10 MAR 2001 > Men's Giant Slalom
Thirteenth Victory for The Herminator
Race Results

Austria's Hermann Maier won the last giant slalom World Cup race by over a full second, clinching his fourth World Cup title of the season. He beat America's Erik Schlopy, 2nd, and his teammate Benjamin Raich, 3rd. Maier won the GS title with a lead of ten points over his Swiss rival, Michael von Gruenigen, the reigning World Champion, who finished 4th after a major mistake at the end of the second run.

This was Maier's thirteenth win of the season, allowing him to tie the record for the most wins in a single season set by Ingemar Stenmark back in 1979. Since February 1997, Maier has won an amazing total of 41 events on the World Cup tour as well as four gold medals at Olympics and World Championships.

"I'm still mad because of my disqualification from Val d'Isère, and I wanted win the trophy at all costs...."

Maier was so happy at the finish line that he carried Schlopy on his shoulders to thank him for helping him beat von Gruenigen in the GS standings. He also took his shirt off and showed his strong chest like a European soccer players often do after scoring goals.

"This victory means so much to me that I couldn't control my emotions after the race. It was amazing," Maier said. "I'm still mad because of my disqualification from Val d'Isère, and I wanted win the trophy at all costs. But I was not too sure, because this hill is pretty smooth and doesn't favor my style. I would rather compete on steep and icy slope, but I was able to master my aggressiveness today."

"I was lucky to train in GS yesterday and to find back some feelings for the short GS skis and the quick turns," he added. "I had two solid runs. In the second one, I skied with full power after hearing that von Grünigen was behind. Now I look forward for a nice break. I may also compete at the Superstar event in Jamaica in May. I'll try to rest longer than last year. My body needs to recover from this long and demanding season. I need to recharge the batteries for next year."

Von Grunigen was, of course, quite disappointed after his failure to retain the lead in the GS standings after this last race. The Swiss ace was still fast at the middle of the second run before making a major mistake just before finish line. "There are worse thing in life than to lose a World Cup title, but I'm upset because I was so close today," he said. "I gave my best, and I had quite a great run before this mistake."

He may have taken too many risks in that run, but he had no other choice. "To clinch the Cup was my main goal this season, but I have to be satisfied the same with my gold medal and my three wins. I'll try again next winter," he said.

Schlopy was proud to reach the podium and the GS standings, a stupendous achievement which confirms his medal at the World Championships. No other US man has reached a podium in the World Cup GS standings since the great days of the Mahre brothers in the early 1980s.

"I have reached much more than expected this season," Schlopy said. "My main goal was a spot in the first seed, and here I am with two second places, this podium and the GS Cup. It's excellent. I also scored more than 400 points, which guarantees me a good start order next winter in all events. I hope Bode Miller is doing fine at home. We miss him a lot. It's too bad that he was injured but he should find back his spot in the first seed soon."

In Sunday's race, Mario Matt, the reigning slalom World Champion, will try to finish the season with another win. It would help him to move up to 3rd place in the final slalom standings. Among the other favorites, the leader in the slalom Cup, his friend and teammate Benjamin Raich, France's Pierrick Bourgeat, who won twice in Japan, and Norway's Kjetil Aamodt, the 2000 slalom winner.

— Patrick Lang, World Cup Correspondent

Email this story to a friend