BEAVER CREEK, Colorado, 9 December 2003 — Norwegian Bjarne Solbakken won his first World Cup victory on Sunday when he pushed former champion Hermann Maier into second place in a super-G.
Maier, who has made an impressive comeback from a serious motorcycle crash two years ago, had hoped to celebrate his 31st birthday by taking his third World Cup victory in eight days.
But the 26-year-old Solbakken, who had never been on a World Cup podium until his joint second place in Friday’s downhill here, beat him by 0.39 seconds, charging through a blizzard down a treacherous Birds of Prey course in a time of one minute 13.05 seconds.
Maier’s Austrian team mate Hans Knauss was third, 0.45 seconds behind Solbakken, with Italian Peter Fill earning a career-best fourth place in 1:13.58.
“I had a good feeling here from day one,” said Solbakken, who races in every event except the slalom and could provide Norway with another threat for the overall title.
“I was second in training and I was second in the first downhill.
I did not do so well in the second downhill because I could not sleep after my first podium. But last night I could sleep and I just put down a good, clean run.
“I knew I could compete against the best but I did not expect to win.”
While Maier was not able to celebrate his birthday with a win the double Olympic champion will still rate his trip to North America as a huge success.
Maier arrived in Lake Louise, Canada, last week with questions hanging over his form as he continued to battle back from a near-fatal motorcycle crash that shattered his right leg and left his career in doubt.
But in the span of eight days Maier proved he was back near his best, registering a pair of wins and a second place.
As the World Cup circuit shifts back to Europe next week, the former bricklayer from Flachau finds himself in a familiar position sitting atop the overall standings and already in strong contention for a fourth overall crown.
“Yes, I had a great weekend,” said Maier, who received a birthday cake during the podium presentations. “I feel great, now we’ll see how it goes when we return to Europe.”
In contrast to Maier, American Bode Miller had a terrible weekend as he failed to register a result in any of the three races, crashing out spectacularly in Friday’s downhill then skidding off course in Saturday’s downhill and Sunday’s super-G.
After opening up the season with back-to-back giant slalom wins, the double world champion has seen his bid for the overall World Cup title stall and has picked up just 13 points in the last six races.
