GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AP) _ Stephan Eberharter successfully defended his World Cup downhill title Saturday, completely dominating the penultimate race of the season in the discipline. The powerful Austrian won his title in convincing fashion, charging down the icy, sun-soaked Kandahar course in 1 minute, 55.68 seconds, over a second faster than the rest of the field.

Stephan Eberharter

"It was a heck of a race," said Eberharter, still breathing heavily after his sixth downhill victory of the season. "It was 100 percent ice and you needed really to
grit your teeth and be aggressive.
"You needed strong nerves." It marked Eberharter's first downhill victory in Garmisch, considered a prestigious classic on the World Cup circuit.
Switzerland's Didier Cuche was runnerup in 1:56.75. American Daron Rahlves, who was quickest in training three days running and was Eberharter's closest contender for the title, was third in 1:56.98.
Austrian Peter Rzehak crossed fourth in 1:57.24. Eberharter increased his total to 710 points in the World Cup downhill standings, with Rahlves sitting second on 533.
The Austrian is out of reach with just one downhill remaining this season, at the finals in Lillehammer.

 Stephan Eberharter

The 33-year-old Eberharter took over as super-G world champion from Rahlves in St. Moritz two weeks ago but had a disappointing downhill race, finishing fifth despite being the heavy favorite.
Rahlves had been looking to make up for a bleak world championship campaign, where he missed the final gate in the downhill and surrendered his super-G title when he finished a dismal 22nd.
The victory also gave Eberharter valuable points toward the overall crown. The Austrian now leads with 1065 points, with his American challenger Bode Miller sitting second on 957.
Miller_ who won gold in the giant slalom and combined in St. Moritz and took silver behind Eberharter in the super-G_ had shown promise in training but had a disastrous race, finishing more than four seconds back.
The pair will have another chance to collect points in Sunday's super-G.
The near bulletproof course claimed several victims on the day, including newly-crowned world downhill champion Michael Walchhofer, who led all the way down until losing control and careening into the safety netting near the bottom. American Marco Sullivan, Klaus Kroell of Austria and Italian Kristian Ghedina also crashed out .

AP, 22/02/03

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