1st Season's Win for Christian Mayer

	Super-G winner Christian Mayer

Austria's Christian Mayer won his first race of the season in Sierra Nevada when he took the last super-G of the season here at the World Cup finals. The 1994 giant slalom champion beat his teammate Andreas Schifferer by 35/100 and another Austrian, Josef Strobl, by 82/100 while the favored Hermann Maier only came in 7th.

Norway's Lasse Kjus reinforced his lead in the overall World Cup standings by taking 4th place, just 1/100 behind Strobl. Kjus is now 102 points ahead of Maier in the overall standings — and Maier will have to score points in Saturday's slalom to have any hopes of beating Kjus in the overall standings. Maier, though, had not planned to compete in the slalom during these finals and his trainers are now trying to convince him to change his mind.

"I proved today that I would have deserved to compete in Vail..."— Christian Mayer

Kjetil Aamodt lost his balance in the upper part of the course and he had to be content with a far 16th place. His task of racking up more points will be very difficult in the last technical races. America's Chad Fleischer could not repeat his great performance from the downhill and he came in 17th. Teammate Daron Rahlves didn't finish the race.

The sun shined as the best super-G racers of the season cruised down the "Granados" slope, but strong gusts of wind blowing in various directions influenced the competition. Top favorites, such as Stephan Eberharter, Paul Accola and Maier, who started with low numbers, were disadvantaged compared to other skiers who competed after them.

"The wind changed from racer to racer," said the Austrian head coach Werner Margreiter. "Some were slowed down by the wind, other pushed in the back. Hermann had a great race, but he was unlucky this time."

	Maier and his globe

In fact, "The Herminator" was sad and upset after the race. His 7th position is his worst super-G result in the last two years. Since his success in Beaver Creek in November 1997, the double Olympic champion has won all the super-Gs he has entered, except a race in Aspen earlier this season when he was second behind Stephan Eberharter.

In total, Maier has celebrated 18 World Cup wins in the last two years.

"I have given my best today, but it's obvious that I was not favored by the wind as other skiers," Maier said after the race. "It's frustrating, but I can't change anything now. I have reached my main goals in Vail by winning two gold medals. Even without the overall World Cup title, I have achieved a great season this winter."

On Sunday, the Austrian will also fight for the giant slalom World Cup against Switzerland's Michael von Grunigen. Despite a delay of 92 points, Kjetil Aamodt remains a dangerous rival for Lasse Kjus who will try to secure the overall Crystal Cup with the slalom on Saturday.

"Kjetil will fight until the last day — he is skiing very well in slalom in this moment," said Kjus. "I feel tired now. It's not easy to remain focused and motivated during the entire season. I was pleased by my race and happy to finish ahead of Hermann, it's just too bad to miss the podium by only 1/100 today."

Andreas Schifferer conquered an encouraging third place in the super-G World Cup standings with his 2nd place, reaching his fourth podium in a week including his two successes in the downhill in Norway.

"I'm sorry that the season is over because I'm in perfect shape now," Schifferer said. "But I have learned a lot this winter when I was down and this experience will be very precious in the coming seasons."

Josef Strobl, considered as Austria's "Wonderboy" a few years ago when, at 20, he won the first World Cup downhill he entered in Vail d'Isere, also achieved a nice comeback in finishing 3rd, his best result in a while.

"This result is very important for my future because it brings me back in the first seed in super-G," said Strobl. "I have struggled this season but I found out what the problems were were. I expect to come back at the top next season."

	Lasse Kjus leads overall

Mayer has not won a race since his last success in a giant slalom in Kranjska Gora in January 1998. "It was about time to win a race," said Mayer, the 27-year-old skier from south of Austria who finished 3rd in the slalom in Vail and 4th in the combined.

Yet he was upset not to have been qualified within the Austrian team for the super-G after his excellent season start. "I proved today that I would have deserved to compete in Vail," he added. In November he accumulated an impressive series of top-3 results in giant slalom, slalom and super-G during the American World Cup tour. He was affected in early January by a virus which prevented him to move at his best level in the technical races.

"I was hoping for better results this winter but it's good to conclude the winter with such a win," Mayer explained. "I felt able for a while to win a super-G after finishing several times on the podium in the first part of the season. Now I will fight for another top-3 place in Sunday's giant slalom."

The next men's race, the slalom, is planned for Saturday. Another Austrian, Thomas Stangassinger, will fight for his first World Cup title in that event. He came in second three times in recent years. His last rival was Jure Kosir from Slovenia.

— Mountain Zone European Ski Correspondent