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Kvitfjell,
men’s Super-G
3rd win for Daron Rahlves
California’s Daron Rahlves celebrated
his third win this season in Norway’s
Kvitfjell in dominating the last Super-G
race prior to the Finals in Sestriere,
Italy, in beating by 15/100 Norway’s
“Rooky of the Year” Bjarne
Soelbakken while Austria’s favorite
Hermann Maier was 3rd at 17/100.
This winter, the American from the
Lake Tahoe area also captured a downhill
in Beaver Creek and another Super-G
in Kitzbühel. It’s his third
triumph on the challenging “Olympiabakken”
course where some of the 1994 Olympic
races took place by blistering temperatures.
Four years ago, Daron clinched two
downhill races on that slope.
Benjamin Raich, one of the main contenders
for the overall World Cup trophy,
was an impressive 4th, only five hundredths
of a second behind Maier who lost
much time in the lower part of the
course after clocking the fastest
intermediate times.
As Stephan Eberharter, the winner
in Saturday’s downhill only came
in 12th and USA’s Bode Miller
22nd, Maier increased his lead in
the overall standings on his nearest
rivals.
Miller is now 2nd at 67 points, Eberharter
3rd at 82 points and Raich 4th at
102 points.
A great season for Daron
Rahlves, the Super-G World Champion
in 2001, is enjoying a superb season
this winter. After accumulating a
series of top-3 finishes in downhill,
he also found back his best form in
Super-G after two disappointing years
in this specialty. He was the most
consistent athlete on the Olympic
run over this weekend; on Saturday,
he was 4th in the downhill won by
Eberharter.
“It’s definitely a great
winter with these three wins in both
speed events and all these podium
finishes,” he said. “I’m
happy to win another race before the
end of the season. I was sick and
I lost some momentum after my wonderful
weekend in Kitzbühel but I wanted
to get back at the top. I had a nice
break at home after St Anton. It helped
me to find back some energy for the
final part of the season. I was not
too happy by my downhill race yesterday;
I lost too much time in the upper
part. I was definitely very motivated
today and I charged the course with
great determination. I’m ready
for a great week now in Italy!”
Daron has also a strong chance to
stay on the podium in the Super-G
World Cup standings. He is now in
second place behind Maier but clearly
ahead of Eberharter.
After a slow start, Rahlves made-up
much time on the bottom where he was
one of the fastest. He was 12th in
the first section and 8th at the second
split time 39/100 behind Solbaken
and 21/100 behbind Maier. Yet on the
last part, he was over half a second
faster than both champions which help
him to pass them on the finish line.
Hermann expected more
Maier was the fastest at the last
gliding section where he was clocked
at a speed of 130,690 km/h but he
lost too much time in the last two
big turns to catch the lead and win
his twentieth Super-G race since February
1997!
The skier from Flachau was disappointed
because he also missed a great opportunity
to dramatically increase his lead
on Miller in the overall standings.
“I was not capable to ski as
aggressively as I wanted,” he
explained after his race. “With
such a smooth run, I would not have
skied among the top-20 in another
specialty. Fortunately, I have a strong
base in Super-G which helped me today
to reach again the podium. I’m
not consistent enough this winter.
I was hoping to score hundred points
with the same kind of race as St Anton.
But today, I was far from my limits,
I didn’t feel as free as I wished.”
“It’s just too bad because
I’m physically in good shape,
I feel much better than I believed
at the season-start. A few months
ago, I was worried about my form in
March, I imagined I would be very
tired by now. In fact, things are
going much better than I thought.
It’s just that I can’t take
as many risks as I should. I skied
too far from the fastest line. There
is kind of a brake in me sometimes.”
“Now let’s se what’s
happening in Sestriere. I never competed
in that resort as I was injured in
1997 during the World Championships.”
50% of victories for Hermann in Super-G
Since his come back in January 2003,
he finished all his Super-G races
on the podium. His results in that
specialty are really impressive -
he won 19 of the 38 World Cup Super-G’s
in which he competed since March 1996.
He was also 4th, 6th, 7th, 11th and
19th and a DNF in St Anton 2000. But
he ended all the remaining 13 races
on the podium!
His chances to clinch his fourth overall
title in Sestriere remain very strong
as Miller has not found back his best
form in the speed events. Eberharter
is difficult to beat in downhill but
not a threat so far in Super-G and
giant slalom. Benjamin Raich has the
potential to score the most points
in Italy where he will enter all four
races, but his delay of 102 points
may be a too a big gap now.
Miller who was also hoping for a better
result before the race, can only hope
now that none of his three Austrian
rivals finishes too often on the podium
in Italy. He was also disappointed
by his actual level in the speed events.
“At this time of the winter,
one can expect to ski better, I just
made too many small mistakes down
the run,” the American explained.
“But I don’t give up.”
At the Finals, only the top-15 score
points in the various competitions
– Bode is obliged more than ever
to reach the top-5 in both speed events
to get closer to Maier and stay ahead
of Eberharter and Raich, who scores
more points than him this year in
the speed specialties.
The first men’s race in Sestriere,
the downhill, is planned on Wednesday.
M.P.
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