L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

What a difference a run makes! After the first run, the Austrian slump it was being proclaimed was over: Maier lead from compatriots Gruber and Raich, all within 0.03 seconds of each other.  Miller was best of the rest in fourth. 

The first run threw up some surprises with a number of lower ranked racers managing to put caution to the wind and make the cut.  Mirko Deflorian (Italy), whose only previous world cup result had been 21st in Kranjska Gora last season qualified from starting 58.  Had he been inspired by Ales Gorza who made the cut from 40, or even Sweden's Rainer Niklas who made the cut going just before him?

The Italian team are on a roll at the moment: Bormio is to host the World Championships in February 2005 and Turin the Olympics in 2006.  To race on home slopes will bring them great support and they have an exciting Giant Slalom team at the moment that are challenging and winning races these days.  Deflorian's first run was backed up with a solid second run that saw him hold the lead for a long time.  His compatriot Davide Simoncelli, who won his sole World Cup race to date last season in Alta Badia, took the lead from him. 

Lasse Kjus, who won earlier this season in America, then took pole position before Miller demonstrated just why he is the best skier in world skiing at the moment.  Miller may have had the lead but he still had the three Austrians at the start waiting to come down.

First of the trio down was Raich and he made a mistake that resulted on him falling onto his inside ski in the verticale.  Although he carried on he was so far off the pace that when he should have been chasing the big points he was scrapping for the small ones.  Next down was Christoph Gruber.  Gruber has moved onto Salomon this year and although he is struggling in the downhill, his first runs in the Giant Slalom are exciting and hitting the mark yet by the second run it is almost as though he cannot believe he is winning or up there challenging.  Beaver Creak saw him bail out on the second run when in the lead and this happened again in Val d'Isere.  This left Maier at the start and the last hope of beating the Austrian's main protagonist, Miller.

Maier was three tenths ahead at the start yet this had almost all gone by the first split and by the bottom Maier was lucky to stay on the podium.  Kjus had snuck in for second yet the American with Maier's nemesis' ski technician was creating more space between him and the Austrian.  Miller is in dominant form at the moment and after becoming the fifth man to win in all five disciplines, he goes to Sestriere on Monday night looking to be the first man to win all four disciplines in the same season.  On this form it is very possible.