EBERHARTER OVERPOWERS HAHNENKAMM DOWNHILL, RAHLVES 2ND
Third podium in 24 hours for defending champion Rahlves
KITZBUEHEL, Austria (Jan. 25) - Austrian Stephan Eberharter,
in what he says will be his final season of racing, took the air out of a bid by Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) for a second straight
Hahnenkamm downhill win Saturday with a nearly flawless run that brought victory by more than a second. Eberharter won the 64th Hahnenkamm
in 1:55.48 with Rahlves on the podium for the third straight day, finishing second; Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) tied for 16th and Jake Fiala
(Frisco, CO) was 29th.
Outdoor Life Network, which covers the World Cup all season,
will broadcast the race tonight at 7 ET with a rebroadcast Sunday at 5 p.m. ET and Thursday at 10 p.m. ET.
Rahlves, who won Friday's super G and was third Thursday in a
make-up downhill, led every timing interval as he came down the 3.3K course. But the popular Californian's leading time of 1:56.69, which
sent the crowd of upwards of 100,000 into screams of delight and horn-blaring, lasted just one more runner.
Austrian Michael Walchhofer, skiing 29th, was next and he
finished more than a half-second back of Rahlves, the Green Mountain Valley School (VT) grad who collected his third podium in 48 hours.
Rahlves: "I give [Eberharter] my hand..."
And then Eberharter, the 2002 Hahnenkamm champ who lost
Thursday's DH by .01 to Norwegian Lasse Kjus, mauled the Streif for the 27th victory of his career...and the festive crowd went into greater
gales of jubilation. The Hahnenkamm is ski racing's unrivaled Super Bowl and an Austrian had won it one more time!
"I had the run I wanted," Rahlves said, "and
Steph just had a great one; I respect what he did so much. We've had some close races and I just give him my hand. He did a great job."
Eberharter, who has won the last two World Cup overall, DH and
super G titles, had planned to retire after last season but decided to return for one more winter of racing. His racing intensity and his
off-course demeanor make him not only one of the most respected but one of the most popular athletes on the tour.
Rahlves said when he got the finish as the leader, he tried to
savor the moment because he knew "there still were two big guys to come."
After surviving Walchhofer's run, he watched on the big screen
in the finish as Eberharter tore out of the start and began overwhelming the course.
No second-guessing his run by Rahlves
"I saw his first split time come up and I started
laughing," Rahlves said. "He obviously skied well, then crushed the flats. It was his day."
For his part, though, Rahlves had no regrets.
"When you go start to finish as hard as you can – and I
did...well...every time I closed my eyes and thought how I wanted to ski this hill, I did it the way I wanted today," he told a press
conference.
Last fall, Rahlves said one of his goals for the season was to
reach a super G podium, which he accomplished with the sixth win of his career Friday. Eberharter's victory Saturday, Rahlves said
chuckling, gives him optimism because Eberharter's "an old man" at 34 and at 30, he said, "I have a few more years to do
that."
He saluted the Austrian for his relentless graciousness on top
of his impressive skiing talents.
His three podiums lifted Rahlves into seventh place at 556
points in the overall points behind Kjus (764) with Miller just five points farther back in eighth.
McBride: "Eberharter's a great champion"
U.S. DH/SG Head Coach John McBride echoed his podium
performer: "Stephan's a great champion. I don't know what Daron could've done today to beat him. 'D' had a great run but Stephan really
nailed it. There's no arrogance in him, he's always there to congratulate you when you do better, such a good sportsman, especially when
things don't go well for him...
"It's been a heckuva three days. D did a great job again
today, especially on those midsection flats," the coach said. "Bode didn't own the top the way he did Thursday but he's skiing
well and Jake made a couple of mistakes but scored some points, which is progress and he seems to be getting back on track."
Bryon Friedman (Park City, UT) missed the race after crashing
into safety netting Friday in the super G. McBride said he suffered a concussion but was expected back next weekend in
Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, where the men face two downhills (one from Wengen, Switzerland) and a super G.
The men complete their Hahnenkamm weekend Sunday with a slalom
leading to the second combined calculation of the winter. They move on to Schladming, Austria, for the annual Tuesday night slalom and then
head to Garmisch.
A pre-Hahnenkamm online poll by www.usskiteam.com showed Rahlves and
Austrian icon Hermann Maier to be heavy favorites, chosen by more than half the participants. Rahlves was picked to win by 30.5% with Maier
chosen by 20.2. Eberharter was tabbed by just 10 percent. To take part in a poll on the Hahnenkamm combined calculation, using Saturday's DH
and Sunday's slalom, go to www.usskiteam.com/hahnenkamm/ and cast your ballot.
MEN'S ALPINE WORLD CUP
64th Hahnenkamm
Kitzbuehel, AUT – Jan. 25
Hahnenkamm Downhill
1. Stephan Eberharter, 1:55.48
2. Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, Calif., 1:56.69
3. Ambrosi Hoffmann, Switzerland, 1:56.78
4. Hans Knauss, Austria, 1:57.23
5. Michael Walchhofer, Austria, 1:57.26
-
16T. Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H., 1:58.02
29. Jake Fiala, Frisco, Colo., 1:59.22