Rahlves Can Put Name on Marquee

By Chris Dufresne

Feb. 12, 2006 12 AM PT

This is the premier Alpine event and one of the most anticipated events of the Winter Games. American Daron Rahlves is one of the pre-race favorites as he seeks to add an Olympic medal to his long list of accomplishments. Rahlves won the last World Cup race held on this course, in 2004. The Austrians have won more Olympic downhill competitions, six, than any other country. Fritz Strobl of Austria is the defending champion, but no downhill winner has repeated since the sport was introduced to the Olympics in 1948.

-- Chris Dufresne

Olympics

Chris Dufresne

Chris Dufresne was the Los Angeles Times’ national college football/basketball columnist from 1995 to 2015. He also covered skiing at the Winter Olympics and wrote extensively on most sports. He is a multiple national award winner and was named 2011 California Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Assn. A Los Angeles native, he started at The Times in 1976 as a truck loader and literally worked his way up (two floors to be exact).

Rahlves Can Put Name on Marquee

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