5th Season's Win for Kjus

	DH Champ Kjus Kisses the his Crystal Globe

Norway's Lasse Kjus won his first World Cup race after having dominated the last World Championships in Vail — and it may well be the most important of the season as it put him back in the lead in the overall World Cup standings with three more races to go.

On the rather flat "Veleta" course used in 1996 during the World Championships, Lasse beat by 16/100 an impressive Chad Fleischer and by 27/100 his younger teammate Audun Groenvold. His rivals in his fight for the overall World Cup didn't score many points in this last downhill of the season: Kjetil Aamodt was 4th and Hermann Maier a far 9th.

This win allows Kjus to regain the lead in the general standings with 1359 points, 42 more than Aamodt and 88 more than Maier. Yet all three skiers will battle until the last race here, the giant slalom planned for Sunday, to defend their chances to conquer the overall title.

"I have planned a week of golf near Malaga next week, it will be beautiful..."— Lasse Kjus

"It's great to win such an important race," said a smiling Lasse after his run. "I had to win this downhill to have a serious chance to grab the World Cup title. I have done so well in the past months that I had no problem handling this extra pressure. I felt relaxed and eager to give my best today. It was not difficult in these excellent weather conditions: it's really nice to ski in such a good weather after the difficult conditions in Norway last week," added the 1996 overall winner, who can't wait to end the season to start to play golf.

"I have planned a week of golf near Malaga next week, it will be beautiful," Kjus said.

Yet Kjus expects his rivals to fight back in the coming days. "Hermann and Kjetil will not give up and the next events should also be spectacular, but that makes everything more interesting for all of us. I feel ready for more good results in the next races," he said a few minutes after the race.

Kjus was also awarded his first specialty World Cup — another great moment for him today. "It's a very prestigious success for me," explained the first Norwegian to conquer this crown. "I felt stronger and more confident at the season's start, but I was not sure that the winter would be so successful. I hope to be healthier in future."

Aamodt, who was for a long time in 2nd position behind his friend, was very disappointed to slide back to 4th place after the arrivals of two late-starters including his teammate Groenvold who beat him by 2/100 only.

"This is part of our sport but it's tough for me," he said. "I had a strong run today and a top-3 place would have been excellent for me before the Super-G which is not my best event this winter. I don't give up but it will be hard to win again the Cup. Fortunately I have achieved some great results in the past months."

	Men's Podium

Hermann Maier was quite upset by his result, apparently the defending World Cup champion was slowly won by some guts of wind on his way down. "The course was just too soft for the men, the women should have raced after the men," he said to one of his trainers. "I had no chance with the way I race." He declined to talk to the media and rushed out of the finish area corral soon after his arrival. His chances to fight back in the Super-G are not obvious: on the lower flats, a smooth and precise glider such as Kjus or Eberharter have better chances to capture the first place.

American Chad Fleischer too can fight for victory whiich he proved with his 6th place in Vail and his 9th in Kvitfjell that he has made great progress in that specialty.

"That's a perfect result for the end of the season," said the 27-year-old skier from Vail who has not reached a top-10 place before this season. "I was very motivated coming here and I fought hard to get such a good result." This result propelled him among the best-15 in the downhill start list - also a kind of achievement for him. "It's very important for my confidence," he said. "This will give me a strong motivation during the coming summer training."

This is Fleischer's best US result of the season in downhill and the best since the success of Kyle Rasmussen in Kvitfjell in 1995. This is Chad's 6th World Cup season. In the Super-G too he has a chance for the podium.

— Mountain Zone European Ski Correspondent