NAGANO 1998/ALPINE SKIING	FEBRUARY 9, 1998 VOL. 151 NO. 6
	Austrian Wave Led by standout skier Hermann Maier, the Austrian men's team is on a roll and, despite a lapse at Kitzbuhel, it's the one to beat at Nagano By ROD USHER port theory holds that a team is only as good as its weakest link. But this maxim also seems to work the other way around: one star athlete can lift the performance of an entire team. And there are few better examples of the way that genius rubs off than the recent performance of Austria's men in Alpine skiing. The dazzling success of Hermann Maier has inspired his countrymen. "When a skier is better than you, you want to catch him, to be faster than he is," says Maier's compatriot Hans Knauss. "You think: I can be that good." That sort of thinking has made Austria's best quite simply the best in the world. Motivated by the formidable challenge of trying to emulate Maier, and benefiting from a 1993 restructuring of the Austrian national skiing program, eight Austrians placed in the world's top-10 male Alpine skiers after Kitzbuhel, including those ranked first, second and third, and Maier led the World Cup overall standings with 1,405 points. Nearest to him is countryman Andreas Schifferer, with 853 points after Kitzbuhel. Austrian supremacy is also revealed in the scores from the Nations Cup, where the men's team has logged 7,740 points, nearly three times more than second-placed Switzerland. Says Maier: "Our team is very strong. Every training day is like a race." With this embarrassment of talent the Austrian men were expected to bring back a huge cluster of medals from Nagano--possibly a clean sweep. But after last month's World Cup meeting at Kitzbuhel, Austria's predicted medal haul at Nagano seems slightly less certain. Perhaps it was the absence of Maier, who decided to sit out the competition on his home snow, which caused the Austrians to under-perform in the famed Hahnenkamm downhill. At times the Austrian fans were so quiet that only the whoosh of skis travelling at about 120 km/h could be heard. The usual din of jubilant whistles, horns and cowbells gradually subsided. The local heroes could manage only a third place on the winner's podium. On the much-feared Streif course of the Hahnenkamm, none could better Kristian Ghedina, who became the first Italian to win the race in its 58-year history. And in the sprint, Didier Cuche, a Swiss with spiky green hair, beat everyone home, followed by two Frenchmen. But even in a bad week, there were five Austrians among the top 10 male skiers. Werner Margreiter, head trainer of the Austrian men's team, rationalized Kitzbuhel as "an opportunity to recognize that other countries also have very good skiers." Hans Knauss went further: "It might just be a good thing that we had a defeat before the Olympics. It will make us even more competitive." And, again, Hermann Maier was missing. The star performer was whisked from the Kitzbuhel cauldron to an unknown destination for treatment to inflammation of the skin on both shins. That decision surprised many at the Hahnenkamm race week. Said one observer, "It gave all the other nations the feeling that they can beat the Austrians. Maier is on the crest of a wave and they are trying to hold him at the crest for Japan. That's not possible; there are so many unknown factors." While every Olympics produces stars who appear out of nowhere, Hermann Maier himself was long an "unknown factor" of Austrian skiing, one whose rise to the top of the heap was from the most unlikely of recruitment grounds. When he started in the sport, the 25-year-old from Flachau, in Salzburg province, appeared to have about as much promise as a snowball in summer. He quit junior racing because of knee problems, and, anyway, he was too short and too light. "As a kid I was very small, only 50 kg," says Maier. "The other guys were much bigger." Apparently not cut out for skiing fame, he became a bricklayer. But in true Ugly Duckling style, he matured beautifully. After nearly 10 years of slapping mortar and carrying bricks, the short lightweight shot up to 181 cm and filled out to 90 kg. Bricklaying, says Maier, was "good training" for his present career, which earns him rather more bucks than bricks ever did--an estimated $400,000 this season. On January 18, in Veysonnaz, he showed why he has such earning power, winning the season's first combined event and stepping up to the podium for the 15th time in 19 events. Maier's nickname is "Hermann Monster," but that refers to his skiing feats. In person he is a friendly and courteous fellow. He is also the model for the Austrian team in that he is an all-rounder, capable of winning in downhills, giant slaloms, super-Gs or combined events. This season he competed in downhill for the first time, winning two races after a ninth and a second in his first two attempts. Trainer Margreiter demands multi-talented skiers. When he took over in 1992, Austria's Europa Cup team fielded 10 men in the downhill and another 10 in the technical events. "Now there are just 13 team members, and they are all capable of skiing two or three events." Apart from Maier, the Austrian all-rounders likely to stand out at Nagano include world number two Andreas Schifferer, Thomas Sykora, Stephan Eberharter, Hans Knauss and Christian Mayer. For example, Eberharter, the 1991 world champion in the super-giant slalom, reached the podium in three consecutive World Cup events in three different disciplines before Christmas. "It's so tough to ski for Austria," says the 28-year-old. "Almost everyone in our team is in the first group [top 15] of the World Cup, so there's always competition." The Austrians have learned to live with that stress, and camaraderie is high. "We are all friends in the team--once we've passed the finishing line," laughs Hans Knauss. The mix of hot competition and cool attitude is personified by Thomas Stangassinger, the 32-year-old slalom specialist who beat Alberto Tomba for the slalom gold at Lillehammer in 1994. "Stanni" says of that win: "It wasn't that important. My life didn't change very much. But then I didn't want it to." At Kitzbuhel, Stangassinger showed similar calm under pressure when, skiing last on a carved-up course, he managed to pip compatriot Sykora for first place. Although Kitzbuhel was relatively disappointing for the mighty Austrians, the fans are confident about Nagano. Says local restaurateur Hans Hofer, "Skiing success goes in waves. Now it's Austria's turn, thanks to Hermann Maier. You only need one good skier to pull the others up." If Maier and his teammates score as promised in Nagano, it won't be surprising if strange men begin to be seen checking out the world's construction sites. They won't be building inspectors; they'll be skiing coaches searching for likely-looking bricklayers. --Reported by Angela Leuker /Kitzbuhel and Helen Scott-Smith /Wengen
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