Eberharter wins at Kvitfjell to clinch DH title; Maier now leads Miller in overall

Eberharter wins at Kvitfjell to clinch DH title; Maier now leads Miller in overallStephan Eberharter won the World Cup downhill at Kvitfjell, Norway, on Saturday, locking up the downhill title and jumping back into the battle for the overall World Cup.

Eberharter’s teammate Hermann Maier, who finished ninth, edged ahead of chief rival Bode Miller in the overall standings, 1105 points to 1089. Miller tied for 26th on the day.

“I was completely out of it today. I got too much speed at the top and must have made 10 mistakes on the way down,” Miller said.

Daron Rahlves finished fourth, his third fourth-place finish in a season that’s also seen him on the podium five times, including two wins. While Eberharter has clinched the downhill title with one race remaining, Rahlves is just 10 points behind runner-up Maier heading to the season’s last downhill during World Cup Finals.

Also for the U.S., Bryon Friedman was 33rd and Jakub Fiala 43rd. Friedman, in his first full season on the World Cup, missed qualifying for the World Cup Finals by a single point. Finals participants are the top 25 in each discipline plus the gold medalist in that discipline at the World Junior Championships. Friedman finished 27th in the standings, one point out of a tie for 25th place.

“It was a beating all around today,” said U.S. DH/SG head coach John McBride, referring to Miller dropping back in the points, Rahlves just missing the podium and Friedman not making World Cup Finals. “Bode had some trouble on the top and lost a lot at the bottom, too. I thought ‘D’ [Rahlves] really pulled it together, though, from training and skied another good one. He likes this hill [where he’s had two downhill victories and two top-fives in super G]. …

“And I’m not sure where Bryon lost it. He skied really well where I was and he said he felt good. It’s tough to miss it by a point but maybe it’ll make a point with him — and anyone else — that every race counts. You can’t give away any points.”

Eberharter, who has now won the downhill trophy for three straight years, had a time of 1:43.41, 0.04 seconds ahead of teammate Fritz Strobl. France’s Antoine Deneriaz was third in 1:43.77.

For Eberharter, this was his fourth win of the sesaon, all in downhill. He’s had 10 podium finishes, eight in downhill and two in super G.

The Kvitfjell weekend ends Sunday with a super G and then it’s on to World Cup Finals in Sestriere, Italy, for the last four races of the season.

The overall World Cup standings, with five races left:

1. Maier (Austria) 1105

2. Miller (U.S.) 1089

3. Eberharter (Austria) 1061

4. Raich (Austria) 1013

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Downhill

Kvitfjell, Norway

March 6, 2004

1. Stephan Eberharter (Austria) 1:43.41

2. Fritz Strobl (Austria) 1:43.45

3. Antoine Deneriaz (France) 1:43.77

4. Daron Rahlves (U.S.) 1:43.86

5. Hans Knauss (Austria) 1:43.89

6. Bjarne Solbakken (Norway) 1:44.11

7. Ambrosi Hoffmann (Switzerland) 1:44.14

8. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 1:44.15

9. Hermann Maier (Austria) 1:44.27

10. Alessandro Fattori (Italy) 1:44.30

11. Klaus Kroell (Austria) 1:44.38

12. Johann Grugger (Austria) 1:44.42

13. Andreas Schifferer (Austria) 1:44.45

14. Yannick Bertrand (France) 1:44.48

15. Paul Accola (Switzerland) 1:44.58

16. Kristian Ghedina (Italy) 1:44.68

17. Benjamin Raich (Austria) 1:44.71

18= Michael Walchhofer (Austria) 1:44.73

18= Marco Buechel (Liechtenstein) 1:44.73

20. Roland Fischnaller (Italy) 1:44.76

21. Patrik Jaerbyn (Sweden) 1:44.81

22. Didier Defago (Switzerland) 1:44.87

23. Vincent Lavoie (Canada) 1:44.95

24= Bruno Kernen (Switzerland) 1:44.97

24= Hannes Trinkl (Austria) 1:44.97

26= Konrad Hari (Switzerland) 1:45.07

26= Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:45.07

28. Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin (France) 1:45.13

29. Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) 1:45.30

30. Marc Bottollier-Lasquin (France) 1:45.39

Other North Americans:

33. Bryon Friedman (U.S.) 1:45.69

43. Jakub Fiala (U.S.) 1:45.57

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Downhill

Kvitfjell, Norway, March 6, 2004

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Eberharter, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

2 Strobl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

3 Deneriaz, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

4 Rahlves, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

5 Knauss, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

6 Solbakken, Atomic/Atomic/Atomic

7 Hoffmann, Stoeckli/Atomic/Atomic

8 Cuche, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

9 Maier, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

10 Fattori, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia

The men have five races remaining of a 38-race schedule: Sunday’s super G at Kvitfjell and one race in each discipline at the World Cup Finals in Italy. … It’s the 22nd win of the season for Atomic skis.

It’s a close race with Stephan Eberharter winning by 0.04 and the top 11 in the same second. … It’s the 29th career victory for Eberharter, the 18th in downhill. … It’s his fourth win of the season, all in downhill. … He has 10 podiums this season, eight in DH. … He’s sixth on the all-time World Cup win list among male racers. … It’s the fourth straight Kvitfjell downhill won by an Austrian. … Eberharter also won on this hill in 2001.

It’s the 21st career podium for Fritz Strobl and his second of the season, the other coming at Garmisch. … The fifth career podium for Antoine Deneriaz, and the third this season; the other two came before Christmas.

It’s the eighth top-four of the season for Daron Rahlves. … It’s the third best result of Vincent Lavoie’s career… He has never done better than 21st in a World Cup race. … Bode Miller gets five points for his tie for 26th. … It’s his fourth best DH result of the season, but two of those were top-10 finishes. … Bryon Friedman finishes 33rd and drops to 27th in the DH standings; he misses the World Cup Finals (the top 25 may attend) by a point.

Hermann Maier takes the overall lead 1105-1089 over Bode Miller while Stephan Eberharter closes to third at 1061. … Benjamin Raich is still in the race at 1013. … Eberharter clinches his third straight downhill title. He leads 771-537 over Maier with one race remaining; Daron Rahlves is third with 527 points.

Austria’s Nations Cup lead is now 15,112-4571 over Italy with the U.S. in third at 4445… In the men’s standings, it’s Austria 9395-2849 over Italy. … The U.S. has slipped to fifth at 2266 behind Norway and Switzerland, respectively.