KITZBUEHEL, Austria (AP) – In a race as treacherous as any and as nerve-racking as the Olympics, Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller gave the United States a big lift leading to next month’s Turin Games.

Rahlves finished third in a World Cup downhill Saturday on the perilous Streif course while Miller, the reigning overall World Cup champion, was fourth.

“Kitzbuehel is the ultimate in downhill skiing,” said Rahlves, who plans to retire after this season. “There is no place like it in the world. I didn’t win, but being on the podium is still a nice way to go out.”

Austria’s Michael Walchhofer of Austria tamed the World Cup’s most prestigious slope with his second downhill victory of the season. Liechtenstein’s Marco Buechel was second, 0.05 seconds behind.

Walchhofer was timed in 1 minute, 46.75 seconds on a run shortened because of dangerous fog on the upper part of the Hahnenkamm mountain.

Another Austrian, Fritz Strobl, had a far rougher day. He broke his left hand, threatening his chance to defend his Olympic downhill title. He lost control after landing on the tails of his skis during a jump, but found his footing again after smashing through a gate. He was expected to have surgery in Salzburg on Saturday night.

U.S. coach John McBride called this race a “great result” for the Americans.

“Kitzbuehel is also a high-pressure event like the Olympics,” he said. “So doing well here shows that you have the skill, but also the nerve.”

The strong showing came a day after the team failed to impress in the super-G and deflected some of the attention from Miller’s recent comments about skiing and drinking. On Friday, Rahlves was sixth in the super-G while Miller did not finish.

“I hoped that yesterday’s bad result would push my guys and make them fight back,” McBride said. “And it did fire them up.”

Rahlves has been one of the most successful skiers on the Hahnenkamm. In 2003, he became the first American to win a World Cup downhill there and a year later was the first non-Austrian to claim a World Cup super-G on the slope. This was the seventh time Rahlves was among the top three in Kitzbuehel.

“It has not yet settled that this was the last time skiing down the Streif for me,” Rahlves said. “I was like a freight train. I really wanted to go out and give it my best, all that I had.”

The 32-year-old Rahlves, in third place in the downhill World Cup standings, said he was waiting for the right moment to retire, and an Olympic medal “would certainly be such a moment.”

This was Miller’s second-best result in the downhill this season. The world downhill champion was second at Beaver Creek, Colo.

“I was having fun out there as usual,” Miller said. “I had some problems with my knee and I might miss the next race, but it was OK.”

Walchhofer, the reigning World Cup downhill champion, returned to the spot where he made his first Austrian downhill team. The victory was the eighth of his World Cup career. His other downhill victory this season came last month at Val d’ Isere, France.

“I set myself goals for the season. Before it was the downhill in Garmisch Partenkirchen (Germany) and Wengen (Switzerland). This year, it was Kitzbuehel,” Walchhofer said. “Maybe it is also a good omen for the Olympics.”

Organizers lowered the start as a thick fog shrouded the tip of the course, including the dreaded Mausefalle (Mousetrap) – a spectacular 60-degree drop with a gravity-defying turn.

Last year’s downhill race also was canceled because of unsafe weather. The last time the Streif course had to be shortened was in 2003.

Saturday’s downhill also will count as part of the combined event, which adds the times of the downhill with Sunday’s slalom.