Men's Giant Slalom
Austria's Christian Mayer celebrated his second win of the season, after taking the GS here in Slovenia's Kranjska Gora. In this race, rescheduled from Adelboden three weeks ago, Mayer, the 1994 giant slalom World Cup champion, accomplished a remarkable success, beating France's Joël Chenal by 64/100 of a second and Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel, who won the GS silver medal at the last World Championships in Vail, by 99/100.

	Christian Mayer

There are some interesting statistics which surround this result. Mayer, who lives in nearby Austria, only 15 minutes away from the finish area, is only the third skier after Switzerland's Joel Gaspoz and Italy's Superstar Alberto Tomba to have won this demanding World Cup giant slalom race twice. This is the twentieth time the race has taken place in Kranjska Gora since 1968.

Mayer beat Herman "The Herminator" Maier here during the 1997-'98 season. Two months later, Maier became an Olympic champion in GS. It's also the twentieth victory in 31 races for the Austrian men's team (including the tie at St. Anton in the second Super-G) — not a bad average so far for the "Reds and Whites."

There is more to come: Austria now leads the number of men's World Cup victories in giant slalom — 54 ahead of Switzerland's 53. Maybe they should start their own league next year.

But Mayer, hugging his friends from the Mayer Fan Club, could care less about these figures. He was just glad to have done so well after weeks of disappointing results.

"It's a difficult hill, especially in the final steep section. I was happy to be in the lead after the first run, it was a great boost for my moral..." — Christian Mayer (AUT)

"I was hoping for more after my great win at Saalbach last December, but I lost my focus and my rhythm in January because there was no giant slalom for six weeks," Mayer said after the race. "But here I had to return to the top on this slope that I know so well — and in front of my fans. It's a difficult hill, especially in the final steep section. I was happy to be in the lead after the first run, it was a great boost for my moral. I was able to attack even more in the second run."

	Jöel Chenal

In fact, Mayer led France's Joël Chenal, who finished 3rd in Korea, by almost twice from the first run to the second — Mayer led by 33/100 after the first run and 64/100 after the second. The red-haired Austrian had a reckless second run that confirmed his strong form and a very determined mental attitude.

This next-to-last giant slalom before the Finals at Bormio was marked by crashes of two of the main Austrian favorites: Benjamin Raich, the winner in Yong Pyong two weeks ago, and Hermann Maier, the great dominator in giant slalom so far. It was Maier's first crash in a giant slalom race in a very long time.

Both fell in the final treacherous part of the first run while attacking at their limits. Despite lack of training, The Herminator was in great shape that morning and had just clocked the fastest intermediate time when he lost his balance while coming out of a sharp right turn. Despite this mistake, Maier remains a solid leader in the giant slalom World Cup standings since his main rival, Switzerland's Michael von Gruenigen, finished only 8th. Maier now has a 52-point lead over the Swiss champion, a winner here back in 1997.

Raich suffered a slight concussion and may not be able to compete this week's technical races at Schladming and Hinterstoder on Thursday night and Saturday.

	Mayer

Mayer is often focused at the end of a season — last year he won the last super G at the Finals in Sierra Nevada, Spain. He also clinched several bronze medals at Olympics and World Championships in 1994, 1998 and 1999 in giant slalom, combined and slalom.

"Now I aim for another big result at Hinterstoder — it's always very exciting to perform in front of your own fans and I hope to reach the top-3 in the final GS standings."

For the moment, Joël Chenal occupies this 3rd place. The winner from Alta Badia is also in great shape during this final part of the 2000 season.

Only one more Austrian, Heinz Schilchegger, finished among the top-10. He finished 4th in front of Finland's "Little Herminator" as he likes to call himself, Sami Uotila. It's Uotila's best performance in a World Cup race. This should help him to enter the first seed in that specialty soon.

Germany's Markus Eberle reached a best-ever 6th place ahead of Slovenia's Mitja Kunc, the winner in slalom in Korea two weeks ago. Kjetil-Andre Aamodt was 9th — nothing special so far for the former GS World Champion (1993, Morioka). Although he has scored points in all the World Cup events held so far this season, his position behind Maier in the Overall World Cup standings is just too far back to allow him any dream of final victory.

Dane Spencer was the best US skier in 25th position.

The next men's race, a night slalom, is planned for Thursday evening. Over 40,000 spectators are expected around the slalom stadium at Schladming. It's the last slalom prior the Finals in Bormio and one of the last chance for Matjaz Vrhovnik to make up some terrain on Kjetil-Andre Aamodt in the slalom. Among the other favorites, Mario Matt, the greatest Austrian talent in slalom, Mitja Kunc, Jure Kosir, Ole Kristian Furuseth from Norway and Switzerland's Didier Plaschy.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent