No competitor in the past 20 years has dominated the international scene in the same way as "The Herminator." Neither the great Alberto Tomba, nor Switzerland's Pirmin Zurbriggen nor Luxembourg's Marc Girardelli, — winners of nine overall World Cup titles combined from 1984 to 1993 — was able to excel at that level three seasons in a row.

Hermann has trained hard with the hopes of continuing to ride this wave for the next two years and has his eye on more gold medals, Crystal Cups, and race wins. The February 2001 World Championships in St. Anton will be his main goal this season. There is no greater satisfaction for an Austrian ski racer than to win at home — and there is no more exciting time for their rivals than to beat them on their home snow.

The first part of the coming season will determine qualifications for the Worlds; only the reigning World Champion and four skiers per national team can compete. This means that Hermann can relax somewhat in downhill and super G (he and Norway's Lasse Kjus tied for super G gold in the last Worlds), which is the best way for him to achieve top performances.

But the rest of the Austrian team will be stressed for many weeks - and will take great risks to win races, the only way for them to have a chance at being selected by their trainers.

At the end of last season, eight of the top-10 world's best downhillers and seven out of 10 in super G were Austrian.

Italy's Kristian Ghedina and the USA's Daron Rahlves are the only real competition in the speed events. And if Kjus recovers his power after a long illness last season, he could also create some problems for the Austrians, as could Switzerland's Didier Cuche, the '98 Olympic silver medal winner, and Sweden's Fredrik Nyberg.

In the technical events, the Austrians have also gained a powerful position with strong contenders such as Maier, Mario Matt, Rainer Schoenfelder, Benjamin Raich, and Christian Mayer.

But rivals from France, Switzerland, Slovenia and Norway overtook them on several occasions last season: Joel Chenal celebrated a emotional victory at Alta Badia; and, Kjetil Aamodt won at Wengen, becoming one of the few with wins in all alpine specialties: slalom, giant slalom, super G and downhill.

Clinching a total of 13 medals since 1991, Oslo, Norway's Aamodt, is missing only a downhill gold in his impressive medal collection. At the last Worlds, in February 1999, Aamodt came in 3rd on the treacherous Birds of Prey downhill course at Beaver Creek, and this season's demanding course at St. Anton should better fit his racing style.

Aamodt has been 2nd three times since winning the overall World Cup in '94, and he badly wants another big crystal trophy before retiring. This season could be it, as Maier will be focusing on St. Anton, and Kjus, the overall winner in '99, is in uncertain health.

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