Hermann Maier

Medal record
Hermann Maier
Competitor for  Austria
Men's Alpine Skiing
Olympic Games
Gold	1998 Nagano	Super G
Gold	1998 Nagano	Giant slalom
Silver	2006 Turin	Super-G
Bronze	2006 Turin	Giant slalom
World Championships
Gold	1999 Vail	Downhill
Gold	1999 Vail	Super-G
Gold	2005 Bormio	Giant slalom
Silver	2001 St. Anton	Downhill
Silver	2003 St. Moritz	Super-G
Bronze	2001 St. Anton	Super-G

Hermann Maier (born December 7, 1972, in Altenmarkt im Pongau) is a former Austrian alpine ski racer.

Maier has won four overall World Cup titles (1998, 2000, 2001, 2004), two Olympic gold medals (both in 1998), three World Championship titles (1999: 2, and 2005) and 54 races on the World Cup circuit. He was nicknamed the "Herminator".

Maier ranks among the finest alpine ski racers in history, which includes Toni Sailer, Jean-Claude Killy, Gustav Thöni, Ingemar Stenmark, Franz Klammer, Phil Mahre, Marc Girardelli, Pirmin Zurbriggen, Alberto Tomba, Lasse Kjus and Kjetil André Aamodt.

Early years

Hermann Maier did not initially enjoy much success in ski racing. As a 15-year old at the Schladming ski academy, he was sent home after being told he wouldn't succeed because of his slight build, caused by growth impairments. He returned home to his hometown of Flachau and his father's ski school, which remains Maier's home. He took up work as a bricklayer in the summer and a ski instructor in the winter.

Participating in local races, Maier became a multiple regional champion in Salzburg and Tyrol, but still was not able to gain a spot in the strong Austrian World Cup ski team. Putting that behind him, his outstanding talent was recognized for the first time by Austrian coaches on January 6, 1996, when he was timed with the 12th fastest time in a World Cup giant slalom in Flachau, although only starting as a forerunner, not participating in the actual competition.^{[citation needed]} This would become the starting point of his international career.

Ski career

Maier made his World Cup debut at age 23 on February 10, 1996, and finished 26th in the giant slalom at Hinterstoder, Austria. A year later in February 1997, he won his first World Cup event - a Super-G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. He quickly established himself as an explosive and dynamic racer, well known for his strength, willingness to take risks, and strong work ethic.

Maier soon dominated alpine ski racing, winning the gold medal in the giant slalom and Super-G at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, only a few days after a dramatic crash in the downhill race where he flew spectacularly off the sunlit course and repeatedly tumbled into deep snow. That put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated and made him a well known sportsman around the globe. Maier won the overall World Cup title in 1998, as well as the Super-G and giant slalom season titles, and placed second in the downhill standings. In 2000 and 2001, he won the overall World Cup title, as well as the season titles in downhill, Super G, and giant slalom.

Maier at "Day of Sports" Festival Vienna 2006.

His racing career nearly ended following a near-fatal motorcycle accident in August 2001; he collided with a car on his way home from a summer training session in Austria. Doctors nearly amputated his lower leg, but instead Maier underwent massive reconstructive surgery. Most believed his racing career was over, and he had to sit out the 2002 season, missing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He returned to international competition in January 2003 in Adelboden, Switzerland. Just two weeks later, he shocked the skiing world with an amazing Super-G victory in the skiing-mecca of Kitzbühel, Austria.

In 2004, his first full season back, he reclaimed both the Super-G and overall titles, a feat widely seen as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. In 2004, Hermann Maier received the Laureus World Sports Award for the "Comeback of the Year". His overall title was the fourth of his career.

Reflecting his apparently indestructible nature, he is sometimes jocularly known as "The Herminator." After his 1998 Olympic gold medals in Nagano he also appeared on Jay Leno's Tonight Show on NBC - together with Austrian-born actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is known worldwide as "The Terminator".

In 2004, Maier wrote an autobiography with his friend and former publicity agent, Knut Okresek. The book, Hermann Maier: Das Rennen Meines Lebens (in German), dealt mainly with his stunning recovery from the 2001 motorcycle accident. In 2005, VeloPress, a Boulder, Colorado-based publisher affiliated with Ski Racing magazine, acquired the worldwide English language rights to the book, which was published in time for the 2006 Olympics in Turin, Italy, as Hermann Maier: The Race of My Life.

In October 2005, he won the opening giant slalom in Sölden to amass 51 victories in the World Cup. This placed him fourth on the career victory list, behind Ingemar Stenmark, Annemarie Moser-Pröll and Vreni Schneider.

On June 20, 2006, Maier announced he was switching to Head as his equipment sponsor, ending his long affiliation with Atomic. Also switching from Atomic to Head at this time were champions Bode Miller of the U.S. and Didier Cuche of Switzerland.

On January 18, 2008, Maier finished second in the Kitzbühel's Super-G. His career results in the Super-G races at Kitzbühel are the best in history (7 races: 5 wins and 2 second places). The following day, Maier finished fifth in the downhill. These were his best results of the 2008 season.

On November 30, 2008, Maier won the first Super-G of the 2009 season, held in Lake Louise, for his 24th Super-G win. It was his 54th World Cup victory, but the first in nearly three years, and came a week before his 36th birthday. It was Maier's fourth victory in the Super-G at Lake Louise, the last coming five years earlier.

On 13 October 2009, after 13 years competing in the World Cup circuit, 36 year old Hermann Maier announced his retirement.^[1]

World Cup victories

Season titles

4 overall, 2 downhill, 5 Super G, 3 giant slalom

Individual victories

54 victories

Downhill 15 victories Date Location 29 December 1997 Bormio 16 January 1998 Wengen 29 December 1998 Bormio 27 November 1999 Beaver Creek 8 January 2000 Chamonix 29 January 2000 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 2 December 2000 Beaver Creek 9 December 2000 Val d'Isère 20 January 2001 Kitzbühel 2 March 2001 Kvitfjell 8 March 2001 Åre 6 December 2003 Beaver Creek 14 February 2004 St. Anton 5 March 2005 Kvitfjell 28 January 2006 Garmisch-Partenkirchen Super-G 24 victories Date Location 23 February 1997 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 6 December 1997 Beaver Creek 10 January 1998 Schladming 11 January 1998 Schladming 1 February 1998 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 13 December 1998 Val d'Isère 21 December 1998 Innsbruck 9 January 1999 Schladming 7 March 1999 Kvitfjell 28 November 1999 Vail 5 December 1999 Lake Louise 21 January 2000 Kitzbühel 16 March 2000 Bormio 26 November 2000 Lake Louise 19 January 2001 Kitzbühel 4 March 2001 Kvitfjell 27 January 2003 Kitzbühel 30 November 2003 Lake Louise 1 February 2004 Garmisch-Partenkirchen 11 March 2004 Sestrières 24 January 2005 Kitzbühel 6 March 2005 Kvitfjell 20 January 2006 Kitzbühel 30 November 2008 Lake Louise Giant slalom 14 victories Date Location 25 November 1997 Park City 6 January 1998 Saalbach-Hinterglemm 13 January 1998 Adelboden 25 October 1998 Sölden 12 January 1999 Adelboden 31 October 1999 Tignes 24 November 1999 Beaver Creek 5 February 2000 Todtnau 29 October 2000 Sölden 10 December 2000 Val d'Isère 9 January 2001 Adelboden 15 February 2001 Shigakogen 10 March 2001 Åre 23 October 2005 Sölden Combined 1 victory Date Location 18 January 1998 Wengen/Veysonnaz

Besides skiing

Maier also won an all-around sports competition, the 2001 edition of the American Superstars competition and he frequently acts in TV adverts for his sponsor bank Raiffeisen.

References

1. ^ sportsillustrated.com, 13 October 2009

External links

• FIS-ski.com - race results - Hermann Maier
• FIS-ski.com - World Cup season standings - Hermann Maier - 1996-2008
• Ski-db.com - results - Hermann Maier
• hm1.com - official website (in German)
• algoat.hm1.com - official site (in English)
• Sports Illustrated - cover - 23-Feb-1998 - semi-inverted, exiting the 1998 Olympic Downhill
• Hermann Maier's English-language autobiography
• YouTube video - Hahnenkamm (full course) - 9th place - 24-Jan-2004 [1]
• YouTube video - 1998 Olympics - Nagano downhill (crash) & giant slalom (2nd run) - gold medal

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Toni Polster	Austrian Sportsman of the year 1998 – 2001	Succeeded by Stephan Eberharter
Preceded by Ronaldo	Laureus World Sports Award For Comeback of the Year 2004	Succeeded by Alessandro Zanardi