Eberharter crushes field to win Hahnenkamm dowhhill; Rahlves is runner-up

Eberharter crushes field to win Hahnenkamm dowhhill; Rahlves is runner-upAustrian Stephan Eberharter stunned his rivals with a breathtaking victory in the classic Hahnenkamm downhill on Saturday.

Wearing bib number 30, Eberharter was the last Austrian who could hope to take down the American Daron Rahlves, who put himself into the lead after running 28th.

Each of the other Austrians made mistakes that were clearly borne of a desperation to reclaim their nation’s most important trophy. As Hermann Maier pushed out of the start, fans had lit off road flares attached to tall poles. The smoke and fire gave the finish arena a war-zone atmosphere. But Maier, like his teammates, couldn’t deliver a run that was both clean and aggressive.

Rahlves did. Smaller than most of his competitors, Rahlves held a low tuck where no one else even tried. He tucked into the absurdly steep Steilhang section, while most of the earlier racers had been cranking out upright GS turns just to stay on line.

Rahlves was in first, leaving Eberharter, wearing bib number 30, to carry the hopes of an estimated 42,000 fans. Skiing with unusual recklessness, he sent crowds into a frenzy.

Spurred on by a cacophony of horns and cheers from the spectators, the 34-year-old put down a near flawless run on the 3.3-kilometer Streif course to outdistance Rahlves by 1.21 seconds.

Rahlves, the winner last year at Kitzbuehel, had been looking for his second victory in as many days after triumphing in Friday’s super G. But there was no stopping a pumped up Eberharter who had a time of 1:55.48 for his second World Cup downhill win of the season and the 27th in his career.

“I wanted to ski well because this may be my last time on this course,” said Eberharter, who grew up not far from the Kitzbuehel course.

The victory on what many consider the toughest course on the World Cup made up for losing out by one hundredth of a second in Thursday’s downhill and lifted the Austrian into the lead in the speed discipline’s standings.

After the race, American and Austrian coaching staffs posed together on the podium while passing around a bottle of expensive schnapps. Relations between the two teams, which have maintained a loose alliance over the last several years, had gotten chilly earlier this year.

The day before the race, the Austrian head men’s coach had promised a victory on live television, and Hermann Maier had antagonized Daron Rahlves by saying last year’s downhill win on a truncated course hadn’t counted as the “real downhill.”

“I think he’s just more of a sore loser,” said Rahlves when asked about Maier’s comments. “I didn’t like what he has to say about last year’s downhill. ”

But Maier wasn’t the only one who had been quick to discount Rahlves. Even the announcer was heard saying “mickimause-abfahrt” (or, “Mickey Mouse downhill”) during Rahlves’ run this year.

Switzerland’s Ambrosi Hoffmann finished third, 1.30 seconds off the pace, to give the Swiss men’s team its first podium of the season.

“I had to digest the fact that I was on the podium,” said Hoffman. ” I worked so hard to get there. It was a hard time for me and the Swiss team because you in the media think that therem ust be a reason why we were so bad this season. But there is no one reason. There are many.”

Eberharter pumped his fists in the air in the finish, threw his ski triumphantly, and received a hug from Robert Brunner, the press officer for the Austrian team and a longtime friend of the athletes.

“It was a dream run. I just let the skis run and everything turned out perfect,” an emotional Eberharter said after capturing the showcase event of the men’s season.

Rahlves, the super G world champion from 2001, was gracious in defeat. “Steff was just amazing, he deserves to win. This is a typical Kitzbuehel day. Good weather, good snow, loads of people — this is as good as it gets.”

Bode Miller was next behind Rahlves for the U.S. in a tie for 16th, after making a series of mistakes. Jakub Fiala, starting first, also made it into the points, in 29th.

Miller scored a 13 on a lactic acid test the day before — a blood test that the U.S. Ski Team’s physiologists use to measure lactic acid levels in the blood. One physiologist said that was extremely high, a sign that Miller is tired from his full schedule of races and his late-night habits.

Favorites Maier, second in Friday’s super G, and overall World Cup leader Lasse Kjus of Norway, the winner of Thursday’s downhill, were unable to keep up with the pace and ended up ninth and 11th, respectively. Kjus, though, retained his overall lead.

Eberharter’s second victory in the Hahnenkamm downhill restored bruised Austrian pride that is used to monopolizing the speed events at this Tyrolean resort.

The Canadian men’s World Cup team suffered another blow when Jeff Hume took a bad fall. The Canadian suffered cuts, a bruised chest and a concussion during his high-speed spill and was taken to hospital in St. Johann for a head scan and further treatment, race organizers said. The Canadian needed help walking off the slope. Canada’s downhill team has been depleted this season after Erik Guay and Jan Hudec both tore ligaments in their knees.

The four-race Kitzbuehel festival ends with a slalom on Sunday when current slalom points leader Kalle Palander goes for second win here in a row. The times from the slalom will be added to Thursday’s downhill to determine the combined winner.

Alpine World Cup

Men’s Downhill, The Hahnenkamm

Kitzbuehel, Austria

January 24, 2004

1. Stephan Eberharter (Austria) 1:55.48

2. Daron Rahlves (U.S.) 1:56.69

3. Ambrosi Hoffmann (Switzerland) 1:56.78

4. Hans Knauss (Austria) 1:57.23

5. Michael Walchhofer (Austria) 1:57.26

6. Kristian Ghedina (Italy) 1:57.27

7. Didier Cuche (Switzerland) 1:57.46

8. Christoph Gruber (Austria) 1:57.66

9. Hermann Maier (Austria) 1:57.67

10. Fritz Strobl (Austria) 1:57.70

11. Lasse Kjus (Norway) 1:57.71

12. Roland Fischnaller (Italy) 1:57.84

13. Paul Accola (Switzerland) 1:57.98

14. Hannes Trinkl (Austria) 1:57.99

15. Bruno Kernen (Switzerland) 1:58.00

16= Antoine Deneriaz (France) 1:58.02

16= Bode Miller (U.S.) 1:58.02

18. Patrik Jaerbyn (Sweden) 1:58.04

19. Klaus Kroell (Austria) 1:58.19

20. Andreas Schifferer (Austria) 1:58.21

21. Bjarne Solbakken (Norway) 1:58.32

22. Vincent Lavoie (Canada) 1:58.74

23. Didier Defago (Switzerland) 1:58.77

24. Erik Seletto (Italy) 1:58.94

25. Alessandro Fattori (Italy) 1:58.97

26. Yannick Bertrand (France) 1:59.04

27. Luca Cattaneo (Italy) 1:59.05

28. Kurt Sulzenbacher (Italy) 1:59.08

29. Jakub Fiala (U.S.) 1:59.22

30. Marc Bottollier-Lasquin (France) 1:59.46

Other North Americans:

DNF: Jeff Hume (Canada)

THE SCOOP

> by Hank McKee

Equipment, Men’s Downhill

Kitzbuehel Austria, January 24, 2003

Skier, skis/boots/bindings

1 Eberharter, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

2 Rahlves, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

3 Hoffmann, Stoeckli/Atomic/Atomic

4 Knauss, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

5 Walchhofer, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

6 Ghedina, Fischer/Lange/Tyrolia

7 Cuche, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

8 Gruber, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

9 Maier, Atomic/Lange/Atomic

10 Strobl, Salomon/Salomon/Salomon

The 23rd race of the men’s 38-race schedule and the seventh of 12 downhills. … It’s the 64th running of the Hahnenkamm downhill. … The 14th win of the season for Atomic. … A huge margin of victory (1.21) for Stephan Eberharter. … The largest at Kitzbuehel in a DH since 1986 (Peter Wirnsberger 1.33 over Erwin Resch). … Eberharter gets his 2
7th career win, moving him past Franz Klammer into third on the all-time Austrian win list (second male behind Hermann Maier). … It’s his second win of the season (after the Chamonix DH 1/10), and his 16th career DH victory. … His third win at Kitzbuehel and second in DH, both in the last three years.

It’s the 14th career podium for Daron Rahlves, fourth of the season and third in the past three days (won SG 1/23, third DH 1/22). … More than a third of his podium finishes have come at Kitzbuehel. … It is just the second career podium for Ambrosi Hoffmann, the other a second place finish at Altenmarkt 3/6/02. … It’s the best DH placing for a Swiss skier this season, and the first podium for a Swiss male.

Bode Miller has his third scoring finish in DH this season. … It’s the fifth scoring finish of the season for Canada’s Vincent Lavoie, and the third for USA’s Jakub Fiala, the first in DH. … Of Fiala’s 16 career World Cup scoring finishes, five have come at Kitzbuehel.

Lasse Kjus maintains the overall lead 764-714 over Hermann Maier. … Rahlves is now the top American in seventh place with 556; Miller is eighth at 551. … Eberharter leads the DH standings 431-390 for Michael Walchhofer. … Rahlves is third at 355. … Austria adds a digit to its Nations Cup totals and now leads 10104-2834 for Italy. … USA is a close third at 2812. … Austrian men lead 6159-1766 over Italy with the U.S. in fourth at 1377.