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Lake
Louise, men’s Super-G
Another win for Stephan Eberharter
Stephan
Eberharter is on a roll! Sunday, the
33-year-old Tyrolian won his third
race of the season, the second within
24 hours. On Saturday, the defending
Overall World Cup champion already
dominated the downhill.
He beat once more one of his team-mates,
this time Josef “Pepi” Strobl,
4th in the downhill the other day,
while Switzerland’s Didier Cuche,
a far 22nd on Saturday, confirmed
his potential in Super-G in taking
a promising 3rd place.
Strobl only lost by 18/100 of a second
while Cuche was 37/100 behind the
winner. Norway’s Kjetil Aamodt,
3rd in the downhill, had another strong
day as he finished 4th this time,
only 26/100 away from the podium.
He is the only skier so far to have
scored points in all disciplines which
helps him to move up in 2nd place
in the Overall World Cup standings
– yet with a delay of 160 points
on Eberharter.
America’s Bode Miller had another
impressive run down the “Olympic
course” and he finished again
7th - only half a second far from
the podium. It’s his best result
ever in this event.
The skier from New Hampshire is now
7th in the Overall standings –
it’s just too bad for him that
he skied out twice in Park City last
week.
He could have been much closer to
the “Boss” – one of
the nicknames of Stephan Eberharter
who celebrates his 13th World Cup
win in a year!
With five skiers among the top-11,
the Austrian were again the strongest
players in the field. Fortunately
five athletes from other nations such
as Marco Buechel, excellent 6th, came
in the top-10. Switzerland’s
Franco Cavegn was 8th – his best
performance in a World Cup Super-G.
He was named the “winStar of
the Race” for this performance
since he started in 42nd position!
A happy Stephan
“I can’t be more happy,
this is a excellent week-end for me”
said a relaxed Stephan Eberharter
after the race. “To win three
races out of four in three disciplines
is quite wonderful, it’s my best
season start ever” said the GS
Olympic Champion. “The course
conditions were again difficult but
good enough for higher numbers. So
far, I can’t complain about the
new start-order rule which didn’t
affected my concentration in the last
days”.
“I really felt relaxed and confident
especially this morning after my success
in the downhill. I don’t feel
any pressure, just the desire to ski
fast and have a good time on the course.
It should be an interesting season
because there many good racers out
there fighting for the victory”.
“It will help me to stay focused
for the coming weekends. I’m
now looking forward for nice races
at Beaver Creek but you know I’m
33 and I have nothing to prove”.
Stephan, the first male competitor
to have won back-to-back races here
in Lake Louise – even the great
Hermann Maier could not achieve this
in recent years – has a special
good reason to “shot for the
stars” on the treacherous and
spectacular “Birds of Prey”
course used since November 1997 by
the World Cup tour.
He finished five times on the podium
there, yet never as a winner.
During the 1999 World Championships
he was 4th and 5th in Super-G and
downhill, missing medals by a few
hundredths of a second. In the same
time, “The Herminator” won
seven times there from December 1997
to December 2000 including a giant
slalom, a downhill and a Super-G in
a week!
“Steff” would certainly
enjoy to put Beaver Creek on his impressive
list of downhill victories after excelling
on other “Classical” courses
as Val d’Isère, Val Gardena,
Kitzbühel or Kvitfjel.
Interestingly enough, Maier has won
eleven downhill races on the most
prestigious courses – only two
are missing on his list. He was twice
3rd in Val Gardena and once 2nd in
Lake Louise!
“Pepi” Strobl is more mature
Pepi
Strobl, one of the few downhill specialist
to have won a GS in his career, confirmed
his strong comeback from the previous
day. The sympathetic champion from
the Arlberg area suffered a bad injury
at a knee last year while training
in Kitzbühel. He had to work
hard last summer to come back at the
top. One of the youngest skiers to
win a downhill race – he was
only 20 at Val d’Isère
when he beat all the favorites despite
a high startnumber – Josef never
completely achieved his potential
so far.
Now at 28, he is certainly more mature
and ready for his first podium in
a medal event.
Relief and satisfaction too for Didier
Cuche, one of the most consistent
Super-G specialists last season. The
Swiss who changed his skis last spring,
needed such a good result to find
back all his momentum after some disappointing
results in the past giant slaloms
and in Saturday’s downhill which
he ended far from the podium.
Two of his colleagues and Buechel,
who trains with the Swiss, also ended
among the top-15 which should bring
back some serenity in the team.
After the disastrous first practice
runs, tension appeared among the trainers
who expected more. Franz Heinzer,
the World’s best downhill specialist
in the early 1990’s, is part
of the staff since last spring but
his presence apparently disturbed
the head-coach of the speed disciplines,
Fritz Zueger. Things should be going
smoother from now on.
In the next downhill race at Beaver
Creek, the Swiss will try to improve
their level. Another interesting weekend
for World Cup skiing!
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