29 JAN 2001 > Men's Super G
Gruber Upsets
Super G Results

For the third consecutive year, Hermann Maier has failed to win the demanding super G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen where he celebrated his first success in February 1997. His teammate Christoph Gruber, the surprising GS winner at Bormio last month, achieved quite an unexpected performance in beating him by 1/100 of a second. This superb performance opened the door at last minute to qualification for the World Championships which start today.

Switzerland's Didier Cuche reached his first podium of the season after taking 3rd place in front of Austria's Sephan Eberharter, the 1991 super G World Champion, and Germany's Stefan Stankalla, an unexpected 4th.

Norway's Lasse Kjus, who is suffering from a cold, didn't start in this event while America's Daron Rahlves skied out, as did Fritz Strobl, the winner of Saturday's downhill, and Italy's Kristian Ghedina, who clocked a very fast intermediate time.

Bode Miller was the best US skier in 19th place, one of his best results in this specialty.

"I needed a great result to have a chance to go to St Anton but I never expected this. To beat Maier here on this icy course is amazing...."

Christoph Gruber is the Austrian newcomer of the season - after losing by 3/100 of a second the super G at Beaver Creek in December to Sweden's Fredrik Nyberg, the 24-year-old Austrian celebrated an almost shocking win in the very difficult giant slalom at Bormio. And he confirmed his talent in that discipline after taking 4th place at Adelboden, before this most recent great performance which propelled him to the Championships in St Anton. He was the first to be astonished by this result.

"I needed a great result to have a chance to go to St Anton but I never expected this," Gruber said "To beat Maier here on this icy course is amazing."

His fan club, led by his parents, went nuts at the finish line, especially when Hermann Maier himself joined him there to pose for the photographers.

The reigning World Champion didn't seem too angry to have lost after having been by far the fastest man in the upper and the lower parts. But, he didn't take all the risks in the middle section where he lost his left ski on Saturday.

"I went for a safe line in that turn; I just couldn't go again at the limits," Maier explained. "I think I have been quite lucky yesterday and I wanted to travel healthy for St Anton. The World Championships are by far the most important event for me now. I feel strong - in fact I think I proved again yesterday that I'm still 'The Herminator.' It could have been a very bad crash."

In St Anton, Hermann is aiming for medals in all his events - and eventually all in gold, which would be a unique achievement in modern ski racing.

"The most important race is the first one, the super G on Tuesday," Maier said. "If I win it, I will be quite relaxed for the rest of my program. But medals events are quite unpredictable, you need luck to win there."

So far, Hermann has done quite well at Worlds, winning four gold medals in 1998 and 1999 — all the races he finished.

— Patrick Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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