Men's Giant Slalom
Hermann Maier apparently feels at home on Beaver Creek's superb "Birds of Prey" course. He celebrated his 20th World Cup victory Wednesday in the second giant slalom of the season. After a tough fight in the second run, the Austrian successfully defended his lead from the first run and again beat Switzerland's Michael von Grunigen, the defending GS World Cup champion.

	Hermann Maier

It was his fourth win in the six races he has entered here since December 1997 including his two successes in the recent World Championships.

His teammate Andreas Schifferer took 3rd in front of another Austrian, Stephan Eberharter. A winner here in December 1997 and also the downhill World Cup champion that same season, Schifferer has the technical potential and the guts to challenge his colleague on Saturday in the first downhill of the season.

"But it was another story in the second run. The course was sloppy and Michael attacked more. But it only boosted my motivation so I charged to beat him again..." — Hermann Maier

	Kjus

Lasse Kjus, the defending GS World Champion, is also slowly coming back in shape. The Norwegian scored his first points by coming in 7th after a strong second run. Kjetil Aamodt came in 6th.

It was also a great day for US skiing: three members of the US ski team scored points in the race - they could have been four if Bode Miller would have finished his second run. He missed a gate after clocking a fast intermediate time.

"I had to work hard to win this one" said a jubilant Hermann Maier after the race. "I really went for it in the second run where it was more demanding to beat Michael" added the Austrian. "In the first one, I didn't take too many risks because I was not very concentrated. I showed up late at the start and I had just enough time to buckle up my boots when the count down started. With bib No. 1, I didn't have good information on the slope so I tried to have a solid first run. But it was another story in the second run. The course was sloppy and Michael attacked more. But it only boosted my motivation so I charged to beat him again. It was quite exciting I must say. "

In fact, Hermann was almost the old "Herminator" in the demanding second run that lasted four seconds more than the first. "There were a lot of turns and my legs were burning at the end," he said. "It's a great start to the season for me for me but I don't want to be too optimistic about the next speed events. I like this course a lot but there are many other good skiers who can also win here. I have trained well in downhill this fall but you never know how good you are in the first race. I will now have some smooth training runs in the downhill training to check my timing. On Saturday I will go for it."

	The Podium

"I wish to improve my downhill results this winter. With 11 downhills on the program this season, I have to be more consistent to have a good chance to clinch my second Overall World Cup."

The US skiers rebounded from Tuesday 's slalom fiasco with four racers qualified after the first run. Three of the four came through with Dane Spencer scoring his best result ever in taking 19th place. Last year he was 22nd in Flachau.

Erik Schlopy, 18th in a slalom at Park City five years ago, got his first GS World Cup points with 21st place. He had been a pro skier for three years before deciding to come back on the FIS tour to qualify for the 2002 Olympic Games at Salt Lake City. He trained by himself last winter and he got back in the teams after reaching some strong Nor-Am results. Thomas Vonn didn't qualify at Tignes last month. He had three top-30 last winter. This 24th place should put him on the right track for more good results.

Schlopy, who started in 48th position in the first run, was more than satisfied after the race. "I reached my first goal of the season today," he said afterwards, "In the slalom I was 42nd, not far from the cut and this boosted my morale." "I still skied carefully in both runs today as I wanted to come through in this race and score some points. From now on I feel able to progress. I want to improve my rankings in the FIS points. This result reinforces my confidence. I feel able to compete at Salt Lake City in three years. I will be 31 in 2002 but I feel great energy and momentum."

The first downhill training for the coming race will take place on Thursday and Friday morning. Chad Fleischer will try to confirm his strong performance at the end of last season, when he was 2nd in Sierra Nevada after being among the top-15 at Kvitfjel.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent