Deneriaz quickest

"I'm really motivated," said Deneriaz after edging out Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis by 0.03 seconds. "The Olympics only come once every four years and I'm really up for it. I want to make an impression.

"Today I didn't make any mistakes, I skied really well. I'm not one of the favourites for tomorrow but perhaps I can do something special and create a surprise here tomorrow," Deneriaz told Eurosport.

"The most important thing is that I feel relaxed. I know I'm skiing well, but I'm not forcing anything or getting worked up.

"If things go well, that's great. All I can do is go out and try my best."

But the 29-year-old admitted that clocking the best time was far from his intention.

The third and final training run decided the bib numbers for Sunday, with the fastest thirty skiers put in reverse order.

"I was hoping to be between 10 and 15," said Deneriaz, who instead will start at the unfavoured number 30. "I should have braked more."

Braking towards the finish was the tactic preferred by the majority of the pack wanting to avoid an early or late start on Sunday.

Downhill stalwarts Bode Miller, Daron Rahlves and Herman Maier all turned off the gas in the final straight to avoid a bad starting berth.

Rahlves finished joint tenth, Miller joint twelfth and Maier in sixteenth.

Miller in particular was skiing with zing and authority before almost taking a tumble on the final jump of the Kandahar Banchetta course. Landing awkwardly after taking too much air, the American almost slowed to a standstill as he crossed the line after leading at all previous time checks.

Rahlves was pleased with his run after taking a day off on Friday following his storming of the opening training session.

"I needed to rest, I used a lot of energy in that first training run," said Rahlves. "It's not going to be easy, that's for sure," he said of Sunday's race.

American Scott Macartney will join Miller, Rahlves and Steve Nyman in the USA team after securing joint eighth, 10 places better than compatriot Marco Sullivan who was also chasing the final team place.

Liechenstein's Marco Buechel looked the most convincing man on the snow, but he was annoyed at his third place, 0.30 seconds behind Deneriaz.

"I expected to be slower," Buechel said. "It's great that until the last intermediate time I was one of the fastest ... but I wanted to slow down and have an early bib and that didn't work."

Race favourite Michael Walchhofer admitted that he was starting to feel the pressure ahead of his bid to win a maiden Olympic medal.

Tha Austrian, who is the current world cup champion in the event, will start early on Sunday after finishing 26th on Saturday.

"I know it is up to me to win this race but now I am starting to feel the tension in my stomach," said the 30-year-old.

Walchhofer's team-mate, defending champion Fritz Strobl, will also start early after finishing thirty-first.