LAKE LOUISE, Alberta Austrian Stephan Eberharter battled through a challenging tail wind and difficult light conditions to earn the first World Cup Downhill victory of his career.
"What a surprise! I made two mistakes on the run," said Eberharter after claiming his fifth career World Cup victory in the first downhill of the season.
Eberharter, Super-G gold medalist at the 1991 world championships and 1998 Olympic silver medalist in Giant Slalom, covered the wind-swept course in one minute 40.79 seconds.
When he hit the finish line, the Austrian grimaced as if he had blown the race only to break into a wide smile when he saw that he was the leader.
"I was angry. I didn't think I had done it," he said. "This is such a surprise. I could not think I could do this." Silvano Beltrametti, a 21-year-old Swiss racer who is coming back from a neck injury, was another surprise as he claimed second place in 1:41.03.
"There was no way I could expect this. I was hoping for maybe a top 10, but this is such a surprise ... so great," gushed Beltrametti, who was injured in a crash in Wengen, Switzerland, 10 months ago.
Twice World Cup overall champion Lasse Kjus of Norway, who returned after missing much of last season with sinus and bronchitis problems, took third in 1:41.21, with Josef Strobl of Austria fourth and American Chad Fleischer fifth.
Austrian superstar Herman Maier, the defending World Cup Downhill champion, finished a distant and disappointing 15th after surviving a near spill when he caught the edge of his right ski near the finish.
Eberharter's victory moved him into the overall World Cup points lead with 195 to Maier's 176 after four races.
(Reuter)