Fritz Strobl

In an impressive achievement, Austria's Fritz Strobl won his second Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbühel, Austria, three years after setting a new course record on the famous Streif course. Aside from crushing the best speed skiers of the winter, all of whom have previous downhill wins this season, the 27-year-old Strobl also ended a long streak of disappointing results.

On the mythical Streif course, which had to shortened due to poor visibility and falling snow, Strobl was able beat his teammate Josef Strobl (no relation) by 65/100 of a second. Italy's Kristian Ghedina tied with Josef Strobl for 2nd. The Overall World Cup leader Hermann Maier had to settle with a frustrating 4th place at 95/100, while Hannes Trinkl, winner in Lake Louise, was 5th at 1.10 second.

"I heard the crowds roaring and thought they are either in an extremely good mood, or I'm really first..." — Austria's Fritz Strobl

"I really wasn't expecting this after my rough run," said Fritz Strobl. "I made so many mistakes, I don't know how I could be so fast. I was not happy with my run at all. The visibility was bad, fortunately my skis were running perfectly on that smooth and wet fresh snow," said the winner.

Austria's dominating team put eight skiers in the top-10 with only Ghedina and 7th-placed Norwegian Kjetil Aamodt entering among the elite, in front of some 40,000 home spectators. Chris Puckett was the best US skier, in 20th place. Daron Rahlves, 10th in super G, was 26th.

Fritz Strobl, 5th last week in Wengen after a tough crash during the final training run and 4th at the 1997 World Championships, celebrated his fourth career victory today. With three victories in 1997, he was one of the main contenders for the downhill World Cup, next to France's Luc Alphand, who finally clinched the overall and downhill World Cup titles during the finals at Vail.

"It's a great place to come back on the top," says Strobl. "I was confident before the race because I knew that my material was fast on this kind of snow, yet I could not ski as well as I hoped. I guess that most racers had problems today with that weather.

"I'm happy that we started below the Mausefalle (Mouse trap) jump as I'm not such a good jumper," he added. Strobl did, however, have the highest speed entering the final schuss before crossing the finish line — over 129 kilometers per hour.

"I heard the crowds roaring and thought they are either in an extremely good mood or I'm really first," added the man whose form has wavered since three wins in Val d'Isere, Vail and Kitzbühel.

Thanks to his fine 7th place, Kjetil Aamodt is favored to win the combined Sunday, but after his great win in Wengen, he aims for more on the demanding "Gamslerhang" course....

He faced some difficult moments in his career when his Austrian ski producer decided to stop providing material to the downhill team. "It was difficult, but I was happy to enter the Salomon team two years ago," he said. "The skis were flying today. I have been very often fast in training in past downhills, but I made too many mistakes to finish ahead. This time, too, I did not achieved a clean run, but I kept on pushing myself. It was the right tactic."

Josef Strobl, known as "Pepi," was pleased with his second podium in two weeks after he stunned Maier by capturing the famous Lauberhorn downhill in Wengen last weekend.

Maier, the winner of Friday's super G on the same Streif piste and leader of the Overall World Cup standings, was not so pleased about conditions. "The snow was really sticky," he said. "I soon felt that I was cruising as fast as I should and I almost lost my momentum. It was quite frustrating. I hope that the course will be icy next year and starting from the very top." The double World and Olympic champion has again failed to make the podium in the downhill race which most Austrian racers dream to win. Maier first competed in Kitzbühel last year where he had a disappointing 8th place a day after crashing out of a two-run sprint downhill.

	Josef Strobl

Not too disappointed was Ghedina, the fastest man in the upper part of the course when it was snowing more intensively. He was not able to ski as aggressively in the final treacherous "Hausberg" part, where Fritz Strobl was the fastest.

"I did one of my best races here, considering the conditions. I can't ski at my limits when the weather is so bad. I need good light to attack the course with the greatest determination. So this second place is really good for me because it proves to me that I'm back in shape. The downhill World Cup is again going to be quite exciting until the end this season," said Ghedina, who set the fastest training time on Thursday before the super G.

Thanks to his fine 7th place, Kjetil Aamodt is favored to win the combined Sunday, but after his great win in Wengen, he aims for more on the demanding "Gamslerhang" course. Among the other favorites are Austria's young star Benjamin Raich, who recovered from his flu last week; Jure Josir, the winner last year; Switzerland's Didier Plaschy or his teammate Ole Kristian Furuseth.

America's Sacha Gros will try to repeat his great performance at Wengen, where he was 10th after setting the fastest time in the second run.

— Manuéle Joyce, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent