Maier return cheers Austria as challenge rises

Chris Wright, Agence France-Presse, St. Moritz, Switzerland

Last year's Winter Games saw a chiller wind than usual blow through the Austrian Alpine ski camp as Das Wunderteam played second fiddle to mountain minnows Croatia.

To those who hail from warmer climes it is perhaps difficult to understand the reverence in which skiing is held in the Austrian psyche - but slithering down snowy slopes is to an Alpine fan what playing football in Rio's Maracana Stadium is to a Brazilian.

Seeing the Croatians come from nowhere to top the Alpine gold standard with Janica Kostelic's one-woman show producing three titles to the Austrians' two was a painful experience for Austria.

Fritz Strobl's success in the downhill and Stephan Eberharter's in the giant slalom were scant consolation - and to make things worse still, neighboring Switzerland finished two places better off in the overall standings, all sports combined. Suddenly, the gloom has lifted, however - and thanks to one man.

Double Olympic champion Hermann Maier's presence in the Austrian team, a year and a half after he almost lost a leg in a gruesome motorcycling accident, has given the team a massive lift.

The 30-year-old has made a remarkable comeback and proved his fitness by winning the World Cup super-G race in Kitzbuhel on Monday, just two weeks after returning to the circuit.

In the coming fortnight he will look to avenge his 2001 world championships flop on home snow at St. Anton, when he failed to win a gold medal despite being hot favorite for three titles.

With Eberharter leading the overall World Cup standings by a wafer-thin margin over U.S. star Bode Miller, the Austrians are looking good for the 28th world championships at this glitzy Swiss resort.

Miller and Daron Rahlves, who became the first U.S. racer in World Cup history to win the downhill on the fabled Streif piste at Kitzbuhel's Hahnenkamm, lead the U.S. challenge.

At St. Anton Mario Matt gave Austria the slalom gold and Hannes Trinkl edged Maier in the downhill - but this season has brought leaner pickings to date as new faces break through.

Kalle Palander of Finland, world champion in 1999, is also out for glory in the slalom having won successive races going into St. Moritz.

But if the Austrians are not dominating to the degree they would like, the Swiss are also under pressure as they bid to face their own fans.

The likes of Didier Cuche and Bruno Kernen will be out to show their form and ensure their countrymen and women at least match the 2001 gold haul which comprised a giant slalom double from Michael von Grunigen and Sonja Nef.

Among the women, the Austrians and the Swiss may hope for more luck as Nef is right up there challenging Italian Karen Putzer this season in the slalom. But Swede Anja Paerson looks a likelier titlist in the slalom she won two years ago.

Then, of course, there is Kostelic - who flunked her St. Anton campaign but who heads the overall rankings currently with Putzer trailing in pursuit.