The speed guys had a DH today over in Val d'Isere and the Austrians finally awoke from the dead, sweeping all three spots on the podium. Walchhofer won by 5 tenths over Fritz Strobl, who in turn was another half second ahead of Grugger.

The weather was really nice, and the hill looked beautifully smooth, but the track there often favors gliders which makes it very hard for the naked eye to tell the difference between a fast run and an anchor-dragging one. As a result, I often find myself just watching the clock on the TV, which isn't very exciting.

Bode managed 7th place and Daron finished in 14th, representing the only US guys in the top-30.

We had another day of training over here in San Vigilio, where we'll spend one more day before driving about 2 hours west to Madonna di Campiglio. Tomorrow Jimmy and I are going to do a few high-quality slalom runs to finalize the set-up on our race skis so that we'll be prepared for the World Cup the next night.