Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

Men's Giant Slalom Report by Martin Bell [click to listen] [click for transcript]

Herminator Speeds while Tomba Breaks

Though he still may be the featured athlete in the "Agony of Defeat" campaign for his sick crash in the downhill earlier this week, Austria's Hermann Maier lost no composure and in today's giant slalom took his second Alpine Gold of these Games.

Maier

The much loved "La Bomba", Alberto Tomba, was ousted after crashing just 18 seconds into his first run when he hooked his ski on a gate.

Through both runs Maier looked as though he could have easily launched himself again, but was able to keep his pedals to the metal earning a half second lead after the first run.

Maier, the bricklayer from Flachau, Austria, had his home crowd cheering and the ever present homemade purple Hermann sign waving as he also posted the fastest second run time. His combined time of 2:38.51 earned him another gold to go with the Super G medallion he won Monday.

Austria's Stefan Eberharter may have to be forever content with seeing teammate Maier's back. He is a solid racer who's solid performance landed him at the bottom three-quarters of a second behind Maier and earned him the silver.

Hans Knauss Just Missed

Nearly fulfilling pre-Olympic predictions of an Austrian sweep, Hans Knauss lost bronze by only two one-hundredths of a second to Swiss ace and reigning world champion Michael Von Gruenigen.

"Berto" Tomba, a two time slalom gold medalist and the only alpine skier to garner medals in three consecutive Games, has another chance at Olympic glory in the slalom race Saturday. Though Tomba reportedly has a sore back his chances for gold are automatically increased as the Herminator won't be making a sequel — he doesn't race the slalom.

US's Miller Couldn't Pull It Out

The Americans just couldn't quite compete in this race. California's Daron Rahlves had the best US finish, in 2:43.59 earning him 21st. Sacha Gros was six places back in 27th with a combined time of 2:46.89 and New Hampshire's Bode Miller had some serious technical problems and finished last.

Results

1 Hermann Maier Austria 2:38.51
2 Stefan Eberharter Austria 2:39.36
3 Michael von Gruenigen Switzerland 2:39.69
4 Hans Knauss Austria 2:39.71
5 Jure Kosher Slovenia 2:39.98
6 Steve Locher Switzerland 2:40.30
7 Paul Accola Switzerland 2:40.57
8 Lasse Kjus Norway 2:40.65
9 Christian Mayer Austria 2:40.67
10 Fredrik Nyberg Sweden 2:40.95
11 Joel Chenal France 2:41.09
12 Ian Piccard France 2:41.10
13 Urs Kaelin Switzerland 2:41.17
14 Christophe Saioni France 2:41.24
15 Marco Buechel Liechtenstein 2:41.99
16 Matteo Nana Italy 2:42.37
17 Sergio Bergamelli Italy 2:42.78
18 Tom Stiansen Norway 2:42.88
19 Mitja Kunc Slovenia 2:43.09
20 Sami Uotila Finland 2:43.45
21 Daron Rahlves United States 2:43.59
22 Patrik Jaerbyn Sweden 2:43.82
23 Jernej Koblar Slovenia 2:43.96
24 Thomas Loedler Croatia 2:44.21
25 Andrzej Bachleda Poland 2:46.24
26 Kiminobu Kimura Japan 2:46.35
27 Sacha Gros United States 2:46.89
28 Tejs Broberg Denmark 2:47.14
30 Vedran Pavlek Croatia 2:47.54
31 Marcel Maxa Czech Republic 2:49.51
31 Takuya Ishioka Japan 2:49.51
33 Alain Baxter Britain 2:49:82
34 Stefan Georgiev Bulgaria 2:50.89
35 Seung Wook Hur Korea 2:52.27
36 Ivars Ciaguns Latvia 2:53.59
37 Marko Djordjevic Yugoslavia 2:58.47
38 Aleksandar Stojanovski Macedonia 3:01:17
39 Bode Miller United States 3:21.66

Patrick Holzer Italy DNF
Markus Eberle Germany DNF
Victor Gomez Andorra DNF
Kalle Palander Finland DNF
Gerard Escoda Andorra DNF
Enis Becirbecovic Bosnia-Herzegovina DNF
Dmitri Kvatch Kazakhstan DNF
Kristinn Bjornsson Iceland DNS