AP
Stephan Eberharter of Austria waves on the podium after winning the alpine skiing World Cup men's downhill race in St. Moritz, Switzerland

Austrian skier Stephan Eberharter has clinched the World Cup downhill title with a victory Saturday, at St. Moritz, Switzerland.

Eberharter consolidated his position as the favorite to win Olympic gold later this month, at Salt Lake City, by edging Austrian teammate Fritz Strobl by nearly two-tenths of a second. The strong Austrian team earned all but one of the top eight positions Saturday, failing only to take sixth place on the Corviglia course.

Last season, Eberharter finished second in downhill points total to teammate Hermann Maier, who suffered serious injury in a motorcycle accident last August, keeping him from competition. The 32-year-old Eberharter was the Super-G world champion 11 years ago when he also won the combined event championship.

Eberharter's winning time Saturday was 1:39.07. Michael Walchhofer finished third, nearly eight-tenths of a second behind the winner.

AP
Renate Goetschl File photo

Austrian Renate Goetschl won her second World Cup downhill in eight days Saturday, with a victory at Are, Sweden, in the final event before the Winter Olympic Games.

Goetschl edged teammate Selina Heregger by .08 of a second with a winning combined time of 1:44.23 for two runs.

Downhill points leader Isolde Kostner, of Italy, came in third (1:44.90).

Michaela Dorfmeister, of Austria - the defending downhill champion - finished ninth today, but still has the lead in overall World Cup points.

Some information for this report provided by AP.

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