Eberharter achieves an amazing win
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It was Eberharter's second win in the Hahnenkamm downhill
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KITZBUEHEL, Austria, (Reuters) -- Austrian Stephan Eberharter stunned his rivals with a breathtaking victory in the Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel.
Egged on by the tens of thousands of spectators, the 34-year-old held his nerve down the 3.3-km Streif course to pulverize Daron Rahlves's leading time by a phenomenal 1.21 seconds.
American Rahlves, winner here last year on a drastically shortened course, was chasing a second victory in as many days after triumphing in the super-G.
But there was no stopping a pumped up Eberharter, who clocked one minute 55.48 seconds for his second World Cup downhill win of the season and 27th overall.
The victory, on what many consider the toughest course on the World Cup, made up for losing out by one hundredth of a second in Thursday's downhill and lifted the Austrian into the lead in the speed discipline's standings.
Ambrosi Hoffmann came third, 1.30 seconds off the pace, to reward the Swiss men's team with a long-overdue first podium finish of the season.
"It was a dream run. I just let the skis run and everything turned out perfect," an emotional Eberharter said after capturing the showcase event of the men's season.
Rahlves, the super-G world champion from 2001, was gracious in defeat. "Steff was just amazing, he deserves to win.
"This is a typical Kitzbuehel day. Good weather, good snow, loads of people -- this is as good as it gets," the American said in reference to the races that draw more than 100,000 spectators.
Favorites Hermann Maier of Austria, second in Friday's super-G, and overall World Cup leader Lasse Kjus of Norway, the winner of Thursday's downhill, were unable to keep up with the pace and ended in ninth and 11th position, respectively.
Eberharter's second victory in the Hahnenkamm downhill restored bruised Austrian pride that is used to monopolizing the speed events at this Tyrolean resort.
The four-race Kitzbuehel festival ends with a slalom on Sunday when current leader Kalle Palander is itching for his second win here in a row. The times from the slalom will be added to Thursday's downhill to determine a combined winner.
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