Men's Downhill
The year 2000 started off fine for the Herminator in Chamonix, France, where he won his sixth race of the season in a very dramatic downhill. The race was dominated by the Austrian team, three of whom stood on the podium ahead of the top favorite, Italy's Kristian Ghedina, whose last two training runs were outstanding.

	Hermann Maier

Four more Austrians finished among the top-10, as well as two Norwegians including the winner from 1994, Kjetil Aamodt. One US skier, Daron Rahlves, also scored points. He placed 27th, over three seconds from the lead.

It was Maier's first win in a traditional downhill after a series of top-3 finishes in several races this season. This 24th World Cup success also helps him increase his lead in the downhill and the Overall World Cup standings. He will enter the slalom on Sunday to try to win the combined and score as many points as possible before the end of the season. He aims to set a new record of total points marked within a season — at least 2000! In 1992, Switzerland's Paul Accola set a best mark of 1699 points when he beat the great Alberto Tomba.

Hermann Maier fought hard to win the first men's race of the year 2000 after struggling in the training runs which were dominated by Ghedina, the fastest man on the course during training. Ghedina's best training mark of 2.00.50 on Friday would have allowed him to win again (he took it by 1/100 in 1997) on this treacherous "Verte des Houches" course, used since 1948. But the skier from Cortina d'Ampezzo was not able to repeat his impressive run during the real race.

The snow and visibility were quite different this Saturday and his skis were not cruising as smoothly on the gliding sections. In fact, he lost time in the middle and the final parts where he has crushed his Austrian rivals in the past days.

"It's for sure a special victory because it is really a piste for downhill specialists and I didn't expect too much to win it..." — Hermann Maier (AUT)

On the contrary, the Herminator was charged with great determination after loosing 1.76 second on the Italian on Friday. Afterwards, he admitted having skied as aggressively today as last February in Beaver Creek while chasing his first World Championship gold medal in downhill. It's Maier's second downhill success this season, the fifth in his career on the World Cup tour.

"Ghedina's outstanding best time didn't leave me another choice than skiing at my limits from top to bottom," Maier explained. "I was particularly focused and motivated today and ready to give my best to achieve a great run. Yet it was far from being perfect.

	Eberharter

"I was even a little surprised setting a new best time because I made some little mistakes at the top, but it forced me to attack even more at the bottom," he added. "It's for sure a special victory because it is really a piste for downhill specialists and I didn't expect too much to win it. I'm really pleased to win the first World Cup competition of the new century. I was impatient to race again after this long Christmas break. Luck was on my side this time after some wafer-thin losses in the last weeks," concluded Maier, who now leads his compatriot Stephan Eberharter by 420 points in the World Cup overall standings. His last success this season goes back to his victory in super G in Lake Louise in early December. His worst result afterwards was his 6th place in the first downhill in Val Gardena.

This victory definitely proves that the Herminator is now able to win on each kind of downhill course after his intensive summer training in that specialty. Maier's victory also marked a special revenge for him. It was on this course three years ago that he took a bad crash and broke a hand.

"I had quite a lot of respect before coming here and I didn't take useless risks in training," he explained. "The course has been nicely improved in the meantime, but downhill is a dangerous specialty which requires great concentration."

	Trinkl

Ghedina, who won here in 1997, showed some strong performances in Val Gardena before Christmas. But the Italian from Cortina d'Ampezzo had to be content with fourth this time, after a slow start in the upper part. "You can't be disappointed with fourth place but I was 0.30 seconds slower than in practice and something went wrong," he said. "Maybe I had some visibility problems," he offered.

Eberharter, who is more of a giant slalom specialist, was not too frustrated at missing his first downhill victory by a mere 0.05 seconds. He was already 2nd in November in Beaver Creek. "Of course I won't have that many opportunities to clinch a downhill but the best won today. I made some mistakes here and there, but all in all it was not a bad run," he said. "To me, this is a great achievement as I had crashed out of the two giants held before Christmas. It's good to feel that I'm back in shape. Last year, I had some problems with my form in January," said Eberharter.

He will also compete in the slalom to score some points in the combined. The favorite for this "paper race" is Kjetil Aamodt, winner of the downhill and the combined in 1994. He lost less than two seconds on Maier, which should be enough for him since he is also an excellent slalom skier. The favorites of this first slalom of the New Year are Austria's Benjamin Raich and Thomas Stangassinger, Didier Plaschy from Switzerland, Finn Christian Jagge and Sebastien Amiez from France.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent