Austrian Skier Wins Men’s Downhill Race

Helmut Hoeflehner of Austria conquered a dangerous downhill course today and scored his second World Cup victory of the season, beating a galaxy of Swiss and other Austrian stars.

Hoeflehner, who placed 69th last season in the World Cup standings, was timed in 2 minutes 02.03 seconds down the fast course that dropped 969 meters.

Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland was second in 2:02.04, only one-hundredth of a second behind the winner. Third was Austrian Leonhard Stock in 2:03.14.

The downhill counted toward the combined, along with Wednesday’s slalom, in which Zurbriggen finished third, helping him win the combined.

Hoeflehner was fourth in the combined, behind Zurbriggen, Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg and Armin Bittner of West Germany.

The downhill was to have been held Wednesday, but organizers reversed the schedule because the downhill track could not be cleared of abundant snow.

The soft snow in the bumps after the hard snow on the upper part surprised some of the racers who had trouble at some sections of the course.

Hoeflehner, 29, who had won only six World Cup races since 1980 prior to today, had no difficulty, even at the trouble spots.