07 December 2003 - 17:51 Rahlves Takes Downhill Win on Home Snow

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado (Reuters) - American Daron Rahlves swooped down the Birds of Prey piste to win a men's World Cup Alpine skiing downhill before his home crowd on Friday. The former super-G world champion beat overall World Cup champion Stephan Eberharter of Austria and Norwegian Bjarne Solbakken, who tied in second place, by 0.69 of a second for the fifth win of his World Cup career.

Daron Rahlves

Stephan Eberharter

Austrian world champion Michael Walchhofer, winner of the season's first downhill in Lake Louise, was fourth.

 Bjarne Solbakken

Rahlves clocked a time of one minute 39.59 seconds to disappoint Solbakken, who had led the leaderboard for almost an hour before Rahlves left the hut as the 28th starter.

The race was rescheduled for Beaver Creek, which hosts another downhill Saturday and a super-G Sunday, from Val d'Isere next week due to a lack of snow in the French Alps.

Austrian HermannMaier, the double Olympic champion who celebrates his 31st birthday Sunday after winning a super-G in the Canadian resort of Lake Louise last week, finished a strong fifth.

Maier had not raced on one of the World Cup's most challenging slopes for three years due to leg injuries sustained in a life-threatening motorcycle accident two seasons ago.

Bode Miller

American Bode Miller, runner-up in the overall World Cup last year and winner of two races so far this season, crashed out spectacularly.

Cedric Meilleur

The super-G and giant slalom world champion lost his balance coming out of the Abyss jump and flew high into the air before careering through a gate and into the catch fences.

He picked himself up and reached the finish on one ski, apparently unhurt. 

Fri Dec 5, 4:33 PM ET, Reuters

Bjarne Solbakken, Daron Rahlves and Stephan Eberharter