Defending World Cup overall and downhill champion Stephan Eberharter of Austria stole the spotlight Saturday from Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) and Austrian teammate Hermann Maier, winning the next-to-last World Cup downhill of the season to clinch his third straight DH title. Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) finished fourth, Maier was ninth and reclaimed the overall points lead with five races remaining as Miller tied for 26th.

Eberharter won the 11th of 12 downhills with a time of 1:43.41 over the 3K Olympiabakken run, edging teammate and Olympic DH champion Fritz Strobl by .04. Rahlves finished in 1:43.86 with Miller tied for 26th in 1:45.07. Maier has 1,105 points to 1,089 for Miller and 1,061 for Eberharter with Austrian Benjamin Raich, who was 17th in the DH, dropping back a spot to fourth (1,013). Rahlves is third in the downhill points, just 10 back of Maier with one race left as he looks to equal last year's USA-best second-place finish.

In his first season of fulltime World Cup racing, Bryon Friedman (Park City, UT) was 33rd and missed World Cup Finals by a single point. World Cup Finals participants are the top 25 in each discipline plus the World Juniors Championships gold medalist; Friedman finished 27th following a tie for 25th place.

"It was a beating all around today," said U.S. DH/SG Head Coach John McBride, a reference to Miller dropping back in the points, Rahlves just missing the podium and Friedman just missing World Cup Finals. "Bode had some trouble on the top and lost a lot at the bottom, too. I thought 'D' [Rahlves] really pulled it together, though, from training and skied another good one. He likes this hill [two downhill victories, two top-5s in super G]...

"And I'm not sure where Bryon lost it. He skied really well where I was and he said he felt good. It's tough to miss it by a point but maybe it'll make a point with him - and anyone else - that every race counts. You can't give away any points," the coach said.

ALPINE MEN'S WORLD CUP
Men's Downhill

1. Stephan Eberharter, Austria, 1:43.41
2. Fritz Strobl, Austria, 1:43.45
3. Antoine Deneriaz, France, 1:43.77
4. Daron Rahlves, Sugar Bowl, Calif., 1:43.86
5. Hans Knauss, Austria, 1:43.89

26T. Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H., 1:45.07
33. Bryon Friedman, Park City, Utah, 1:45.69
43. Jake Fiala, Frisco, Colo., 1:46.57

— Courtesy of US Ski Team