Daron Rahlves of the US collected his third World Cup downhill victory of the season, winning on the Lauberhorn course Saturday.
Rahlves, the winner at Beaver Creek and Bormio earlier this season, needed 2 minutes, 30.54 seconds to cover the 4,480m course, the longest race on the World cup circuit.
Austria's Michael Walchhofer, the reigning World Cup downhill champion, was runner up, 0.40 seconds behind. Teammate and Olympic downhill champion Fritz Strobl was third, trailing by 1.06.
PHOTO: AP
Rahlves felt provoked after being snubbed as a favorite in the local Swiss papers.
"I read that ski legend Bernhard Russi had picked his six favorites: Walchhofer, Strobl, Marco [Buechel], Bode [Miller], Bruno Kernen and Hermann Maier. I wasn't even mentioned," Rahlves said. "Seriously, it gave me more motivation. I want to be known as a contender."
Rahlves was the first American to win on the 76-year-old Lauberhorn since Kyle Rasmussen in 1995.
Olympic champion Bill Johnson is the only other US skier to win a downhill at Wengen.
Double Olympic champion Hermann Maier was fourth Saturday in 2:31.83, for his best result in the discipline since the season-opening downhill in Lake Louise, Canada. Maier, who had bib number 26, said it was a disadvantage to start late as the course got choppy.
Defending overall World Cup champion Bode Miller finished 11th, 2.41 off the pace after a couple of mistakes.
Janica Kostelic could walk away with three gold medals again at the upcoming Olympics -- if her recent World Cup form is anything to go by.
The Croat claimed her first World Cup downhill victory on Saturday. Three weeks ago, she broke through for her maiden giant slalom win.
She has won those events at the Olympics or worlds, but never before on skiing's regular circuit.
Nonetheless, Kostelic blots out thoughts of another triple gold performance -- like the ones at the Salt Lake City Olympics or last year's world championships.
"I really don't think about the Olympics, unless someone asks me. I try to concentrate on the [World Cup] races -- they are the best preparation," Kostelic said.
However, the 24-year-old Croat admitted two days ago she can't escape the expectations. Thoughts of the Turin games, starting Feb. 10, do creep into her head.
Kostelic clocked 1 minute, 37.96 seconds in winning her first downhill and 23rd World Cup race.
She finished .17 seconds ahead of Sweden's Nike Bent, who was comfortably ahead until caught by the Croat. Austrian Michaela Dorfmeister was third in 1:38.53.
Outside of her gold at the worlds in Bormio, Italy, Kostelic's best downhills had been two second placings in the World Cup last season.
"It's not the happiest day of my career, but one of the happiest," Kostelic said. "For a Croatian like me, we don't have any place to train downhill. It's not surprising I win slalom, but not downhill."
She picked up her first World Cup giant slalom victory at Spindleruv Myln in the Czech Republic. Now she hopes for a third breakthrough -- winning her first super-G race ever.
Tobias Angerer of Germany and Katerina Neumannova of the Czech Republic won mass start World Cup races Saturday, showing an impressive form one month ahead of the Olympic Games in Turin.
World Cup leader Angerer secured his fourth win of the season, edging Russian Evgenji Dementiev and Italy's Pietro Piller Cottrer in a three-way sprint to the finish line in the men's 30km freestyle race.
Neumannova captured the women's 15KM freestyle with a solo finish for her third win of the season and 17th World Cup career triumph.
Angerer fought off an attack by Piller Cottrer in the last kilometer and sprinted ahead of the Italian on the final straight.
The winner clocked 1 hour, 14 minutes, 49.3 seconds. Dementiev, who also edged Piller Cottrer on the line, was 0.3 seconds back. The Italian, who at one time led by five seconds, was third, 0.6 behind Angerer.
Emmanuel Jonnier of France was fourth, Italy's Giorgio Di Centa finished fifth and Sweden's Andres Soedergren was sixth.
Angerer has 585 points overall, 130 ahead of second-place Tore Arne Hetland of Norway.
In the women's race, Neumannova beat Julija Tchepalova of Russia by 13.9 seconds and Norway's Marit Bjoergen by 22.9 seconds.
The Czech will be aiming for three Olympic gold medals next month after clinching two silvers at Salt Lake City four years ago.
Bjoergen's third place kept her atop the World Cup overall standings with 645 points after 13 races. Tchepalova is second with 540, Germany's Claudia Kuenzel is third with 417 and Neumannova moved to fourth with 390.
Tchepalova led the race through the 12th kilometer, when Neumannova attacked at an uphill section and quickly opened a gap.
Beckie Scott of Canada and Estonia's Kristina Smigun, who are among the favorites for Olympic cross country medals, did not compete at Val di Fiemme.
The two-day Italian meet continues with relay events today. The next World Cup round is at Oberstdorf, Germany, on Jan. 21-22.
Frode Andresen of Norway won a World Cup men's 10km sprint race to stop a one-two finish by German biathletes on Saturday.
Andresen proved strong skiing can compensate for less-than-perfect shooting as the veteran missed one of 10 targets but finished in 25 minutes, 3.5 seconds.
Germany's Michael Roesch hit all ten targets but finished 3.8 seconds behind and compatriot Michael Greis was third, 11.8 seconds off the pace after one penalty lap.
Raphael Poiree of France finished fourth to take over the lead in the World Cup standings with 298 points. German Sven Fischer is second with 293, while previous leader Alexander Wolf of Germany dropped to third with 292 after a disappointing 27th place.
Dmitri Dashinski of Belarus overcame gusting winds Saturday to win a one-round World Cup aerials contest at Deer Valley resort.
Dashinski received 130.53 points for his full, double-full, full (four twists, three flips) after nearly a two-hour delay for safety reasons because of erratic winds after what was to have been the women's qualifying round.
Canada's Warren Shouldice finished second with 128.54, ahead of countryman Kyle Nissen with 127.88.
Chinese skier Xinxin Guo won the women's event with 98.82 points when organizers elected to cancel the final round and declare the qualifying round as the official competition. Second place went to Canadian Veronika Bauer at 93.76 with Alla Tsuper of Belarus completing the podium (92.29).
The meet was stopped temporarily when Russian Dmitri Arkhipov, who won the aerials world championship at Deer Valley in 2003, crashed as he started the first round. He was taken to a Salt Lake City Hospital with a reported concussion and shoulder injury.
The World Cup tour heads next to Lake Placid, New York, for two moguls contests and an aerials meet Jan. 20-22.
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