This 1-2 an American original

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. -- Yesterday was former Austrian downhill champion Franz Klammer's 51st birthday, and he celebrated with a prerace champagne toast with coaches and well-wishers alongside the Birds of Prey downhill course.

It was the last thing the Austrians had to cheer about.

While the demise of their legendary downhill team may be greatly exaggerated, yesterday they were eclipsed by a historic first for the US men's downhill team.

Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves turned in a 1-2 punch. With the seventh-place finish of Bryon Friedman of Park City, Utah, the US placed three in the top seven, while the Austrians placed third and sixth. It was the first time in World Cup history that the US finished 1-2 in the downhill.

The last 1-2 finish for the US came in the 1984 Olympic Games in Sarajevo, when Phil and Steve Mahre took gold and silver in slalom. Phil Mahre was also the last American man to win the overall World Cup title, and Miller's early success this season -- three firsts and a second in four races -- gives him a wide overall lead.

After yesterday, Miller has 480 points to Michael Walchhofer's 195, with Hermann Maier, last year's champion, in third with 194 points. Rahlves is fifth with 184.

And as the delirious, sun-drenched crowd was celebrating the men's success, word spread that Colorado native Lindsey Kildow had just won the World Cup downhill at Lake Louise, Alberta.

"These are the days you live for," crowed ski team president Bill Marolt, after pumping the air with his fist as Rahlves swept across the finish line to secure second place and bump Austrian Walchhofer into third.

"This has been so long in the coming," said Rahlves, the California native who trained at Vermont's Green Mountain School for five years. "We knew it would happen sometime, but we didn't know when."

He then added with a chuckle, "I just kind of thought when it did I would be No. 1 and Bode No. 2."

Starting 17th, Miller turned in a near-perfect run of 1 minute 39.76 seconds, then had to wait at the finish while more than a dozen challengers from several countries took shots at his time. The closest were a pair of Swiss, Bruno Kernen and Didier Cuche, who had fast times over the gliding top section of the course, but fell back out of podium time in the technical lower half.

The last racer with a legitimate shot at Miller was his teammate, Rahlves, who won this downhill last year. Thirty pounds lighter than Miller, who weighs 210, Rahlves showed his weight was a disadvantage over the top section, where he placed 16th at the first intermediate time.

But then as the course drops into some steep, high-speed technical turns, Rahlves jumped into second place and stayed there, finishing just 16/100ths of a second behind Miller at the finish.

"As I skied into the finish I was looking up at the crowd and saw them yelling and jumping up and down," said Rahlves, whose family and wife, Michelle, were in the stands, "and then looked at over at the clock. I was happy we were 1-2, but I would like to have won it."

Still, after he saw his time, Rahlves grabbed an American flag out of the crowd and, with Miller, put on a celebration with the rest of the US team. "I don't even know what we were saying to each other," said Rahlves. "There was so much noise from the crowd."

For Miller, the Easton, N.H., native who grew up skiing at Cannon, then trained at Carrabassett Valley Academy in Maine, the first two of four races here are a vindication from last year's Beaver Creek showing, when he failed to score in any of the three races, and skied off course in the downhill.

"This was a good run," said Miller after a boisterous awards ceremony. "The skiing is never perfect, but my effort was perfect. I went out of the start to win this race, and I felt I was skiing above my level of expectation. I was doing things as I was going down on instinct and reaction. When you ski that way and it works, it's really a phenomenal feeling.

"It's a little bit surreal. Gates are going by and I was doing things just right without having to think about it at all. When I came off the jump at the bottom I was having the time of my life. It was really fun. Coming into the abyss where I crashed last year I backed off a little bit and stood up a little taller with a little bit rounder line. But aside from that it was an awesome run. Really fun."

Added Marolt, who has been leading the team since 1996: "Now we're at a point where we now see our guys show up and compete with the best in the world and beat them."

Today, Miller and Rahlves are scheduled to race in the giant slalom (morning and afternoon runs), and then in the slalom finale tomorrow.