Val Gardena, men’s downhill

Val Gardena, Dec. 20th. Antoine Dénériaz achieved a sensational performance today on Val Gardena’s “Classical” Saslong course in beating by almost a full second the entire Austrian Armada after setting a new course record. The French speed specialist, already the winner here last season, was faster by 89/100 than the reigning World Champion Michael Walchhofer while Hans Knauss was 3rd at 92/100. All the other stars as the 2002 Olympic Champion Fritz Strobl (4th) or the all-time greats Hermann Maier (5th) and Stephan Eberharter (6th) lost over a second on him. America’s Daron Rahlves, very fast in the upper part before making a huge mistake before the treacherous Ciaslat turns had a chance to get closer to Antoine today.
He had to be content with a more modest 7th place – good enough to remain among the top-3 in the downhill standings before the Bormio competition.

While Italy’s Kristian Ghedina reached a season’s best 11th place, Norway’s Lasse Kjus could not do better than 15th a day after his great triumph in Super-G. Bode Miller had another tough day – he only finished a far 52nd, losing more than four seconds on the winner! He is now 233 points away from Hermann Maier in the overall World Cup standings – fortunately the season is only beginning!

After his excellent times clocked during the two training runs earlier this week, Dénériaz was a top-favourite for this exciting competition marked by several crashes at the beginning of the race. A fore-runner suffered a bad concussion after crashing in the nets. Other contenders as Italy’s Peter Fill or Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal were more lucky and didn’t injure themselves seriously.

Hans Knauss, a winner in Kitzbühel back in past years, had a strong lead after finishing his run. The skier from Schladming finished ahead of Eberharter and Maier and for a long time no skier could get close to him.

When Dénériaz, who wore bib 30, entered the start house, he was informed that Knauss was leading and that he has been much faster than in training. At that point, the French knew what he needed to do to have a chance to become one of the few skiers to win back-to-back races here – attack harder than ever, especially in the first tricky turns and on the long gliding section.

His tactic worked out perfectly. After forty seconds on the course, he already built-up a strong lead on his closest rivals – almost a full second. He made no mistake in the middle section which include the famous “Camel Bumps” and remained smooth and precise in the bumpy and leg-breaking Ciaslat turns. The last schuss was no problem either and he crossed the finish line with the huge advance of 92/100 on Knauss.

He was so excited and happy that he didn’t watch Michael Walchhofer coming doing after him and take the 2nd place – but 89/100 behind him.

“I was on a cloud - I was so amazed. This win is huge” he repeated afterwards. “I was the skier to beat and I badly wanted to excel here today because my parents came here for the first time. I wanted to honour them. I was very aggressive in the first part but I didn’t feel any pressure. Since returning here on Tuesday I felt very relaxed and confident. It’s like being at home! I should buy a flat here to enjoy some holiday!”

“It’s a great day for me but also for the team which went through some very difficult moments last spring. Some trainers almost left but things improved after a while. We trained well in the summer and I gained much momentum last month when I finished 2nd in Lake Louise. I had two bad races in Beaver Creek because I tried too hard to come down this difficult slope. It’s not my kind of course for the moment. I prefer faster courses as here, Chamonix or Wengenh. In Bormio or Kitzbühel I’ll still struggle for the moment. But I will continue to improve in the coming years. This is way too fun for me”.

Neither Walchhofer nor Knauss had any regrets after their race. “Antoine did a fantastic job today, he was out of reach” said Michael, a strong leader in the downhill standings. “A 2nd place here is great before the Christmas break. I’ll enjoy my short rest now”.

In a week, he will again be fighting for victory in Bormio – as most of the Austrian team who were not so happy to lost the race last year to Daron Rahlves.

Patrick Lang