Kjetil Aamodt, 5th at 93/100 from the winner, retained the lead in the overall World Cup standings ahead of Kjus while Hermann Maier, only 11th at 1.65 second, is almost 100 point behind the 1994 winner.

"It's great to have such a great season-end after my disappointing results earlier this winter. In fact I'm sorry that the season is over..." — Andreas Schifferer

Chad Fleischer again missed a strong chance to enter the top-10 in a World Cup downhill: he was 13th , 68/100 behind the 10th place finisher Austrian Hans Knauss, the last winner in Kitzbuhel.

This next-to-last downhill race of the season started twice after the first attempt had to be interrupted after the start of the 4th skier, Hermann Maier, because of fog in the middle of the course. At that point, Austria's Werner Franz was in the lead in front of Aamodt while Knauss had missed a gate. No doubt that these three skiers were disadvantaged compared to the other racers as they lost much mental and physical energy in their first race. They also had to use other skis in the afternoon.

In these conditions, Aamodt achieved quite a good performance in finishing 5th only 26/100 from the podium. "It was tough because the visibility was really bad and you had to take great risks," he said. "I hope that the weather will improve for the Super-G tomorrow. The fight for the World Cup should be a fair one."

In fact, Hermann Maier looked pretty tired after the second race, the third in fact in two days, on a slope he has discovered this week. "I'm burned out; the season should stop after the medal events," he said. "I have not enough momentum in me to produce good races. I don't know if it's worth it to compete in the Super-G on Sunday."

Maier has clocked a fast intermediate time in the upper part of the first downhill before being flagged down by the race jury when the visibility got worse at the middle of the track. He could obviously not find all his aggressiveness in the afternoon.

Only Schifferer and Kjus were pretty happy by their result. The Austrian became the 14th competitor to win double-downhills in the history of the World Cup. "I'm for sure in better physical shape, and more motivated too, than the other skiers since I didn't compete in Vail," he said. "I could take a nice break and prepare myself perfectly for the last races. It's great to have such a great season-end after my disappointing results earlier this winter. In fact I'm sorry that the season is over."

In Sunday's Super-G, Lasse Kjus and Kjetil Aamodt will try to beat the Austrian for the first time in the World Cup since the first success — "The Herminator" in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in February 1997. Aamodt won the Super-G in 1993 and 1995 and Lasse is the reigning World Champion in that event.

"I feel pretty relaxed now after winning the downhill World Cup title," said Kjus. "I could be more aggressive today but I now I can ski better. It will be a good race on Sunday."

He reduced his delay on Aamodt on 16 points after that downhill and it looks more and more that both friends will fight for the Crystal Cup until the last slalom in Sierra Nevada. On the flat downhill and Super-G courses in Sierra Nevada, Maier has almost no chance to make up some terrain on them. He also seems to have given up his hopes for a second consecutive overall title.

Beside Hans Knauss, winner in the Super-G in 1998, Klaus Eberharter, excellent 3rd today, will also be fighting for the victory in that Super-G.

—Mountain Zone European Correspondent