Photo (c) 2008 Jonathan Selkowitz
It’s hard not to be over dramatic as the world’s top ski racers assemble in Beaver Creek for the 2009 Audi Birds of Prey World Cup Race Week.
No, we’re not talking about the fact that it’s an Olympic year. We’re talking about the fact that Austria’s Hermann Maier will not be in the starting gate for the first time since the course debuted in 1997.
Of course, there was the year he missed rehabbing from the motorcycle injury that nearly claimed his leg and almost his life, but that was different. We don’t think anyone, other than a doctor or two, had any doubts that Hermann would be back.
Now, that is no longer the case. On October 13, Hermann Maier officially retired from ski racing, following 13 years on the “White Circus”.
“Hermann Maier WAS ski racing to an entire generation of skiers,” explained Michael Imhof, Vice President of Sales and Operations for the Vail Valley Foundation, “not just in Austria, but around the world. He literally helped us put Birds of Prey on the international radar screen and we owe him a resounding and heartfelt ‘thank you’. It will be very hard to look at that first Downhill Training start list and know his name will not be on it. On behalf of all of us in the Vail Valley, I wish him the absolute best for his life after ski racing.”
From a rather inauspicious beginning, that included being sent home from the Schladming Ski Academy and told he would not succeed because of his slight stature, the “Herminator” would build not only his body as a brick layer in his native Flachau, but also a career record that would include four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, three World Championship crowns and 54 individual World Cup wins.
For American race fans, Birds of Prey WAS Hermann’s racecourse. He won a record number of eight times in Beaver Creek, with six World Cup victories and a pair of 1999 World Championships gold medals. His Championships gold medal tie in Super-G with Norway’s Lasse Kjus marked the first time the FIS World Championships had featured a first place tie.
His presence, along with his victories, brought Hollywood to the races and to Beaver Creek as The Terminator (California Governor Arnold Scharzenegger) shared the podium with The Herminator at the 1999 World Championships. He would serve as a forerunner and official starter for the opening time trial of the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France that kicked off at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
In fact, he got so used to attending the winner’s press conference in Beaver Creek that he did not require an escort. He just knew where to go after the awards.
But perhaps his greatest victory was returning to competition following the near-fatal motorcycle accident in August of 2001 that nearly claimed his lower leg. Forced to miss the entire 2002 season, Maier shocked the ski world when he captured a Super-G win in Kitzbuhel just two weeks after returning to competition in January of 2003.
Just last winter, Maier was in the hunt once again in the Birds of Prey Super-G, finishing in second position, just 45-hundredths of a second behind eventual World Cup Overall Champion Aksel Lund Svindal.
“We will miss the Maier ‘glare’ in the Birds of Prey starting gate,” offered Imhof. “We will miss the fire and determination that he brought to each and every race. But we will also remember ‘the gate’ in the 1999 World Championships that Hermann basically destroyed with a line much straighter than any of his competitors dared take. And, we will remember his flawless flight off Golden Eagle in that same race, en route to gold”. Hermann Maier has undoubtedly left his mark on Birds of Prey and hopefully, Birds of Prey holds a special place in The Herminator’s heart. We have no doubt that we will see Hermann again, perhaps as a spectator, perhaps as a Legend’s competitor in the American Ski Classic. But as the late Bob Hope would croon, “Thanks for the memories”.
HERMANN MAIER ON THE BIRDS OF PREY:
2008 SG - 2nd Place
2003 SG - 2nd Place:
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