Men's Downhill
Hermann Maier celebrated perfectly the third anniversary of his first World Cup victory in Bavaria's Garmisch-Partenkirchen by winning his eighth race of the season Saturday, moving into a tie with his legendary compatriot Franz Klammer as the most successful Austrian skier in the history of the World Cup tour. Both skiers have won 26 races on the World Cup tour: Klammer from 1972 to 1985, and Maier from 1996 until now.

	Hermann Maier

After a very aggressive run down the treacherous and icy "Kandahar" course, "The Herminator" beat his toughest rival, Italy's Kristian Ghedina, by 32/100, while Austria's Hannes Trinkl lost by over a second, taking 3rd place. A total of eight Austrians skied among the top-10 while Canada's Ed Podivinsky was the best North American, reaching 15th place, while three more Canadians placed in the top-30. American Daron Rahlves took 23rd, over four seconds behind the winner.

Kjetil Aamodt, only 12th, lost more ground today against Hermann Maier in the overall World Cup standings. In the downhill classification, Maier's lead on Ghedina is now over 80 points. With only three downhill races to go until the finals in Bormio, it will be difficult for the Italian to achieve his crystal dream this season. Fortunately, he plans to keep on racing for the next six years giving him time to reach his goal.

One of the all-time greatest ski heroes, Franz Klammer, was nicknamed the "Klammer-Express" in the 1970s, by the founder of the World Cup, French journalist Serge Lang. It was the perfect comparison to describe Klammer's impressive way of steaming down the toughest downhill slopes around the globe. But Hermann Maier actually moves as a bullet train on the most demanding runs and Garmisch's traditional "Kandahar" course was particularly difficult this year because of the icy snow which covered the 3500 meters of this extremely fast slope.

"I really fought hard for this win today. I wanted it very badly, not only because of the record, but because it was on a very tough and famous course. I took all my chances today...." — Hermann Maier (AUT)

"I really fought hard for this win today. I wanted it very badly," said Maier, who now has won three of eight downhills this season as well as three Super-G's and two giant slaloms. "Not only because of the record but because it was on a very tough and famous course. I took all my chances today. It was hard, icy; the kind of downhill I really like. I would enjoy to have more of this kind in our schedule. It's very flattering to reach the level of Klammer who was one of my idols when I was younger. But it's really difficult to compare the times.

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"When Klammer raced there was no super G and if there was he would for sure have won many more races in that event. I have all kinds of respect for Klammer, so I don't want to say I'm better than him just yet. I was very motivated today because I wanted to excel on this tough course, the most demanding, for sure, this season. You have to fight all the time here and go beyond your limits to win. This is what I like the most about downhill racing. I was quite tense at the start and I had to push myself out of the start-house. It was quite a thrilling run, I must say. I'm pretty amazed that Ghedina didn't loose more time on me. He must have had a great run too, I guess."

Ghedina was the only skier within a second of the former bricklayer from Flachau. It's the fifth time this season that he skied among the top-3 in a downhill. His worst finish so far this winter is 4th at both Chamonix and Wengen — a good reason for him to be pleased and confident for the coming speed events.

"It's just too bad that I caught a flu two weeks ago in Wengen, but I feel strong now," he said. "I had a strong run today, but Maier is incredible this season. But I don't give up my hopes, I'll fight until the end.

"Hermann is really in incredible form," added Ghedina, runner-up to Fritz Strobl last weekend in Kitzbuehel, and Andreas Schifferer in Val Gardena. "No matter what I do it seems an Austrian is always in front of me.

The icy, rock hard course appeared to be tailor made to Maier's daredevil style. The Herminator ignored the treacherous conditions that claimed most of the Swiss team; Bruno Kernen, Didier Cuche and Paul Accola all crashed out. Kernen's fall was the most spectacular as he ripped through three sets of safety netting after losing a ski — delaying the race 15 minutes before getting up and reaching the bottom of the course on one ski only under his own power.

A super G is planned on the second half of the downhill course. Yet, the weather forecast is not very good. In fact, it started to rain in the afternoon after the race. Last year, the races here had to be cancelled because of stormy weather.

In Zwiesel too, the women had problems with the weather conditions. Strong gusts of wind and some snow showers prevented the organizers from starting the competition. A slalom should be held on Sunday there.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com Correspondent