The strong showing of the Austrians today wasn't enough to hold off the zupa. Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland used his veteran skills to overcome the powerful field for the win in the Chevy Truck America's Opening Men's GS at Park City Mountain Resort. Austrians took the other two podium spots with Christian Mayer in second and Benjamin Raich in third.

Massimiliano Blardone of Italy posted the second fastest opening run behind Austrian Stephan Erberharter and held on for his second run, earning him fourth. Blardone and local boy Erik Schlopy both momentarily held the lead after their second runs until the Austrians, Von Gruenigen and Massimiliano took it away. It did give the hometown crowd something to cheer about and had everybody on the edge of their seats until the end. Schlopy stole the show with a daring couple of runs landing him in a respectable fifth place.

Austrian powerhouse Erberharter began the day with a third position start and blasted out the fastest time in the first run, putting everyone on their heels knowing the strong Austrian could easily take the win. (Erberharter has 20 WC wins and has not skied out in a race in the last 10 years). In the end, Erberharter though couldn't hold his speed on the continually melting course in unseasonably warm Park City, Utah. He ended up in eighth place overall.

Fredrik Nyberg of Sweden managed to keep his speed on the second run for sixth and Didier Cuche of Switzerland slipped by Erberharter for seventh.

Christian Mayer wasn't expecting to be on the podium at all in this race and was pleasantly surprised with his second place finish.

"My goal for this race was to be between top five and top ten. I never expected to be top three," he said. "After having a blood disorder in the '00-'01 season, I was very close to quitting my career last June."

"Michael Von Gruenigen is a great role model for good, consistent, GS skiing. His technique is solid; he's consistent, he's solid and he's fast" —Erik Schlopy

Austrian Benjamin Raich had a fine first run but struggled and fought hard in his second.

"I know I'm skiing at the level of the gold medal (having won 3 GS races in a row) and I know I have the talent to do it," he said. "I'm really looking forward to this year."

Reflecting on his skiing career, Raich said, "When you look at greats like Erberharter and know how he slowly grew into his greatness, I know that I, too, can grow into greatness."

The crowd favorite however was local hero Schlopy. Although the pre-race talk was all about Bode Miller returning to racing today, he kicked out of his ski early in his second run and forced teammates Dane Spencer and Schlopy to take up the slack.

"Bode's ski came off, end of story. You have to finish with one ski on, but skis should never come off," said US Skiing coach Martin Anderson.

Dane Spencer fought hard from the middle of the pack, ultimately seeing him in 22nd place.

Schlopy had bigger plans. Erik somehow beat his first time and briefly held a podium spot until being unseated first by Raich and then the others.

Coach Anderson noted, "You will see top ranked guys when they get bad conditions they get thrown all over the hill, but not with Erik. It's nice to have someone carrying the flag up in the front when one falls out."

Schlopy had nothing but kind words for today's winner. "The older you get, the better you get, as long as you're healthy. Michael Von Gruenigen is a great role model for good, consistent, GS skiing. His technique is solid; he's consistent, he's solid and, he's fast. It's great to look at someone like Von Gruenigen and Eberharter in the 30+ club, they're winning races and actually dominating the top five and top 10. Von Gruuenigen is a special case because he's been so good for so long and he looks like he could keep going for years and I hope that he does."

Von Gruenigen says, however, that this is his final year of racing and he looks forward to defending his GS gold medal at home this year.

So do we.

— Hans Prosl, MountainZone.com Correspondent