Sensational Strobl wins downhill at Winter Olympics

Austrian Fritz Strobl skied the race of his life to win the men's Olympic downhill on Sunday, upstaging big favourite and team mate Stephan Eberharter.

Eberharter, still smiling despite his disappointment, had to be content with bronze in the blue riband event while Lasse Kjus of Norway repeated his silver of four years ago in Nagano.

Strobl had never won a medal at a major championships before but had been sizzling in training.

In a bizarre twist, the 29-year-old policeman said the omens had looked good for him from the moment he arrived in Utah.

"It's sensational. I didn't expect it," he declared, celebrating a 'perfect day' in the mountain sunshine after dominating the treacherous Grizzly run.

"Here I had room one-one-one and I came first. In Nagano, I had room 11 and I came 11th."

His official time of one minute 39.13 seconds was 0.28 faster than Eberharter, who had been expected to lead the Austrians home in what some of their rivals had feared would be a podium sweep.

"I'm not surprised Fritz did so well," said the 32-year- old World Cup champion who has won five out of eight downhills this season but whose only other Olympic medal was a silver in the 1998 giant slalom.

"He was the toughest competition at the training runs and I knew he was the one to beat.

"Anyway, I want to congratulate him. It was a good race for him," added Eberharter, who remains a favourite for the super-G gold on the same piste next week.

KJUS SPLITS AUSTRIANS

The Austrians had several potential winners in their team, even without double Olympic gold medallist Hermann Maier whose injuries in a motorcycle accident prevented him from competing at Salt Lake City.

World champion Hannes Trinkl, who attempted a comeback after fracturing his skull, was also absent after failing to qualify for the team.

Strobl has twice triumphed at Kitzbuehel, the most feared downhill on the World Cup calendar, and has also won a downhill and super-G this season.

More surprising was the fact that Austria did not sweep the podium but Strobl's victory certainly ended a run of Olympic downhills won by rank outsiders such as now retired Jean-Luc Cretier of France in Nagano and American Tommy Moe in Lillehammer.

Kjus split the Austrians, starting after both and pushing Eberharter down the podium by just 0.06.

It was the Norwegian's fourth medal of a career spanning four Olympics and his 14th from major events, one shy of the record held by team mate Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

"I have come a long way for this, now my goal is Kjetil's record," said the Norwegian.

Aamodt, who has won major medals in every Alpine discipline, missed out on his 16th after finishing fourth but he will also have several more chances.

France's Claude Cretier, no relation to the 1998 champion, was a surprising fifth while Christian Greber gave Austria three skiers in the top six.

American Daron Rahlves, the reigning super-G world champion, was a distant 16th and also failed to claim supremacy in his team, with Marco Sullivan coming ninth after starting 31st of 55 runners.

The race started after a 10 minute delay to fix safety fencing after a forerunner crashed on the icy piste.