VAL D'ISERE, France (AFP) - Austrian Christoph Gruber and Super-G gold medallist Lindsey Vonn topped respective training times for the men and women's downhill at the World Ski Championships here on Thursday.

In overcast conditions that made visibility tricky, Gruber negotiated the 2,988-metre-long Bellevarde piste in 2min 10.82sec, 0.47sec ahead of compatriot Michael Walchhofer, with Croatian tyro Natko Zrncic-Dim a further 0.23sec off the pace in third.

On the opposite 2,135-metre-long Rhones-Alpes piste, Vonn led a women's one-two-three in training that exactly mirrored the podium in Tuesday's Super-G.

The American clocked 1:18.65, with France's Marie Marchand-Arvier 0.38sec adrift and Austrian Andrea Fischbacher in third at 0.52sec.

Swiss teenager Lara Gut finished fourth and Austrian Elisabeth Goergl fifth in the second downhill training for the women ahead of Friday's super-combined event, for which you have to have completed at least one training run to be eligible.

German starlet Maria Riesch, currently second in the women's World Cup overall standings behind Vonn, rebounded from a fall on Thursday that left her with bruising to her face, back and knee to clock 1:21.30 in 26th position, one ahead of reigning world combined champion Anja Paerson of Sweden.

Veteran Renate Goetschl of Austria, and fancied Italian outsider Nadia Fanchini both failed to finish the course.

The men's course, longer and modified from the Super-G which caused so many skiers problems, still managed to throw up some banana skins, and organisers asked racers to put on the brakes before the final jump because of strong winds.

"I find it incredible that on a piste like that and an enormous jump like that, we weren't really ready for the first day of training," said Super-G gold medallist Didier Cuche.

"To try to go over this jump basically standing still today and tomorrow give it big air, well I prefer to have done it as I did it because I saw that you fly even when you're not arriving very fast," the Swiss veteran said after posting the sixth fastest time having barely eased up for the jump.

Second-placed Walchhofer, the leader in World Cup downhill standings, added: "It was bad visibility and I didn't see any of the bumps. It was like skiing on eggs.

"It was very icy, but it was important for me to be here after missing last year's event. It was a good first run."

Croatian Ivica Kostelic, ruled out of Wednesday's Super-G with a back injury, took part in training but rated his chances of lining up for Monday's super combined at only 70 percent.

"It's better but I've still got a sore back and it's probably in the downhill that I feel most pain," said Kostelic, leader in the overall World Cup standings.

"The piste is better prepared than last year. The problem is that I haven't done a slalom since Garmish last Sunday," he said, stressing that the world championships came third in his priority list behind the Olympic Games and the World Cup circuit.

Another racer feeling under the weather was Austrian veteran Hermann Maier, who said he was struggling to recover from a heavy cold.

"It's not so easy to get better," the 36-year-old bemoaned, adding that he hoped the downhill would be postponed because of snow forecast for the weekend. "That would give me two or three extra days to get better."

The third and final downhill training run for the women is on Saturday ahead of Sunday's downhill, and a day after the super combined.

The men have their second training run on Friday ahead of Saturday's downhill, and a third on Sunday ahead of their super combined on Monday.

AFP
February 6, 2009, 6:19 am