Hermann Maier


Hermann Maier is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup titles, two Olympic gold medals, and three World Championship titles. His 54 World Cup race victories – 24 super-G, 15 downhills, 14 giant slaloms, and 1 combined – rank third on the men's all-time list behind Ingemar Stenmark's 86 victories and Marcel Hirscher's 68 victories., he holds the record for the most points in one season by a male alpine skier, with 2000 points from the 2000 season. From 2000–2013 he also held the title of most points in one season by any alpine skier, until Tina Maze scored 2414 points in the 2013 season.

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 Salzburg and Tyrol, but still was not able to gain a spot in the strong Austrian World Cup ski team. Putting that behind him, his outstanding talent was recognized for the first time by Austrian coaches on 6 January 1996, when he was timed with the 12th fastest time in a World Cup giant slalom in Flachau, although only starting as a forerunner, not participating in the actual competition. This would become the starting point of his international career.

Ski career

Maier made his World Cup debut at age 23 on 10 February 1996, and finished 26th in the giant slalom at Hinterstoder, Austria. A year later in February 1997, he won his first World Cup event – a super-G race in Garmisch-Partenkirchen. He quickly established himself as an explosive and dynamic racer, well known for his strength, willingness to take risks, and strong work ethic.
Maier soon dominated alpine ski racing, winning the gold medal in the giant slalom and super-G at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, only a few days after a dramatic crash in the downhill race where he flew spectacularly off the sunlit course, landed partially on his head, tumbled head over heels several times, and crashed through two layers of B-netting. Despite the horrible look of the crash, Maier was able to walk out under his own power. That put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine and made him a well known sportsman around the globe. Maier won the overall World Cup title in 1998, as well as the super-G and giant slalom season titles, and placed second in the downhill standings.
In 2000 he won the overall World Cup title, as well as the season titles in downhill, super-G, and giant slalom. He had a dominating performance, setting the then most point garnered by an alpine skier, of 2000 points. This record was not surpassed until female skier Tina Maze beat it in 2013, with 2,414 points.
In 2001 he won the overall World Cup title, as well as the season titles in downhill, super-G, and giant slalom. He won 13 World Cup races, but settled for two medals in the speed events at the 2001 World Championships in St. Anton. He was the reigning world champion in both events, won in 1999 at Beaver Creek, Colorado.
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 reconstructive surgery. Most believed his racing career was over, and he had to sit out the 2002 season, missing the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City. He returned to international competition in January 2003 in Adelboden, Switzerland. Just two weeks later, he shocked the skiing world with an amazing super-G victory in the skiing-mecca of Kitzbühel, Austria.
In 2004, his first full season back, he reclaimed both the super-G and overall titles, a feat widely seen as one of the greatest comebacks in sports history. In 2004, Maier received the Laureus World Sports Award for the "Comeback of the Year". His overall title was the fourth of his career.
Reflecting his apparently indestructible nature, he is sometimes jocularly known as "The Herminator." After his 1998 Olympic gold medals in Nagano he also appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on NBC – together with Austrian-born actor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is known worldwide as "The Terminator".
In 2004, Maier wrote an autobiography with his friend and former publicity agent, Knut Okresek. The book, Hermann Maier: Das Rennen Meines Lebens, dealt mainly with his stunning recovery from the 2001 motorcycle accident. In 2005, , a Boulder, Colorado-based publisher affiliated with 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 2005, he won the opening giant slalom in Sölden to amass 51 victories in the World Cup. This placed him fifth on the career victory list, behind Ingemar Stenmark, Lindsey Vonn, Annemarie Moser-Pröll, and Vreni Schneider.
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 2008, Maier finished second in the Kitzbühel's super-G, behind Marco Büchel and in front of Didier Cuche for a total podium age of 104 years. His career results in the super-G races at Kitzbühel are the best in history. The following day, Maier finished fifth in the downhill. These were his best results of the 2008 season.
On 30 November 2008, Maier won the first super-G of the 2009 season, held in Lake Louise, for his 24th super-G win. It was his 54th World Cup victory, but the first in nearly three years, and came a week before his 36th birthday. It was Maier's fourth victory in the super-G at Lake Louise, the last coming five years earlier.
On 13 October 2009, after 13 years competing in the World Cup circuit, 36-year-old Maier announced his retirement.

World Cup results

Season titles

SeasonDiscipline
1998Overall
1998Super-G
1998Giant slalom
1999Super-G
2000Overall
2000Downhill
2000Super-G
2000Giant slalom
2001Overall
2001Downhill
2001Super-G
2001Giant slalom
2004Overall
2004Super-G

Season standings

Race victories

SeasonDateLocation
199829 Dec 1997Bormio, Italy
199816 Jan 1998Wengen, Switzerland
199929 Dec 1998Bormio, Italy
200027 Nov 1999Beaver Creek, USA
20008 Jan 2000Chamonix, France
200029 Jan 2000Garmisch, Germany
20012 Dec 2000Beaver Creek, USA
20019 Dec 2000Val d'Isère, France
200120 Jan 2001Kitzbühel, Austria
20012 Mar 2001Kvitfjell, Norway
20018 Mar 2001Åre, Sweden
20046 Dec 2003Beaver Creek, USA
200414 Feb 2004St. Anton, Austria
20055 Mar 2005Kvitfjell, Norway
200628 Jan 2006Garmisch, Germany

Giant slalom

SeasonDateLocation
199825 Nov 1997Park City, USA
19986 Jan 1998Saalbach, Austria
199813 Jan 1998Adelboden, Switzerland
199925 Oct 1998Sölden, Austria
199912 Jan 1999Adelboden, Switzerland
200031 Oct 1999Tignes, France
200024 Nov 1999Beaver Creek, USA
20005 Feb 2000Todtnau, Germany
200129 Oct 2000Sölden, Austria
200110 Dec 2000Val d'Isère, France
20019 Jan 2001Adelboden, Switzerland
200115 Feb 2001Shiga Kōgen, Japan
200110 Mar 2001Åre, Sweden
200623 Oct 2005Sölden, Austria

Super-G

SeasonDateLocation
199723 Feb 1997Garmisch, Germany
19986 Dec 1997Beaver Creek, USA
199810 Jan 1998Schladming, Austria
199811 Jan 1998Schladming, Austria
19981 Feb 1998Garmisch, Germany
199913 Dec 1998Val d'Isère, France
199921 Dec 1998Innsbruck, Austria
19999 Jan 1999Schladming, Austria
19997 Mar 1999Kvitfjell, Norway
200028 Nov 1999Beaver Creek, USA
20005 Dec 1999Lake Louise, Canada
200021 Jan 2000Kitzbühel, Austria
200016 Mar 2000Bormio, Italy
200126 Nov 2000Lake Louise, Canada
200119 Jan 2001Kitzbühel, Austria
20014 Mar 2001Kvitfjell, Norway
200327 Jan 2003Kitzbühel, Austria
200430 Nov 2003Lake Louise
20041 Feb 2004Garmisch, Germany
200411 Mar 2004Sestriere, Italy
200524 Jan 2005Kitzbühel, Austria
20056 Mar 2005Kvitfjell, Norway
200620 Jan 2006Kitzbühel, Austria
200930 Nov 2008Lake Louise, Canada

Combined

SeasonDateLocation
199818 Jan 1998Veysonnaz, Switzerland

World Championship results

Olympic results

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.

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