Sestriere - Audi FIS World Cup Finals 2004.

“The Herminator” looking for number four as Miller hangs on.

Sestriere, March 8th . Hermann Maier is just damn glad to be here. The three- time overall World Cup champ from Austria has made an astounding surge this season, wrapping up his fifth Super-G title and is poised to take his fourth overall season globe.
Not bad for a guy who two years ago was worried he would might never walk again after a horrific motorcycle accident. Maier is the favourite in a four-man fight for as the Alpine ski season comes down to final days of competition.
Maier leads Bode Miller of the US by 67 points with teamates, Stephan Eberharter, the defending champion, and Benjamin Raich right on their heels. It could be the closest finish in several years.

A sensational win

The new Super-G champ now believes he can win the overall title again. "It was not reasonable to aim for any of the trophies at the beginning of the season,” Maier said,” but I've achieved far more than I expected," the Austrian said.

"My super-G title is already a wonderful success and I'm very proud of myself. It would be sensational for me to clinch a fourth overall title now."
However Maier, was disappointed with third place behind American Daron Rahlves in the Kvitfjell Super-G on Sunday, and felt he wasn’t pushing hard enough.

Eberharter, who clinched the downhill World Cup with a victory in Kvitfjell on Saturday, would love to add the 100 points awards the winner in Wednesday's final downhill in Sestriere to move him out of third place in the overall standings.

Miller, keen to become the first American in 21 years to be crowned overall champion, can take the giant slalom cup on Saturday if he can hold off his only remaining rival Kalle Palander of Finland.

Raich remains close

Raich is out of the running for the slalom cup but as Olympic bronze medallist he will still have high hopes for Sunday's closing race in an event which Maier and Eberharter rarely enter.

Miller has been regarded as the only genuine all-rounder of the contenders, after picking up points in all four of the sport's disciplines this season.

But Raich has been busy establishing his own credentials in all the disciplines in recent races and enjoyed fourth place in the Kvitfjell super-G on Sunday, missing out on his first podium in the event by just 0.05 seconds.

He was 17th in Saturday's downhill and the results will encourage him to take on the favourites in the speed events in Sestriere in the hope of making up ground.

Raich is fourth overall on the overall battle, 102 points behind Maier. Under the special rules of the World Cup finals, only the top 15 finishers will score points. The opportunity to gain valuable points may tempt Maier and Eberharter to stray from their usual practice this week.

2 slaloms for Maier

Maier has attempted only two slalom races since his motorcycle accident, both times in combined events. Asked if he might be persuaded to race next Sunday if the points are close, he said: "Hopefully not."

Eberharter, approaching his 35th birthday and yet to decide whether to continue racing next season, could find himself in a similar predicament though he has not finished a slalom in more than a decade.

A long fight

World Cup organisers must be rubbing their hands with glee at such a tantalizing finish.

Two years ago, when Eberharter took the first of his two World Cup overall titles, the fight was over long before the season's end. The Austrian finished 606 points ahead of nearest rival Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway.

Maier had an even bigger advantage when he won his third title five months before his accident, beating Eberharter by 743 points.

Not since 1999, when Norwegian Lasse Kjus beat compatriot Aamodt by just 23 points, has there been such a close finish to the World Cup.

"It's been pretty obvious to me for a while that it would go down to the last races if everyone performed -- and everyone's been performing," said Miller, who could become the first American champion since Phil Mahre. Unfortunately for him, Miller failed to finish 10 of the events he has entered this season.

Eric Moffitt