Men's Downhill
For once, Hermann "The Herminator" Maier was not grumpy on the podium while posing for the photographers next to his winning teammate Hannes Trinkl. Maier finished 2nd, 40/100 of a second behind Trinkl, but "The Herminator" achieved his dream of winning the downhill World Cup trophy,

	Maier Takes the Cup

after only three years racing on the World Cup circuit, the last one missing in his collection of trophies amassed in recent seasons. He now has World Cup trophies in downhill, super G, giant slalom and the overall title.

He clinched the Crystal Cup with an advance of 123 points on Italy's Kristian Ghedina, who only finished 14th but remains 2nd in the standings. Josef Strobl, 7th today, successfully defended his third place in the final DH World Cup standings in front of Hannes Trinkl and four other Austrians. Canada's Ed Podivinsky finished 5th.

Hannes Trinkl feels at home in Bormio on the demanding Stelvio course on which he won his very first downhill race seven years ago. He felt ready for this final "coup" today after setting the fastest time in Tuesday's training run.

"I think I hit an almost perfect run today; I couldn't have been faster," Trinkl after the race. "It's a ideal course for me, very fast from top to bottom and very challenging too. I wanted to finish the season on a good result after the two disappointing events in Norway last week."

"I can't complain about my season — with two wins, it's a pretty good one even if I regret my crash at Beaver Creek. I missed my main goal which was to come on the podium in the downhill standings," he continued.

"The course was quite demanding and I could have recovered some time at the bottom, but I didn't want to gamble with the Cup. Ghedina was starting behind me..." — Hermann Maier (AUT)

Trinkl, winner of the Olympic bronze medal in the downhill at Nagano in '98, is a powerful athlete who is also able to cruise smoothly on technical courses. It was his fifth major victory, but he has also reached the podium 10 times on classic courses including Val d'Isère, Kvitfjell and Wengen.

Hermann Maier's goal today was not so much to beat his teammate as it was to finish among the top-3 — for the 21st time this winter — which is also an impressive record. "The Herminator," like Trinkl, also won his first World Cup downhill race on this course in December, 1997.

After clocking the 5th best time in training Tuesday, Maier was confident looking forward to the race, and he definitely charged with great determination to try to win it. But after a few hundred meters, he made a major mistake in a crucial turn and preferred to go for a safer line.

"I had a strong start, but after this mistake I didn't want to take too many risks and I just tried to finish the race without more troubles," Maier said at the press conference. "The course was quite demanding and I could have recovered some time at the bottom, but I didn't want to gamble with the Cup. Ghedina was starting behind me, so I had to achieve a solid run. This downhill World Cup title means a lot to me for many reasons. I have worked hard to improve my technique and to test skis since last spring.

	Hannes Trinkl

"I'm really pleased by my season and this success — I think it's the most important Crystal Trophy next to the big one I won in 1998. Now my collection is complete; I have won titles and World Cup Trophies in downhill, super G and giant slalom since 1998. It's perfect. Now I can relax and fight for my next goal — to reach the 2000 points limits. I have not skied too well in super G in the past weeks, so I'm pretty motivated, which is very important right now. I'm tired as all the other skiers but I still have enough energy to survive this week. I may even race in the slalom if I need to — in case I need some points to reach 2000."

America's Daron Rahlves was aiming for a top-5 result, but he was not to disappointed to miss it by half a second. Rahlves finished 9th today and 10th in the final downhill standings. "I had a pretty strong run, and it's good to confirm my progress in downhill with another fine result," Rahlves said after the race. "This downhill is really tough and you can't fool it. It's one thing to win once in a while and another to finish consistently among the best. This result is important to me and a great way to end my downhill season. Now I have passed the 400 limits — I still have more to conquer in super G and giant slalom."

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com European Correspondent