Men's Giant Slalom
The Austrian ski team achieved a brilliant conquest in the last men's World Cup event of the century by monopolizing all three spots on the winner's podium. In the season's fourth giant slalom, Christian Mayer, the 1994 GS World Cup Champion, beat his teammate Hermann "The Herminator" Maier by 30/100 and Benjamin Raich, who was leading after the first run, by 32/100.

	Christian Mayer

Switzerland's Michael von Gruenigen, only 10th in the previous giant slalom in Alta Badia, took 4th place ahead of Andreas Schifferer and France's Joel Chenal, winner in Italy last Sunday. No American qualified for the second run. Bode Miller skied out while Danie Spencer, 31st in the opening leg, missed the cut by 1/100.

Four Austrians were leading the standings after the first run. Two of them — Stephan Eberharter and Rainer Salzgeber — crashed, yet there were still enough of them at the start to dominate this competition held in polar temperatures in front of a great crowd. Christian Mayer, who was only 7th in the first leg, was not satisfied with that place and focused everything for the second leg.

"I was looking for this win for a long time. It's great to be the last World Cup winner of the century..." — Christian Mayer (AUT)

"I was looking for this win for a long time," he said. "In a way, I deserved to win today since I was in the lead in the first run at Val d'Isère before it was decided to cancel the race. I was frustrated last Sunday by my second run in Alta Badia, in which I made too many mistakes. I wanted to finish the year with a win, and it's great to be the last World Cup winner of the century."

	Mayer

Both Hermann Maier and Benjamin Raich admitted afterwards that they didn't try to approach their limits in the lower steep section of the bumpy course because they were over confident. "I hit the first half of that run perfectly, and I didn't want to risk to ski out at the end," said The Herminator, 2nd in the first run.

"Obviously I was wrong; nowadays you have to risk everything from start to finish to have a chance to win. But a place on the podium is always fine for me — I had a great season start so far. I'm proud to be in the lead in four of the five World Cup standings, and I will do my best to remain in the lead until the finals in Bormio in March," Maier said.

Benjamin Raich also seemed satisfied with 3rd place in reaching his first podium of the season in giant slalom. Last year he was the only Austrian skier to have won in slalom and in giant slalom. "I expect to improve my form in January as last year," Raich said. "There are still many races left on the calendar, and I'm having a great time so far."

	The Herminator

The men's World Cup Tour will take a two-week break now, which seems to make everybody happy. "The season is still very long, and we have already travelled a lot in the last month," said Norway's Kjetil Aamodt, the only racer so far to have participated in each event this season. He finished 7th today.

"I'm tired, but I still have some energy to buy some Christmas gifts. It will be nice to relax for while. I hope to be in better shape in January for the 'Classics,'" Aamodt continued.

The next races, a downhill and a slalom, which count for the "Arlberg Kandahar," will take place in Chamonix, France, on the 8th and the 9th of January.

The women compete in Lienz, Austria, on the 28th and the 29th of December in a giant slalom and a slalom.

— Patrick Lang, MountainZone.com World Cup Correspondent