World Cup lead 510-418 over Hans Knauss. … The Austrian men now hold five of the top six spots, including 1-2-3. … Daron Rahlves leads the U.S. in eighth with 297, and teammate Bode Miller is ninth with 277. … Miller, one of the early season favorites for the overall title, has 250 points in GS, but none in slalom, just one point in downhill and 26 in super G.

Michael Walchhofer leads the downhill standings 270-219 over Maier. … Rahlves leads U.S. in third at 199. … Austria leads the Nations Cup 5143-1429 over Italy (prior to women’s race today). … USA is fifth at 1270. … Austria leads the men’s standings 3473-896 over Norway. … USA is fifth at 723.