Hermann Maier
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Discipline titles | 10 (2 DH, 5 SG, 3 GS) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Hermann Maier (born 7 December 1972) is an Austrian former
Early years
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 would not 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
Ski career
Maier made his
Maier soon dominated alpine ski racing, winning the gold medal in the
In
He won the overall World Cup title in
.His racing career nearly ended following a near-fatal motorcycle accident on August 24, 2001; he collided with a car on his way home from a summer training session in Austria. Doctors nearly amputated his lower right leg, but instead Maier underwent massive
In
Reflecting his apparently indestructible nature, he is sometimes jocularly known as "The Herminator." After his
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 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
On 20 June 2007, 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 18 January
Maier won the first super-G of the
Maier announced his retirement in 2009 after thirteen years of competing in the World Cup circuit.[6]
World Cup results
Season titles
- 14 total: 4 overall, 2 downhill, 5 super-G, 3 giant slalom
Season | Discipline |
---|---|
1998 |
Overall |
Super-G | |
Giant slalom | |
1999 |
Super-G |
2000 |
Overall |
Downhill | |
Super-G | |
Giant slalom | |
2001 |
Overall |
Downhill | |
Super-G | |
Giant slalom | |
2004 |
Overall |
Super-G |
Season standings
Season | Age | Overall | Slalom | Giant slalom |
Super-G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1996 |
23 | 106 | — | 52 | 34 | — | — |
1997 |
24 | 21 | — | 15 | 4 | — | — |
1998 |
25 | 1 | 39 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
1999 |
26 | 3 | — | 3 | 1 | 6 | 6 |
2000 |
27 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
2001 |
28 | 1 | — | 1 | 1 | 1 | — |
2002 |
29 | injured in August 2001 in a motorcycle accident, out for entire season | |||||
2003 |
30 | 45 | — | — | 19 | 25 | — |
2004 |
31 | 1 | — | 17 | 1 | 3 | 10 |
2005 |
32 | 3 | — | 4 | 2 | 3 | 9 |
2006 |
33 | 6 | — | 8 | 2 | 7 | 42 |
2007 |
34 | 19 | — | 16 | 6 | 18 | — |
2008 |
35 | 21 | — | 30 | 10 | 16 | — |
2009 |
36 | 26 | — | — | 4 | 21 | — |
Race victories
- 54 wins: 15 downhill, 24 super-G, 14 giant slalom, 1 combined
- 96 podiums: 25 DH, 38 SG, 28 GS, 4 K, 1 parallel slalom
Downhill
Giant slalom
|
Super-G
Combined
|
World Championship results
Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1999 | 26 | — | DNF2 | 1 | 1 | — |
2001 | 28 | — | 4 | 3 | 2 | — |
2003 | 30 | — | — | 2 | 8 | — |
2005 | 32 | — | 1 | 4 | 17 | — |
2007 | 34 | — | 21 | 7 | 13 | — |
2009 | 36 | — | — | 18 | 6 | — |
Olympic results
Year | Age | Slalom | Giant Slalom |
Super G | Downhill | Combined |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1998 | 25 | — | 1 | 1 |
DNF | — |
2006 | 33 | — | 3 | 2 | 6 | — |
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. His brother, Alexander Maier, also represented Austria at the Winter Olympics.[7] Maier rode the prologue of the 2003 Tour de France ahead of the main field, completing the 6.5 km individual time trial in 8 minutes 44 seconds, compared to 7 minutes 26 seconds for stage winner Bradley McGee and 8 minutes 26 seconds for the last cyclist.[8]
Video
- YouTube.com – Hahnenkamm (full course) – 9th place – 24 Jan 2004
- YouTube.com – 1998 Olympics – Nagano downhill (crash) & giant slalom (2nd run) – gold medal
References
- ^ Hermann Maier career, (in German), 16 February 2021
- ^ FIS alpine skiing Europa Cup calendar, Europa Cup calendar of the season 1995-1996, 16 February 2021
- ^ FIS alpine skiing Europa Cup standings, Europa Cup standings of the season 1995-1996, 16 February 2021
- ^ New York Daily News, "Tina Maze is the Slovenian beauty who'll be Lindsey Vonn's biggest adversary at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014", Nathaniel Vinton, 16 March 2013
- ISBN 978-0-393-32503-4. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
- ^ sportsillustrated.com, 13 October 2009
- ^ "Alexander Maier Olympic Results". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 10 April 2020.
- ^ Jones, Jeff; Maloney, Tim; Henry, Chris; Ekström, Gabriella (5 July 2003). "Prologue - Saturday, July 5: Paris, Prologue TT, 6.5 km". cyclingnews.com. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
External links
- Hermann Maier at FIS (alpine)
- Hermann Maier at Olympics.com
- Hermann Maier at Olympedia
- Hermann Maier at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
- Hermann Maier personal site (in German)
- Sports Illustrated – cover – 23 Feb 1998 – semi-inverted, exiting the 1998 Olympic Downhill