Sestriere, Italy – Nobody saw this coming.
Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller were shut out of the medals and a Frenchman with no history of distinction in big events stormed out of the 30th start position to crush the field Sunday in the Olympic men’s downhill, the first alpine event of the Turin Games.
Antoine Deneriaz, known on the World Cup as a good “glider,” has never finished in the top five of the season downhill standings and had never flirted with the podium at the Olympics or world championships until Sunday, when he skied superbly on a course that suited his strengths and stunned the field with his margin of victory.
Deneriaz was .72 of a second ahead of the silver medalist, Austrian Michael Walchhofer. Bruno Kernen of Switzerland, who won the 1997 world championships downhill on this course, took the bronze.
The U.S. Ski Team was in a state of disbelief after its two medal contenders were stymied. Miller was fifth, missing a medal by .11 of a second, and Rahlves was 10th.
“We had two of the best guys in the race and came up a little short,” head coach Phil McNichol said. “A lot short, in some regards. Just as shocking as our results were, (it was a) fantastic day for the French.”
Gliding is the ability to ride skis smoothly on flat terrain, and the middle section of the Olympic course had long sections that suited the Frenchman’s talents well. But he also executed on the steep upper section of the course, recording the second-best split time there.
“He absolutely came out of the gate with the pedal to the floor and skied that way the whole way,” Miller said. “He’s one of those guys who has the right skills for this hill, and if he skis 100 percent and doesn’t make the big mistake that costs you the time, he’s a pick to win on this hill every time.”
Miller said he couldn’t have beaten Deneriaz without a “hurricane wind” at his back. Rahlves agreed.
“I don’t think you could have caught him today,” Rahlves said. “That was an amazing, impressive race.”
A break with the weather might have been responsible for his huge margin. Six racers before he went, a cloud covered the sun, allowing the track to ice over. Then the sun returned. That usually makes tracks faster, because a thin sheen of water forms on the ice.
Deneriaz’s triumph was a huge boost for the French speed team, which has struggled in recent years. Luc Alphand won three World Cup downhill titles in the mid- 1990s and Jean-Luc Cretier was an upset winner at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, but French downhillers have had only occasional success since then.
“From the first training day I had a good feeling about this course,” Deneriaz said. “I felt like I was at the top of my form.”
Rahlves could not identify a mistake that cost him the race and sensed there was a problem with the way his skis were running, saying “I don’t know where the speed was today.”
He conceded making a small mistake on the upper section that cost him time coming onto the flats, but he didn’t think it was critical when he made it, and he was shocked to see his finish on the leaderboard.
“Something wasn’t working out,” Rahlves said. “I felt like it was a good run, one of my better runs. I might have slowed myself down (by) over-skiing the section coming onto the flats, just trying to get a little more heat off the pitch.”
Rahlves has two more medal chances in super-G (world champion in 2001) and giant slalom (bronze in the 2005 worlds).
“This downhill was the one I wanted more than anything,” Rahlves said. “It’s great to have two more races here at the Olympics, but I have way less pressure on myself now.”
Rahlves appeared numb, not devastated.
“It’s like, I went out there and did what I could and that’s how it turned out,” Rahlves said. “I did everything possible to be ready to go and I felt good about it. Looking back there’s nothing I would have changed.”
Miller wasn’t brooding, either, although he never does about a race.
“Overall it was good,” Miller said. “I was psyched with it. I thought it was the run I would have liked to put down at the Olympics. I backed off in a couple of little sections, but when I backed off I executed perfectly. I attacked the top full gas, absolutely 100 percent. In the middle sections through the terrain I was balanced and made the right moves. There were a couple of spots where I got bounced up a little bit out of balance in the air and then two turns where I just couldn’t find a clean edge.
“That was the difference between being fifth and being second.”
Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
