The men's World Cup circuit moves to Val Gardena, Italy this week for a Super-G on Friday and Downhill on Saturday following a stay at Val d'Isere, France. Last weekend's winners were Michael Von Gruenigen in the Giant Slalom and overall points leader Stephan Eberharter in the Downhill.

Eberharter's weekend ended badly, however. He crashed in Sunday's GS, injuring ligaments in his right knee, and was taken off the course on a sled. It was initially feared that the injury might end the Austrian's season, but further evaluation resulted in a 2-4 week prognosis for his recovery and return to racing.

The U.S. team was bolstered by Bode Miller's strong 2nd place finish in the GS. Miller, who has worked hard this year on his performance in the speed races, demonstrated that he is still a major force on technical runs. He led after the first run on Sunday, but was overtaken by Von Gruenigen when he had some trouble on the upper part of the course in his second run.

U.S. Men's Head SL/GS Coach Martin Andersen said, "Bode did a good job. The light was much worse for him on the second run; he couldn't really attack because he couldn't see." For Von Gruenigen, the victory was the 22nd of his storied career and second GS win this season.

In the downhill on Friday, Eberharter was dominant, winning his 3rd DH of the season without a loss and leading an Austrian sweep of the podium. No Americans finished in the top 10.

"Across the board our athletes are doing a really good job and the coaches are doing a really good job." — Alan Ashley, VP Athletics, U.S. Ski

Like Val d'Isere, Val Gardena is a storied stop on the World Cup tour. For Friday's GS, the U.S. Team will have Thomas Vonn starting in the 8th position, Daron Rahlves going off 13th, and Bode Miller in a fine slot, 15th. The final three starters among the 30 qualified racers will be cup stalwarts Fritz Strobl of Austria, Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway and Didier Cuche of France.

For the Downhill, Strobl had the fastest run in the final training session, winning a bounty of 4,000 Euros. The U.S. had a fine day in the final training run, with Marco Sullivan, Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves placing 8th, 9th and 10th, respectively.

Much discussion continues on the tour about the new FIS qualifying rules this year, with racers still tweaking their strategies to ensure the best starting slot for the final race. However, the addition of a fairly substantial prize for winning the training run clearly appealed to Strobl, who said the Christmas bonus suited him just fine.

Training was marred by a significant crash for Italy's Luca Cattaneo, the first man on the course. He ruptured the ACL, MCL and patella tendons in his knee after going off the course and crashing badly into the netting. Obviously, his season is finished...whether he will be able to return to racing at all, only time will tell.

— MountainZone.com Staff