Maier full of desire

Remember last Spring when Britain was dominated by the story of whether David Beckham's metatarsal would heal in time for him to make the World Cup? Well, Austria is currently in the grip of something similar.

The front pages have been full each day of whether the country's great hero, Hermann Maier, will make it to the world skiing championships, which start in St Moritz next weekend, to cap his comeback from injury after an absence of 18 months. Yesterday in Kitzbühel Austria's prayers were answered when Maier finished joint sixth in the downhill and booked his place on the team. The fact that the former champion has made it will swell the number of Austrians in the expected 40,000-strong daily crowd way beyond the 50 per cent mark and the noise level will increase ten-fold.

Maier had been battling to be included in Austria's team for the blue-riband discipline of downhill or in their squad for the super-G. Each nation is permitted to field four racers per discipline at the championships, but Austria's skiers monopolise the circuit in the same way Kenyans dominate the European athletics circus and Maier is still some way short of his best.

A two-time Olympic gold medallist and three-time overall World Cup champion, Maier once reigned supreme over the ski scene. But a horrific motorcycle accident in August 2001 nearly cost him his leg, his career and the love of his life: skiing.

'It's a victory for me just to be here, to be back racing,' said Maier, who is suing for €5 million (£3.3 million) the German driver of the car who caused the crash. 'I'm surprised. I never thought I could be coming back so soon.'

Toni Giger, the head coach of the Austrian team, said Maier's strong performance in training earlier this month was decisive in accelerating his comeback.

'We have a very strong giant slalom team with seven racers in the top group. From comparing him to his team mates one could see that he's reached a high level,' Giger said. 'The atmosphere was magical - he enjoyed skiing very much and was having a lot of fun.'

Maier's coaches, although impressed by his sudden progress at a recent training session, were still unsure what to expect and reluctant to put any kind of pressure on the 30-year-old.

'I was surprised by his achievements in training,' said Maier's personal coach, Andreas Evers, who can relate to Maier having had his own career ended by a motorcycle accident. 'He looked competitive with the others in training, posting about the same times. But we simply don't know how it will turn out. I hope he's ready.' Yesterday's result proves that he is.

Evers had every reason to be anxious. The 1998 double Olympic champion has hardly competed since his accident. He was expected to make a comeback in October but re-injured his leg last August in Chile while gate skiing for the first time since the crash.

And having enjoyed a two-month break in November and December to take helicopter flying lessons, Maier has spent little time on his skis. The powerful Austrian had only six days gate-training and four days free skiing behind him this season and only about 15 days since his accident.

Now that he will compete at the world championships Maier will need all of the resilience for which he is renowned. The Austrian's crash in the downhill at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, only to get back up and win two gold medals in the next few days is a typical example.

FEW BELIEVE THAT the man they call the Herminator will settle for just taking part. He was the measure of all things during the four years he dominated the tour. His 41 victories in downhill, super-G and giant slalom in just six seasons make him the fourth most successful skier in World Cup history. Between 1998 and 2000 he was as dominant on the slopes as Tiger Woods is on the fairways.

American all-rounder Bode Miller, who leads the overall World Cup standings ahead of the Austrian Stephane Eberharter, said he was looking forward to Maier's return and was curious to see how the Austrian handled it. 'I'm happy to see him come back. He's such a big name so it's good for the sport,' said Miller who enjoyed his big breakthrough on the tour in Maier's absence.

Defending slalom champion, Ivica Kostelic of Croatia, was more ambivalent: 'He's a great champion and I'll really support him when he comes back although if I was Hermann Maier I probably would have quit because he has already won everything.

'But the good thing about it is that he's coming back just because of skiing and not for money. He loves the thing that he is doing and I really appreciate that.'

Maier's biggest fear had been the weather. Heavy snow in Kitzbühel on Friday wiped out the super-G, the discipline that most thought represented Maier's best opportunity of making it to Switzerland before yesterday's result in the downhill. Since he returned to competition two weeks ago, he has competed only in a giant slalom and a downhill, and not in a super-G - a discipline he has won 16 times in the World Cup.

Maier made a desperate bid to get back in shape for the Winter Olympics last year before being forced to admit in mid-January that he would not be fit. 'I think I trained harder than ever in December and January when I was still aiming to come back in time for the Olympics,' said Maier, long known as a perfectionist.

'It was quite hard for me to admit that I would not be able to compete at Salt Lake City where I wanted to capture the last honour missing from my list - the downhill gold medal.' He intends to go on to the 2006 Games before hanging up his skis for good.

Instead of staying at home in front of the television to watch his team-mates win medals in four of the five events at the Games, Maier took off for Florida and the Caribbean for a holiday.

'My plan was to escape to the end of the world where I couldn't see the Games on TV,' Maier said after three weeks spent swimming, diving and relaxing in the sun. 'I was far away from the ski world and the Salt Lake City Olympics. I didn't see any alpine events on TV - which is exactly what I wanted.

'I rested as never before. I didn't train once, it was wonderful. I needed this break after the difficult months I went through after my crash. I have never taken such a long holiday. Normally I prefer to be active, but there it was perfect and I feel very motivated now.'

The hard part was making the team for St Moritz. If Maier were to win the world championship downhill his achievement would bear comparison with Lance Armstrong's victory in the Tour de France after his recovery from testicular cancer.

Beckham too made it, capping his comeback with a fairy-tale goal against Argentina. What chances Maier, too, defying the odds?