06 FEB 2001 > Women's Downhill
Austrian Team Dominates Downhill
Downhill Results
The Austrian women's team only had a silver medal at these World Championships until today. The powerhouse team celebrated a superb comeback in the women's downhill by taking all three places on the podium, just as it did two years ago in Vail. In fact, two of the three medal winners are the same.

"The training runs didn't go so well, but I never gave up..."

Michaela Dorfmeister, who won her first downhill here in St. Anton five years ago, skied an agressive run to beat Vail's World Champion, Renate Goetschl, by 14/100 of a second, and 3rd-place teammate Selina Heregger by 17/100.

Two years ago in Vail, Goetschl pulled ahead of Dorfmeister, the fastest at the intermediate point.

Dorfmeister, the 2000 giant slalom World Cup champion, wasn't one of the top contenders after the downhill training runs. And this season she hasn't reached a single downhill podium. Even in the super G, she finished far behind the leaders last week, but she was able to find back her momentum at the right time.

"The training runs didn't go so well, but I never gave up," Dorfmeister said. "I'm used to these kinds of unexpected returns. My career has had a lot of ups and downs. It's a big day for my family and my fans who have supported me so strongly for years." Two years ago, Dorfmeister missed an Olympic gold medal in Nagano by one hundredth of a second in the super G won by USA's Picabo Street.

Goetschl was not too disappointed with her 2nd place after crashing in both the super G and combined races. "I never lost confidence, and I fought hard for this race. The conditions were extremely difficult because of the bad visibility. The slope was already very rough when I came down. The way I see it, I won the silver medal and I didn't loose the gold medal."

Switzerland's Corinne Rey-Bellet, who clocked the best intermediate time here in St. Anton, finished 4th, barely missing the first medal in her career. Two years ago, she won a downhill and a super G on this course. Italy's Isolde Kostner finished a disappointing 5th after battling poor visibility during her run.

The downhill course was on hold for almost 20 minutes after Canada's Emily Brydon crashed, tearing ligaments in both knees. During this time, it was sunny, but clouds rolled in just as other top favorites, including Kostner, took their turns the course.

USA's Caroline Lalive fell, but she will be able to compete in the night slalom on Wednesday. Her teammate Megan Gerety was not able to repeat her performance from the super G and finished a far 17th. Other Americans Kirsten Clark and Jonna Mendes both clocked fast intermediate times, but they lost ground on the last, rough technical section. Clark ended 12th and Mendes 20th.

The next women's event, the slalom, is planned for Wednesday evening.

— Manuèle Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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