Skiing Home
MountainZone.com Home

	CLICK FOR

"There is a strong rivalry in our team, but also much mutual respect." — Stefan Eberharter

Austria's veteran Stefan Eberharter has celebrated his second win so far this season in the super-G in Aspen, CO. The Tyrolian was able to beat the top-favorite, his teammate Hermann Maier, who finished half a second behind him. Another Austrian powerhouse, Christian Mayer, was third by 64/100 of a second.

Two more Austrians rounded out the top-5: Rainer Salzgeber and Hans Knauss. It's the first time that five Austrian skiers finished ahead in a World Cup super-G.

"It was quite a tough super-G for sure, one of the most difficult which I have ever raced," said Eberharter. "I made a big mistake at the top and I took all risks at the bottom. But I didn't expect to win this race today."

Eberharter, 29, was 2nd here in 1993, two years after winning two gold medals at the 1991 World Championships in Saalbach. Today was also his very first success in super-G on the World Cup tour after winning two giant slaloms this year. Last week he won the giant slalom in Park City in which Maier skied out in the second run.

"It's a great feeling to win this race in front of him because he is such a great racer," said Stefan. "There is a strong rivalry in our team but also much mutual respect".

Maier was not upset by his first super-G loss in a year.

"I thought I would be last when I crossed the finish line," he said with a grin. "I have never skied so bad in super-G my career; I was all over the place in the second half of the course after clocking the fastest intermediate time at the top. It's my fault because I chose the wrong pair of skis today. Instead of using the racing skis which I normally take for the icy courses, I decided to ski with my Olympic skis. They are very fast on the flat sections but useless on very hard or icy slopes. I hate to loose but today I think I sort of won in being second. The season is still long and I already had some great moments as in Sölden. My goal this season is to peak at the World Championships at Vail and in January."

Christian Mayer, whose best result in super-G was a 5th place in Val d'Isere two years ago, has achieved an impressive result in Aspen by getting his third spot on the podium in three consecutive races.

"I'm amazed because I have only trained for two days in super-G," Mayer said. "I enjoy high speed and I felt fine on this very technical ground, but this result will not change my attitude— my goal is to be at the top in the technical events. In fact, I will skip the next super-G in Whistler Mountain next week to train more my giant slalom for the races in December."

Norway's Lasse Kjus was the first non-Austrian in 6th place, 1.08 seconds in front of the downhill Olympic Champion Jean Luc Cretier. All the five US skiers at the start except Jakub Fiala were able to finish among the top-30 and score points.

Casey Puckett (USA) achieved a promising result by taking 12th despite his start-number 46. After his brother's crash during training yesterday, Puckett showed great determination in his first World Cup super-G race. His brother, Chris Puckett, broke his tibia while free-skiing Thursday morning. Only 33 racers out of 69 were able to make it to the finish line.

During the press conference, a jubilant Puckett explained how much this result meant to him.

"I know this course pretty well since I'm from Crested Butte, [CO.], and I was going for it today," he said. "I have had a tough time in the past years with injuries and it's just great to be back at that level, especially after Chris's accident yesterday. I was sort of skiing for him today."

Puckett, 26, won a junior World Championship gold medal in slalom back in 1991. He was seventh in the Olympic slalom in Lillehammer in 1994, and his best result on the World Cup tour was 16th in Chamonix in 1994. In Saturday's race he will try to prove his strength in slalom.