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www.worldskinews.com/Val
d'Isere (FRA) 11.12.2004
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Men
Downhill - Race report
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First downhill win for Werner Franz
Val D'Isère, Dec.12th. It was a day for outsider in Val d'Isère where Austria's Werner Franz jumped out of the shadow of his more famous team-mates to win his first World Cup downhill. The 32-year-old veteran, who started in second position, beat by only 27/100 of a second Marco Buechel from Liechtenstein while Michael Walchhofer was again 3rd at half a second.
USA's Bode Miller, unbeaten so far in that specialty, was a strong 4th after challenging Werner's best intermediate times in the upper parts of the “O-K” course. This performance allowed him to increase his lead in the downhill and the Overall World Cup standings. His main rival, Hermann Maier, who used again his former Lange boots which helped him to clock the fastest training time on Friday, ended a far and disappointed 26th! Also among the top-10, California's Daron Rahlves, faster than usual on this course which doesn't normally fit his temperament and France's Antoine Deneriaz, both 7th.
A nice revenge for Werner Franz
It's quite a wild dream which came through for Werner Franz in that downhill after accumulating more than a dozen top-3 finishes in that event!
After an almost perfect run, he recorded his first World Cup downhill victory after 98 starts, charging down the Oreiller-Killy course with great determination and much confidence after clocking the second fastest time in training on Friday.
"Today is like Easter, Christmas and my birthday all wrapped into one," said this father of two kids who started with bib number 2. “It's great to win in Val d'Isère where so many Austrian celebrated great wins.”
Franz, who uses Lange boots and Blizzard skis, finished 2nd in the downhill seven times before this unexpected triumph. He suffered some serious injuries since starting on the World Cup circuit in 1992.
So far, he only won another World Cup competition, a Super-G raced in St. Anton, Austria, in 2000. “But to win a downhill means much more to me, especially in those conditions.”
Werner's luck
In reality, Werner should not have been part of the Austrian team this week and even this season. “I think that my career would have been over if some veterans as Stephan Eberharter or Hannes Trinkl would have decided to continue their career,” he explained. “I also took advantage from the fact that Andy Schifferer is out of shape and didn't come here at all. In Lake Louise, I could only start because Fritz Strobl injured himself during his crash in training.”
"I'm happy to prove to my coaches I'm still a good racer today. It's really tough to be part of the Austrian team which has so many talents.”
Last January, the Austrian's ended his season earlier than expected after hurting his shoulder while competing in Bad Kleinkichheim. Three years ago, he shredded knee ligaments preparing the season in Soelden!
"I was just glad to be allowed back onto the team this year," he added.
"Skiing is my life," he said. "When the coaches told me I had a second chance to qualify on the team, I took it. And here I am! It's hard to describe the feeling. "It's like Christmas, Easter and a birthday all together. When I hurt myself in January, I really thought my career was over. It's unbelievable. I have dreamt of winning a downhill since I was a kid.”
A great day too for Marco Buechel
It was also a remarkable day for Marco Buechel, who achieved his best performance in a downhill - competing for the first time in Val d'Isère!
“I told my wife last summer than I want to get once on the podium in downhill, and I did it here,” said Marco, a fanatic base-jumper.
“It's a great specialty, but I only ski it to improve my Super-G technique after having excelled for years in giant slalom!”
A silver medal winner in giant slalom in 1999 during the Vail Worlds, Marco beat all the favourites in a Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkichen two years ago. Ebeharter had to battle until the last race in Kvitfjell afterwards to beat him at the end in the Super-G World Cup standings!
“Last year I was not so strong, I put too much pressure on me, but I have learned a lot. My equipment is also very efficient and I feel really strong this winter!”
Another good day for Bode
Bode Miller was not disappointed at all missing a fifth consecutive podium in a speed event by only 3/100 of a second. “I achieved another strong race, I felt comfortable at the top, maybe I did a few mistakes at the bottom which eventually cost me the 3rd place, but it was definitely a good day for me,” he said. “It's nice to see that I can be fast on all kinds of runs now. Some parts of this downhill were quite fun and challenging, I enjoyed it.”
Bode, who sleeps again in his mobile-home driven by his friend Jake, a cook at his tennis camp in Franconia, seems to enjoy his European tour. “It's nice here, the crowd is having fun and I feel quite relaxed now. December is a tough month with much action in a short time. I'll be travelling, training or racing during the next ten days so it's important to save as much energy as possible. I trained well last summer and I'm fit.”
Hermann Maier is less relaxed for the moment. A triple winner here in recent years in three events, the defending Overall World Cup champion was expecting more after his encouraging training run. “I don't know what happened, I thought I was skiing well,” he said after his race. “I can't understand what went wrong. I'll have to check my race on video and speak with my serviceman.”
He will try to make up some terrain in Sunday's giant slalom which should be quite dramatic too. Miller, a winner here three years ago, will try to finish it. The other skiers to beat should be Benjamin Raich, Lasse Kjus and Kalle Palander, who was not happy at all in Beaver Creek.
Patrick Lang
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