ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP 1997/98
Val d'Isere (FRA) Men's 3rd Giant Slalom. 14.Dec.1997
Herman Maier-DQ
Hermann maier(AUT)		 3rd/Knaus
Hans Knaus(AUT)
ValdisereMGS/podio
M-GS Podium		 Schifferer
Andreas Schifferer(AUT)
Controversial GS Win for Michael von Grueningen
SkiNet Report by Patrick Lang

Val d'Isere, France, December 14--Switzerland's Michael von Gruningen will certainly remembered for a long time in Val d'Isere, France, where he clinched his second success in three years and his 12th World Cup victory overall.

The reigning GS World Champion was awarded the first place in today's GS race, only after the race jury decided to disqualify his main rival Austrian Hermann Maier, the fastest man on the challenging "OK" course.

Unfortunately the powerful athlete from Flachau, south of Salzburg, took off one of his racing skis only few meters after the finish line, but before a "red line" which limits the area where the competitors can freely move on their feet. This marks the first time ever that this 20-year-old rule has been invoked to take away a title from a World Cup winner.

Despite the setback, the Austrian remains in the lead of the Overall World Cup standings since his toughest opponent, Norway's Kjetil Aamodt was also disqualified for skiing between the poles of the last direction gate set near t<P>he finish line.
Von Gruningen, a winner earlier this season in Tignes, beat by almost a second another Austrian, Stefan Eberharter while Hans Knauss finished third at 1.09 second.

Three other Swiss skied into the top-10, as well as Italy's flamboyant Superstar Alberto Tomba. The triple Olympic champion scored his best result in that specialty since the 1996 World Cup finals at Lillehammer.
Canada's Thomas Grandi, third at Park City in November, had to content himself this time with a more discrete 22nd place, at 3 seconds from the winner. US skier Bod Miller reached another impressive result by coming in 28th despite, his high start-number 67.

Maier's third season victory only lasted few minutes. Soon after he completed his second run with a total time of 2.29.08--a solid 40/100 faster then his closest rival--the Swiss Team Captain registered a protest against his win with the course jury.
According to paragraph 630.1.11 of the International Ski Racing Rules , a racer has to cross a "red line" painted in the finish area near the exit gate while still on his skis, before been allowed to take them off and showing them to the TV cameras or the crowd. This rule was written and used in the 70s, after TV stations complained that the World Cup racers where showing their racing gear too quickly after their runs.

In the arrival zone in Val d'Isere, Maier obviously lost his concentration, after he realized that he had won once more after struggle against von Gruningen. In the first run, he beat the Swiss by 58/100 and he resisted him perfectly in the second round in which "Mike" took a maximum of risks to beat his next contender, Eberharter, by almost a second.
Anxiously Watching the scoreboard after crossing the finish line, Maier lifted his arms and took off one of his skis in sign of relief and self satisfaction. However, he was not aware at that point that he was still far away from the limit of the "red line" which marks the end of the competition area.

"I didn't see it actually, it's such a large finish area that I thought it would be much higher " Maier said afterwards. "It's terrible to lose a great race in those conditions, but I can't change it. I have learned something new today. I didn't expect to ski so well today after having dedicated so much time and energy to the speed events. I almost didn't train my GS in the past weeks. The course here is really demanding, and I was very pleased to have mastered it that way. Now I will have to catch up by winning one of the next races."

Fellow racer Hans Knauss, who knows and appreciate Maier pretty well, was only half surprised by these dramatic events. "Hermann is such a fighter that he can totally forget about these kinds of details" Knauss said after the race. "It's really too bad for him, but he is supposed to know and obey the rule. He is in incredible shape right now on the technical, the mental and the physical fronts. He has so much confidence that he can take 110 percent risks. I believe he is strong enough to overcome this difficult moment."

Michael von Gruningen hopes it too. The Swiss felt sorry for his rival after he heard about the sentence, and he went to shake his hand before moving towards the winners* podium.

"I stood outside of all the discussions , I let my trainers take care of the problem," he said. "I was pleased with my second place--Hermann is skiing really well now, and he was the fastest man on the hill. But there are rules and you have to accept them. The Austrian coach would have done the same and complained if I had made the same mistake. I really wish that Hermann will strike back soon . He deserves to win the Overall World Cup--he's skiing in a great way in his events."
In finishing second behind von Gruningen, Eberharter seemed to have benefited most from the situation. The 28-year-old skier from Tyrol had never achieved such a strong result in a World Cup Giant Slalom. Now, he may become Maier's toughest rival in the Overall World Cup.

What an irony for a man cut from the National team only a year ago. At Val Gardena, Italy, where he badly injured his knee in 1993, Stefan will fight for more top-three results also for his first ever win in a World Cup race.

The men's tour will resume on Monday, December 15, with an evening slalom race at Sestriere, Italy. Among the favorites is Alberto Tomba who comes back in strong shape after training all summer. Ten years ago he won his very first race there. As this may be his last season racing, Tomba certainly hopes to go out on a high note.
Men's 3rd Giant Slalom, December 14,1997
Rank Name Nat. Total
 1 VON GRUENIGEN Michael  SUI   2:29.48
 2 EBERHARTER Stephan  AUT   2:30.41
 3 KNAUSS Hans  AUT   2:30.57
 4 KAELIN Urs  SUI   2:30.80
 5 LOCHER Steve  SUI   2:31.03
 6 BUECHEL Marco  LIE   2:31.04
 7 MAYER Christian  AUT   2:31.06
 8 TOMBA Alberto  ITA   2:31.25
 9 ACCOLA Paul  SUI   2:31.34
 10 PICCARD Ian  FRA   2:31.39
 11 HOLZER Patrick  ITA   2:31.41
 12 KNAUSS Bernhard  SLO   2:31.51
 13 SCHILCHEGGER Heinz  AUT   2:32.04
 14 SALZGEBER Rainer  AUT   2:32.16
 15 STROBL Josef  AUT   2:32.18
 16 SCHIFFERER Andreas  AUT   2:32.20
 17 KJUS Lasse  NOR   2:32.22
 18 SAIONI Christophe  FRA   2:32.29
 19 NYBERG Fredrik  SWE   2:32.34
 20 NANA Matteo  ITA   2:32.45
 21 KOSIR Jure  SLO   2:32.52
 22 GRANDI Thomas  CAN   2:32.53
 23 MADER Guenther  AUT   2:32.59
 24 CHENAL Joel  FRA   2:32.73
 25 VOGLREITER Siegfried  AUT   2:32.78
 26 ROCCA Giorgio  ITA   2:32.86
 27 KUNC Mitja  SLO   2:33.43
 28 MILLER Bode  USA   2:33.88

Did not start 1st run:
URAKI Kenta (JPN), BECIRBEGOVIC Enis (BIH)

Did not finish 1st run:
GOMEZ Victor (AND), MANUEL Patrice (FRA), PICCARD Jeff (FRA), BURAAS Hans-Petter (NOR), FILISCHKIN Andrej (RUS)

Disqualified 2nd run:
MAIER Hermann (AUT), AAMODT Kjetil Andre (NOR)

Did not qualify 2nd run:
LESKINEN Janne (FIN), UOTILA Sami (FIN), AMIEZ Sebastien (FRA), COVILI Frederic (FRA), MILLET Vincent (FRA), BARNERSSOI Tobias (GER), ERTL Andreas (GER), STANKALLA Stefan (GER), VOGL Alois (GER), EBERLE Markus (GER), BAXTER Alain (GBR), BERGAMELLI Giancarlo (ITA), BORMOLINI Ivan (ITA), PERATHONER Ulrich (ITA), BERGAMELLI Thomas (ITA), GIRARDI Walter (ITA), RIEDER Arnold (ITA), KAWAGUCHI Joji (JPN), VOGT Achim (LIE), PAVLEK Vedran (CRO), WAREMAN Hayo (NED), SAETER Aane (NOR), STIANSEN Tom (NOR), STRAND NILSEN Harald Chr. (NOR), EXARTIER Stephane (POL), WALLNER Johan (SWE), JAERBYN Patrik (SWE), GRUENENFELDER Juerg (SUI), GROS Sacha (USA), MLEKUZ Rene (SLO), KOBLAR Jernej (SLO)