Skiing: Maier is too fast for Swiss rival

THE AUSTRIAN Olympic champion, Hermann Maier, and Switzerland's Michael Von Grunigen fought to the final gate in the second giant slalom race of the World Cup season on Wednesday.

Eventually, though, it was the man nicknamed "The Hermannator", who overcame the reigning World Cup champion to win his second race in as many starts this season. Maier took a 0.38 seconds advantage in the first run down the demanding Birds of Prey course here, but Von Grunigen came back with a seemingly flawless second run to record the fastest time of the day.

Perfection was not enough, however, as Maier's second leg was just 0.1sec slower. Maier won with a combined time of 2min 32.48sec. Von Grunigen finished in 2:32.76, followed by the Austrians Andreas Schifferer and Stephan Eberharter in 2:33.63 and 2:34.09.

"It was a good run for me, a good day, and I hope I can do as well in super-G and downhill," Maier said. "Our second run was nearly the same, only 0.1sec different, and that made it very hard here."

Even Maier's team-mates are unsure how to defeat him at the moment. "It's very difficult," Shifferer said. "This was Hermann's second victory and it's really hard fighting."

The Norwegian giant slalom world champion, Lasse Kjus, laboured throughout, demonstrating little of the form that earned him five World Championship medals here last season. Kjus, who failed to qualify for a second run in the slalom the day before, finished seventh in the giant slalom in 2:35.05, over 2.5sec off the pace.

The men's World Cup race schedule resumes today with the season's opening downhill competition, followed by the super-G opener tomorrow.

Results, Digest, page 31