Eberharter wins first downhill training run at Kitzbuehel; Thursday's schedule packed

Eberharter wins first downhill training run at Kitzbuehel; Thursday’s schedule packed{mosimage}The first training run for the men’s downhill at Kitzbuehel, Austria, is complete, with Stephan Eberharter of Austria turning in a time of 1:48.93, the fastest for the day. The Austrian army spent the night on the hill, clearing fresh snow off the bulletproof ice of the track.

Eberharter was followed by teammate Michael Walchhofer, with Claude Cretier of France, wearing bib 41, a surprising third.

Fog delayed the training run by two hours and forced race organizers to lower the start to just above the Steilhang — the famously steep pitch about 15 seconds into the course. That means that racers didn’t get a chance to sample the Mausefalle jump, which is in the early part of the course.

For that reason, organizers are planning to conduct a second training run on Thursday morning at 9:30, beginning at the race’s original start house and finishing 30 seconds later at the flats below the Steilhang.

Racers will then head up again for the start of the race itself, set for 11:30. This downhill is not the official Hahnenkamm — that happens on Saturday — but rather an adopted race that was passed on from Bormio to Chamonix to Wengen earlier this season, after inclement weather hit each of those sites.

The regularly-scheduled Wengen downhill, also cancelled this year, has been re-scheduled for Garmisch on January 30. That means there are now eight men’s World Cup races scheduled for the last 10 days of this month.

Last year’s winner in the downhill at Kitzbuehel, Daron Rahlves, finished 27th in Wednesday’s training run and said he never got his timing right. Among other Americans, Jake Fiala ended up 40th, while Bode Miller stood tall for much of the run, getting a feel for the terrain, and finished 48th. Bryon Friedman and Wade Bishop had their first runs down the Streif. Freidman ended up 36th, but Bishop slid on his hip down the Steilhang and finished last, nine seconds out, aggravating an existing thumb injury.