|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
French treat Maier leads Austrian sweep of World Cup downhill
VAL D'ISERE, France (AP) -- Reigning overall champion Hermann Maier led an Austrian sweep of the top four places Saturday, winning his first World Cup downhill in five attempts at the traditional French resort. The double world and Olympic champion reasserted his claim on the discipline with a second consecutive victory, clearly recovered from his bitterly disappointing 15th place in the season opening downhill in Lake Louise, Canada. Maier, who was forced to make up ground in the bottom half of the course after an off-balance jump on the "Bosse de Emile," covered the 3,090 meter sun-drenched Oreiller Killy course in 1 minute, 45.04 seconds. "I'm very happy for this win and also very lucky," said Maier, who the previous night had accidentally missed the bib draw to determine skiers' start numbers. "I was told the draw was at seven o'clock and it was at 6:30. "When I finally arrived the only number left was 14. If the weather conditions had been poor today or if the snow was soft, I would have been running on a wrecked course and I would have been in big trouble." The "Herminator" was followed by teammate Stephan Eberharter, the winner in Lake Louise, who crossed second in 1:45.35. Fritz Strobl, who came from a start number of 43 to take the win here in 1997, finished third, clocking 1:45.59. Andreas Schifferer, the 1998 World Cup downhill champion, was fourth in 1:46.04. With the world championships on home snow in St. Anton less than two months away, skiers on the cutthroat Austrian team have already begun the fierce fight for one of the four berths per country per discipline. The depth of the Austrian squad and the resulting internal competition has contributed greatly to making it the most dominant nation on the World Cup. Seven of the top-10 times in Saturday's downhill were posted by Austrians, and Saturday's sweep marked the 18th time in the history of the World Cup that Austrian skiers have claimed the top four places, and the fourth time in 2000. "It's a constant selection process because it's such a strong team," said Strobl. "At each race you have double the pressure and you have to put so much effort to get on top of the rest of the team." The only real threat to the Austrian domination, Lasse Kjus, sat out the downhill with teammate Kjetil Andre Aamodt, protesting the heavily loaded schedule which sees skiers competing in North America one day and in Europe the next. Kjus had arrived at the French resort engaged in a tight battle with Maier in the overall, and his absence allowed the Austrian to extend his lead atop the standings, increasing his total to 516 points. Kjus dropped to third with 371 behind Eberharter, in second with 409. Last season, Maier won the overall on the strength of 10 World Cup wins and 22 podium finishes in 28 entries. So far this season, Maier has four wins. The victory also boosted Maier into second place in the downhill standings with 216 points, behind Eberharter, who has finished on the podium in all three downhills this season and top the table with 240 points. Val d'Isere has traditionally given Maier a lot of trouble, his bid for a downhill victory here repeatedly obstructed by illness and foul weather. Until Saturday, Maier had just one win to his name at the traditional French station, a super-G in 1999. In 1996, he was sidelined with the flu. The following year foul weather forced organizers to cancel the downhill. The next day, Maier had his victory in the giant slalom taken away because he unstrapped one of his skis too soon after the finish line and the win was awarded to arch rival Michael Von Gruenigen. In 1998, the powerful Austrian was thwarted again when poor weather repeatedly interrupted the downhill race, varying course conditions and distorting the outcome, with Kjus claiming the victory and Maier finishing a distant 35th. Last year Maier was frustrated again when heavy snow and fog wiped out all the races. "It's really good to finally have the downhill victory here," said Maier. "It's a classic downhill with lots of gliding and a race every skier wants to win."
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
