Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

Men's Downhill Technical Analysis [click for audio]

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Transcribed from Audio:
The new champion in the men's downhill, the most prestigious event in the Winter Olympics, is the 31-year-old veteran Jean-Luc Cretier, the first Frenchman to win this title since Jean-Claude Killy in 1968.

On a difficult course that caused 15 racers to crash out, Cretier kept his cool and produced a controlled run, benefiting from an early start number of three, and his time of 1.50.11 was never beaten.

Lasse Kjus, of Norway, further confirmed his all-around ability by taking the silver medal, and the bronze went to Hannes Trinkl, who was only the fourth ranked Austrian and didn't even make the team at last year's World Championships.

The pre-race favorite, Hermann Maier, from Austria, going at number four, was the first of many racers to crash out at the first S-bend — and did so spectacularly, flying horizontally through the air and landing on his head.

The other victims of the first S-bend were reigning World Champion Bruno Kernen, Cretier's teammates Nicolas Burtin and Adrien Duvillard, American A.J. Kitt, Canadian Luke Sauder and Italy's Luca Cattaneo, who damaged knee ligaments and had to be rescued by helicopter.

After 19 racers had started, it seemed that the race was over, but suddenly Canada's Brian Stemmle caused great excitement by posting the fastest time at the half-way point, .3 seconds ahead of Cretier's half-way mark. To the horror of Canadian ski racing fans, Stemmle then lost his balance in the turn above the Russi jump and went off the course.

At this point, the top of the course appeared to be getting quicker, perhaps due to a tail wind. Juerg Gruenenfelder of Switzerland and Ed Podivinsky of Canada mounted a late challenge to the medals finishing fourth and fifth with Gruenenfelder just one one-hundredth of a second away from a place on the podium. Kyle Rasmussen from California was the best placed U.S. athlete, in 9th place.

Before the race, the great downhiller Luc Alphand, a three-time World Cup champion, had said that Cretier was still focused on the race and very calm, and that prediction was to prove correct. Cretier will return to France as a national hero.

— Martin Bell, Mountain Zone International Correspondent