Fifth gold medal for Hermann Maier

Bormio is finally a good place for Hermann Maier. The Austrian superstar celebrated another major achievement on the Stelvio course in winning his fifth gold medal in todays giant slalom. In December 1997, the "Hermannator" won his first World Cup downhill, and in March 2000, he clinched his second overall WC title with the amazing and unmatched total of 2000 points. Todays triumph is more than another gold medal for the skier from Flachau, who finished a disappointing fourth in Super-G and a distant 17th in downhill.

It was a dream come true for Maier with his success in this dramatic competition. Just three months ago at the World Cup opening in Soelden, where he finished far from the leaders, Maier doubted his chances to ever reach the podium in GS. Fortunately, he found his focus later on in Beaver Creek, finishing second in that GS, won by Norways Lasse Kjus. He reached two more podiums this season but victory always eluded him. Interestingly enough, winning another GS, his first since WC finals in Are, has been his biggest goal since his severe motorcycle crash in August 2001. "To win the GS with my injured leg would be something really special," he often repeated. In Bormio Hermann finally was able to use his legendary drive to beat Raich by 22-hundreds of a second, a skier who is already considered his successor. "To win this gold medal is very special, because the last Austrian to win World GS was the late Rudi Nierlich. Maier was also a double world champion in 1999 at Vail. "I had to wait a long time to win another gold medal," he said, " its been six years since my last gold medal, at Beaver Creek, and a lot of things have happened in the meantime."
" Last year at the World Cup finals in Sestriere, I told everybody that my goal this Winter would be gold medal in Bormio and I am really glad I did it," Maier reflected,
"It was harder than expected, but also more wothwhile."

Since his Olympic triumph in Nagano in 1998, Hermann Maier has won five gold medals in three events, as well as two silver and one bronze.

Benjamin Raich, who suffered the flu since the beginning of the week, staged an impressive comeback in the second run, while clocking only the seventh fastest time in the morning session due to a major mistake in the upper part of the course. Raich now boasts a collection of gold, silver and bronze medals from Bormio with one of his strongest events, slalom, yet to come. California`s Daron Rahlves had to settle for third place after leading the first run, but has proven he will be a force in GS as well as Super-G and downhill. The Canadian team missed a huge opportunity at history, as Jean-Phillip Roy was a sparkling third fastest in first run, and Tom Grandi was 8th best. Grandi took the lead briefly after a solid second run to end up 5th, missing the podium by only 73-hundreds of a second. Grandi still achieved the best Canadian performance in the speciality in many years. Roy was fighting for the podium in the second run when he crashed and injured his knee.

The women`s slalom is scheduled for Friday.

Patrick Lang