Stephan Eberharter proved that his knee is just fine, thank you, with a clear-cut victory in the downhill at Bormio. Eberharter's winning time was 1:59.27, nearly a half-second faster than Austrian teammate Michael Walchofer, who finished second in 1:59.75. American Daron Rahlves, who won a downhill at Bormio on December 29th, was third in 2:00.04.

The victory, Eberharter's fourth downhill win this season, propelled him back into the overall points lead ahead of Bode Miller. Miller finished 8th in the downhill. Eberharter has 655 total points, while Miller, who continues to lead the Giant Slalom points race, is second overall with 610.

Miller will have an opportunity to make up ground in Sunday's slalom, a race Eberharter seldom runs. Coming into the season, Miller was perceived by many to be more of a threat in the technical races, but he has not scored a point in slalom this season, although he has skied brilliantly in GS with wins at Alta Badia and last week at Kranjska Gora.

Miller stayed at Kranjska Gora Monday to compete in a Europa Cup slalom and work on his event. He won that race and is primed and ready to go tomorrow. Should Miller close the gap or retake the lead, the second half of the season holds the potential of an exciting back and forth bout with Eberharter for the championship.

Following Sunday's slalom, the tour moves on to Adelboden, Switzerland for a mid-week GS on Tuesday before spending a huge weekend in Wengen, Switzerland with two downhills, a slalom and a knockout slalom scheduled.

"Daron almost put it down at the end. He skied right through a gate; it probably would've taken down most people but he kept it going and had a solid run. —U.S. coach John McBride, on Daron Rahlves

Among other American competitors, Marco Sullivan was 21st and Jake Fiala tied for 35th.

"It was a really good day," said Coach John McBride. "Daron almost put it down at the end. He skied right through a gate; it probably would've taken down most people but he kept it going and had a solid run.

"That mistake, though, probably cost him second place. I don't know if he could've caught 'Speedy Gonzales' [Eberharter] but he certainly could've been second…

"And Bode and Marco skied well, too. Where I was, Bode skied top of the field and I know he's gonna end that no-points-in-slalom thing [Sunday].He's got some things working and he'll be 'there'…and Marco just got better and better all week, from the 50s on the first day of training to 31st [in Friday's training run] to 21st. He keeps stepping it up," McBride said.

— Courtesy U.S. Ski Team with additional material from MountainZone.com Staff