2001 World Cup Alpine Skiing - Soelden - on ski.mountainzone.com

Herminator Leaves Them in the Dust
Hermann Maier must be a great poker player - at least he is a great bluffer.

In the days prior to Sunday's giant slalom, the reigning GS Olympic champion was modest about his momentary potential. He said in various press conferences that he only trained six days in GS and he just wanted to "check his form" in this race.

But the Austrian is not "The Herminator" by hazard. When the clock starts to tick, he fights like a lion to win, especially when competing in front of his fans.

There were many of them cheering on the sunny Rettenbach glacier above Soelden as Maier beat his teammate Stephan Eberharter by over a second. Sweden's Fredrik Nyberg was 3rd, a mere 3/100 of a second behind Eberharter.

"It's always something special to win in Austria."

Many of the other favorites finished closely behind the top trio. Switzerland's Michael von Gruenigen, the 1997 GS World Champion, came in 4th in front of Christian Mayer, the fastest skier in the second run.

Last season's runner-up in the Overall standings, Norway's Kjetil Aamodt was a far 8th. At least he could compete, unlike his friend and teammate Lasse Kjus, who suffered again from a bad cold that kept him out of the race. Another Austrian favorite, Benjamin Raich, fell in the first run.

Two US skiers made it through both runs; Casey Puckett finished 22nd and Dane Spencer 26th, results that will improve their standings in the start lists. Eric Schloppy skied out in the first leg. Bode Miller, 15th in the first run, crashed out in the second one. He hurt his jaw and his left knee and hopes to recover within a week, but it's too bad that Miller, for sure one of the most gifted US skiers in the past years, often has problems finishing two runs on the same day.