Maier Shows Why He’s Der Bomber in Giant Slalom

The Herminator did it again, but La Bomba bombed Thursday in the men’s giant slalom on Mt. Higashidate in Shiga Kogen.

In what was to have been a showdown between the upstart new guy and multiple champion Alberto Tomba, Hermann Maier, the ace of the Austrian team and Alpine skiing’s man of the year, won his second gold medal with two just-on-the-edge-of-control runs down an icy course.

Tomba, the Italian who has dominated Olympic slalom and giant slalom racing since 1988 in Calgary, fell only eight gates into the first run.

Maier, who had crashed spectacularly last Saturday in his first Olympic race, the downhill, flirted with disaster again but stayed upright and had a two-run time of 2 minutes 38.51 seconds, beating teammate Stefan Eberharter, who clocked 2:39.36.

Christian Mayer could have made it an Austrian sweep. He was in second place going into the afternoon run but skied poorly and Michael Von Gruenigen of Switzerland took the bronze in 2:39.69.

“I’m not a great hero, but I’m happy,” Maier said after becoming the first Austrian to win the giant slalom gold since Toni Sailer at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, in 1956.

“I’m still sorry about my downhill, but I’m very happy about these two medals.”

Tomba’s first shot at a medal in his fourth Olympics was over almost as soon as it began.

“I went out like Hermann Maier [in the downhill],” said Tomba, who never has won a race in Japan. “Japanese snow brings me no luck. I always fall here.”

Tomba’s fall was far less spectacular than Maier’s. The winner of three gold--two in giant slalom--and two silver medals in three previous Olympics was hardly out of the start house when he was in trouble. He caught a tip on a gate pole, got his legs apart, skied through the flag marking one end of a gate, flipped, slid and bounced off a safety bumper.

“My race was so short that I cannot remember it,” he said. “I found myself flipping just at the moment I felt I was getting into the race.”

He complained about a sore back but said, “Luckily I have a back brace. It probably protected me a bit. I wanted to win and I risked everything. . . . Maybe I should have saved my horsepower for the bottom. Now I have to go for the slalom [Saturday]. I hope I recover in time.”

Maier, who bounced back from his crash in the downhill and won the super-G earlier in the week, put himself in position to win this one with a bold first run he was fortunate to finish. The third skier down the hill, he went airborne after one turn and was just barely under control much of the way down the icy course.

The World Cup leader in the giant slalom, he finished the first run in 1:20.36.

Then he went 15th in the second run and, with Eberharter and Von Gruenigen to beat, went even faster. He went around one gate on one ski and twice nearly fell but maintained enough control to finish in 1:18.15.

“There is no way to describe what Maier did,” Austrian Coach Werner Margreiter said. “He was jumping at every gate.”

The race was run a day late because of heavy snow Tuesday night, but Thursday was a day of sunshine and blue skies. The sun quickly turned the course icy, however, especially at the top, where even some of the big names had trouble. Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway wiped out in the first run, and missed gates were common.

It also was not a successful day for the four American skiers entered. Daron Rahlves, Sacha Gros and Bode Miller all finished the first run well out of contention. Paul Casey Puckett missed a gate high up the hill, went back and completed it, then missed another and slid off the course on his first run.

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MEDALISTS

Alpine Skiing

MEN’S GIANT SLALOM

Gold: Hermann Maier, Germany

Silver: Stephan Eberharter, Austria

Bronze: Michael Von Gruenigen, Switzerland