KVITFJELL, Norway — Hermann Maier won a World Cup downhill yesterday, leading an Austrian 1-2 double on Lillehammer’s Olympic course, while Bode Miller’s fourth place enabled the American to stretch his overall lead.
Maier, one of the greatest downhillers of all time but a non-winner in Norway since 2001, covered the 3,035-meter Olympiabakken in 1 minute, 46.10 seconds. Mario Scheiber was runner-up for the second straight downhill, finishing just 13 hundreds of a second behind.
This was Maier’s first downhill win of the season. He has 49 in the downhill, super-G and giant slalom in his career, one short of second-place Alberto Tomba of Italy on the all-time list. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden tops the list with 86 wins in slalom and giant slalom.
Ambrosi Hoffmann of Switzerland took the last podium spot, 0.31 off Maier’s pace. It was his best result of the season.
Miller, coming off two disappointing gate races last weekend in Slovenia where he scored no points, was 0.65 behind Maier as he improved his chances of becoming the first American since Phil Mahre in 1983 to win the overall title.
Miller led his closest rival, Benjamin Raich of Austria, by 31 points going into this weekend’s races. But Raich, who is much stronger in gate races, only managed 12th, 1.11 seconds behind.
Miller now leads Raich by 57 points — 1,303 to 1,246 — going into Sunday’s super-G. Maier is third with 1,066. Five races remain, and each win is worth 100 points.
Daron Rahlves of the United States, who won back-to-back downhills here during his breakthrough season in 2000, was fifth, 0.76 behind.
Michael Walchhofer of Austria, winner of the last three downhills, clocked the fastest intermediate times but lost his ski and crashed when coming into a curve near the bottom. He was not injured.
Walchhofer still leads the DH standings with 631 points. Miller is second with 538, Rahlves third with 404 and Maier fourth with 400.
