20 JAN 2001 > Men's Downhill
Maier Enters Hahnenkamm Legend
Race Results

Hermann Maier wrote another exciting chapter in the book of his incredible career in winning his first downhill race on the treacherous "Streif" course at Kitzbuhel — only two years after his debut on this legendary course.

With this win, the Austrian superstar put himself in a top position among the all-time greats of the sport. There is no more glorious achievement for an Austrian athlete than to triumph in the demanding Hahnenkamm event, the summit of the World Cup season.

Only 24 hours after his super G success, he achieved an amazing performance in adding the Kitzbuhel downhill to his list of victories — already eight this season, 36 since February 1997.

After an aggressive yet perfectly controlled run, he beat his teammate Hannes Trinkl, the fastest man in training on Thursday by 27/100 of a second.

In third place another Austrian, Stephan Eberharter, shared the step with American Daron Rahlves who celebrated a strong comeback in Kitzbuhel. He was 4th in the super G on Friday.

Norway's Lasse Kjus, still very fast before the last section, came in 5th — a disappointment for the 1999 winner who set some fast training times earlier this week. Another favorite, Josef Strobl, skied out while other skiers suffered spectacular crashes. Hans Knauss, the winner in 1999, flew into the net in the last tricky turn and suffered a strong concussion. The season is over for him.

Two other US skiers scored points — Chad Fleischer was 12th and Bode Miller 30th. Bode is a strong candidate for the success in the combined now as Kjetil Aamodt, the winner in that event in the past year, only clocked the 16th time. Not at the start was Italy's Kristian Ghedina, a winner here in 1998. He strained some muscles in his back during a tough landing on Thursday.

"There is no other place in the world where it's means so much to reach the podium..."

This year he became the first skier since France's Jean Claude Killy to win two races in different specialties in two days. In 1967, Killy won the downhill, then the slalom. Last December, Maier also won both races at Val d'Isère during the same weekend.

Hermann demonstrated his genuine joy in kissing the snow at the finish area. He also admitted that he felt a special emotion to have done so well in front of so many fans. In the evening, the Austrian TV station was life on air to show the award ceremony attended by other thousands of fans.

"For sure, it is something very special to win here," Maier said after the race. "There is a special atmosphere in this place — I needed some time to get used to it."

"This run really suits me fine now, especially the way it was prepared this year. It was fast and very difficult course to run because of the flat light, but I found a good line and got through everywhere without a problem. When I came down the Hausberg, I could hear the audience going wild. Also my equipment was very well tuned, otherwise I wouldn't have had a chance today on the gliding sections."

His runner-up Hannes Trinkl reached his first spot on the podium this season. It's also his best result in Kitzbuehel. At the last intermediate time on the Hausberg, he was in advance on Maier, but he lost too much time afterwards before crossing the finish line.

Stephan Eberharter too reached his first podium in Kitzbuhel in his 10-year long career. Yet despite this excellent result, he gave up his downhill World Cup lead to teammate Maier. But he will tough to beat at St Anton in two weeks.

Daron Rahlves was quite excited to share the podium with such fine experts. It was his podium place of the season ten months after he celebrated a surprise double success at the two downhill events of Kvitfjell, Norway.

"There is no other place in the world where it's means so much to reach the podium," said the skier from California.

"I had a wild run down the hill but I kept on fighting all the time. I was quite motivated after being 4th in the super G. My serviceman gave me the winning skis from Norway — a perfect move. This third place is worth any victory in another World Cup race — this is THE race. There is no other place on the tour where you can feel so much passion and excitement. You are really charged by the emotion of the people."

"This result means a lot to me after the tough time I had in December. I'm full of energy now and looking forward for more great moments in Garmisch and St. Anton."

Daron achieved the best US result in the downhill since AJ Kitt was 2nd in 1992. The last and only US winner in the downhill was Buddy Werner in 1959.

On Sunday, the slalom will take place on another demanding hill — and once more the Austria will be tough to beat. Last week they took the first five places in Wengen.

— Manuèle Lang, World Cup Correspondent

Email this story to a friend