Stephan Eberharter may have felt he wasn't skiing so well but, after nearly six week's off, the Austrian showed no real signs of rustiness Friday as he won the first super G of the season by four-hundredths of a second. U.S. skiers struggled, with Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) the top racer finishing 24th.

Eberharter, a three-event racer who was No. 2 behind Hermann Maier in World Cup overall standings a year ago, is expected to take over as Austria's leading skier with Maier out with a leg injury. Today he marked The Herminator's 29th birthday by winning in 1:26.53.

Didier Cuche of Switzerland was runner-up with 1:26.57 with another Swiss, Silvano Beltrametti, 3rd in 1:27.18 in this the super G, a make-up from Beaver Creek, Colo.

"I wish Hermann a happy birthday," Eberharter said as his teammate recuperates from a broken leg suffered in late August, "but I'm still not dedicating my victory to him." Eberharter was secod in the opening race of the season, a giant slalom held Oct. 28 in Soelden, Austria, and hasn't raced since; this was the seventh World Cup for the 1991 world SG champion.

For the U.S. skiers, Rahlves started slowly -- a full second behind Eberharter at the first split at the top -- and finished in 1:29.15. Thomas Vonn (Newburgh, NY) was 31st in 1:30.30, less than .2 out of the points, while Chad Fleischer was 32nd, Casey Puckett (Aspen, CO) 42nd and Scott Macartney (Redmond, WA), returning from aching knees that sidelined him most of last season, was 46th in the field of 74.

"It's super disappointing," Rahlves said. "We just weren't on top of it. I made three big mistakes tactically ... It was poor skiing.

"We pretty much had a rough ride. The snow was grippy up top but slick on the bottom; it got glazed," he said. "We've got another one tomorrow, so we'll be back after it."

The men, idle since two slaloms Nov. 25-26 in Aspen, have four consecutive days of racing in Val d'Isere. Saturday, they run the first downhill of the Cafe de Colombia season, Sunday it's giant slalom, and Monday night they'll be in Madonna diCampiglio, Italy, for a slalom under the lights. The men's DH from Beaver Creek still has not been rescheduled.

— Courtesy, US Ski Team