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).

Kitzbuehel Super G

Finally we had a race! With the Austrian Army having been up again all night preparing the piste, a rather subdued atmosphere prevailed for the 4th Super G of the season.  After the slalom had finished yesterday, the sun disappeared and the snow started falling again, as if on cue!  The worry that the race would not happen dissipated and the race started on time.  With the way the start numbers are dealt out, the best racers started at the end of the top 30.  Maier, who won here last year, his first win since his horrific crash, was last of the top seeds to go, thus raising the tension and excitement.

Early leader was Didier Defago, again showing more form and ability than he has shown for much of the last two years.  Since his first run lead at Adelboden and his switch to Rossignol skis, the Swiss star has shown more fire and guts.  (Adelboden GS report).  The course was holding up well despite the 10cms of new snow and try as he might, Bode Miller was unable to add to his tally of wins.  For Miller the important thing was that he was ahead of Benni Raich, this extending his points lead over the Austrian in the Combined.

With the World Championship Super G on Saturday, this was the last chance for the racers to book their tickets for Bormio.  With no other nation having the selection headache that the Austrians have, attention was on how the remaining racers that have not booked places would fare? Benni Raich, tipped to go in four of the five events, did his chances no harm by placing 7th but the only other Austrian to do his chances good was Fritz Strobl.  Strobl was delighted to have placed third and publicly praised the course preparation team in managing to stage the race.

With Strobl taking the lead from Defago, this delighted the small but noisy crowd.  Gruber, Aamodt, Goergl, Raich and Miller were all unable to better the time set by the Olympic Downhill Champion.  Daron Rahlves followed Miller down and was consistently quicker than the Austrian.  Still suffering form the effects of the spectacular crash he had in Adelboden, Rahlves felt that "the mind overcame the pain of the body," as he bettered the time set by Strobl.  With Walchhofer and Maier to go from those in the top 30 starters, it was still an open race.  Walchhofer disappointed and then came Maier: The Kitzbuehel roar started and although he trailed Strobl at the first split, by the second he was infront.  Could he win again and become the King of Kitzbuehel like compatriot Goetschl is the Queen of Cortina? 

A slight wobble on the lower section cost him time but by the time he flashed across the finish line the cow bells and horns were at full volume!  Maier had his first victory of the season and his 50th career win!  The crowd could go home happy as both races that took place over the Kitzbuehel weekend had been won by Austrians!

Maier spoke afterwards with German television and said: "Last year I missed the victory over Rahlves by 2/100ths. This year I reversed the trend. It was very close. Today everything was working fine from the top to the finish. Kitzbuehel is always an important race for me as I'm Austrian. as my performances become better and better I'm optimistic for Bormio."  With this win Maier now overtakes Miller in the Super G standings but is still 363 points behind the American in the race for the Overall. 

For Finlay Mickel there was no repeat of the result from Gardena.  Provisionally going 35th, Mickel dropped to 39th in the final results.  "This has been a hard week for me as the conditions have been tough." Mickel explained that the continual icing of the course and then softening of it had made conditions treacherous.  As a result of this the Canadian team had been withdrawn earlier on in the week.

Mickel now goes to a Europa Cup downhill before the World Championship Super G on Saturday.  "With the new snow, training pistes are hard to get and I will use these races as training for the World Championships," declared Mickel.  With a career best of 5th in a Europa Cup Downhill, Mickel will be looking to get things back on track with the Europa Cup races.  "I get a real buzz from having the family around and they will be their in Bormio to cheer me on," Britain's top downhiller said.  Mickel, who has started to feel mentally drained will be hoping that the presence of his family will be able to lift him again for the major race so far in his career - the 2005 World Championship Downhill on Saturday 5 February. (World Championships Preview)
 

Further information from Kitzbuehel