In Madonna di Campiglio, where one of the most traditional Italian World Cup races has taken place almost every year since 1967, the Austrians swept the podium in the third slalom of the season. The Austrian coup occurred just two days after the team's disastrous weekend at Val d'Isère where Hermann Maier was disqualified.

Mario Matt, one of the greatest talents in this specialty, won his first slalom of the season in front of two of his teammates. Heinz Schilchegger, the best skier in the technical events in this first part of the season, came in 2nd, half a second behind Matt. Rainer Schoenfelder, one of the numerous newcomers last winter, was 3rd after an tremendous second run in which he moved up from 15th in the first run.

"I was confident at the season start after my season last year, but you never know. You also need luck to win races."

Last year, Matt won two of the most demanding slalom races of the season - Kitzbühel and Schladming - in front of 30,000 spectators. Matt was 2nd in Park City but skied out eight days ago at Sestrière after clocking the second best time in the first leg.

Norway's Kjetil Aamodt, the defending slalom World Cup champion, was 4th in front of another Austrian, Benjamin Raich. A five-time winner on the World Cup tour in the past two winters, Raich has not reached a podium yet this season.

No US skiers scored any point this time. Great Britain's Alain Baxter reached an astonishing top-10 place. It's the third consecutive time that he scored points in a slalom this season — the best-ever World Cup result for a skier from the British team in a technical race.

Organized since 1949, the slalom at Madonna di Campiglio is a prestigious competition that all technical specialists dream to win at least once in their career. Most of the greatest champions excelled there including the legendary Ingemar Stenmark and Italy's Alberto Tomba. Thomas Sykora, the silver medal winner at the 1998 Olympics, became the first Austrian the win this race three years ago. On Tuesday, Matt and his colleagues achieved the first Austrian sweep - a good way to show that Austrians besides Hermann Maier can win World Cup races.

Matt was, of course, delighted by his achievement, allowing him to increase his confidence before the World Championships which take place in February in his hometown of St. Anton. "We have such a strong team; the most difficult thing is to qualify, and this win should put me on the team for Worlds," he said. "I was confident at the season start after my season last year, but you never know. You also need luck to win races."

The three Austrians were asked to give their opinion about Hermann's behavior during the official post-race press conference, but one of the members of their staff made a sign in the back of the room not to answer this hot question. It is touchy subject in Austria.

On Wednesday, the FIS appeals commission lifted the ban on Maier, freeing him to compete in Thursday's giant slalom in Bormio, Italy. He was originally banned for one race after inspection run violations in Val d'Isere last weekend.

After Thursday's GS, Maier will have to wait for a while - the downhill planned at Bormio on New Year's Eve had to be cancelled because of lack of snow. His return may now take place early January at Les Arcs, France.

— Manuèle Lang, World Cup Correspondent

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