Austrian Triumph in Lake Louise

The Austrian men’s team crushed once more the rest of the field in Lake Louise’s first downhill of the season in putting eleven racers among the top-15 – a remarkable team performance in that specialty which it dominates now since 1998!
Stephan Eberharter confirmed his supremacy in that event in winning his seventh downhill since December 2001 when he won the race in Val d’Isère, France. After a very aggressive run down the demanding “Olympic run” the defending World Cup champion beat by half a second his teammate Hannes Trinkl, the reigning World Champion, while Norway’s Kjetil Aamodt was 3rd ahead of three other Austrians.
America’s Bode Miller also achieved quite a remarkable performance in reaching the seventh place after clocking the fastest time in the last training run. It’s by far his best performance in that event which he doesn’t practice in summer during his training.
He is only half a second away from Aamodt and 2/100 behind Michael Walchhofer, who was awarded the winStar Trophy for having finished 6th despite his start-number 33!

Switzerland’s Didier Defago, 9th, is the other only “foreigner” among the strong Austrian pack with Italy’s Kurt Sulzenbacher, 14th .
Among this strong Austrian “Armada” two skiers achieved nice comeback after suffering serious injuries last winter – Josef “Pepi” Strobl, 4th ahead of the Olympic Champion Fritz and Werner Franz, 10th.

A happy Eberharter

Stephan Eberharter was happy to return to Lake Louise where he won his first downhill two years ago. He also enjoyed the racing conditions which were more difficult this time because of the hard packed snow which covered the very fast and sometimes slick run used since 1980 by the World Cup Tour.
He was the fastest skier from top to bottom which brought him his 17th World Cup victory since March 1998. In the tricky runs and the fall-aways the 33-year-old Tyrolian showed how confident he was as he let his skis run smoothly on the fastest line. Interestingly enough, the Austrian veteran felt tense before the race which meant so much to him.
“I was nervous as a young puppy this morning but I regained my focus and my peace within me after a moment” he explained after the race.

Confidence is crucial

“Confidence is the key element in our sport if you want to be as efficient and precise as possible. Fortunately, I’m very experienced now and I perfectly know what to do to be ready at the start. I have learned a lot during the last Olympics, especially after losing my first two races which I felt capable to win”.
“Before my last race, the giant slalom, I re-discovered in a way how skiing is nice and how much I enjoyed racing. It boosted my momentum and I had two almost perfect runs the next day. Last week I tried too hard to win again in Park City and I ski too straight after losing my feelings. It was an interesting lesson again”.

Shorter skis for “Steff”

Stephan used a shorter pair of skis in the race – 2,15 meters instead of 2,17 – to better nail the difficult turns where he made finally the difference. “The course was really rough and it was a hard piece of work for me to get the best out of it. The last speed section is quite challenging too – the fastest with Kitzbühel I guess. I’m also happy to see that all my team-mates did pretty well especially the injured skiers and Hannes Trinkl who seems ready for another great season at 35! He is a great example for us and also an inspiration. I can imagine myself remaining on the tour for some more time if I remain healthy. I’m so relaxed after my great 2002 season that I don’t feel any pressure on me. I’m just having a great time now”.

Bode confirmed

This was also the feeling for Bode Miller, who confirmed his talent as a potential allrounder with his superb 7th place. “My skis were flying and I went for it” he said. “It was bumpy but I had no problems. It’s a blast to break the top-10 here after my strong results in training. I only decided in the last days to race the downhill. First I only wanted to train it to tune my Super-G technique but then I just had too much a good time to miss it. It’s a great experience which will help me in future. I saw in Park City that I was in good shape even if I didn’t finish my races there. Now I will try to have another solid run in the Super-G”.

More Eberharter on Sunday?

The skier to beat on Sunday is obviously Eberharter, who is an expert in that event for many years now. He is also the defending World Cup Champion. Among his toughest rivals the double Olympic Champion in that discipline, Kjetil Aamodt, more than happy by his 3rd place.
The Austrian will start in 30th position several minutes after the Norwegian who will try to take advantage of better course conditions.
Both skiers are also dreaming of the same goal – clinch gold at St Moritz in downhill. So far, they have won gold in all the events they practice except in downhill. Also ready for an aggressive run is Switzerland’s Didier Cuche, a disappointing 22nd in the downhill. He was looking for more after clocking the 3rd best time in training Friday. Last winter, only “Steff” could beat him several times in that event.