Eberharter seals gold as Maier returns

The week-long Alpine world championships got under way here yesterday with the super-giant slalom that saw Austria's Stephan Eberharter finally claim the title he needed to round off his career and, should he wish, retire in glory.

Twelve years ago the then 21-year-old newcomer to the Austrian team captured the same prize at the world championships in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, to launch him on a career that has seen him win 23 World Cup races and four Olympic medals.

But it has not been a career without trial for the 33-year-old, who lost his form and was thrown off the team, spending the mid-90s in the wilderness on skiing's B-tour, the Europa Cup. For four years he competed with teenagers keen to make their mark and finally clawed his way back into the Austrian team.

His return coincided with the dominance of Hermann Maier and Eberharter spent three frustrating seasons in his shadow, the runner-up to the man who was to become his bitter personal rival until Maier nearly lost his leg in a motorcycle accident almost two years ago.

Yesterday Maier too marked his unlikely comeback in only his sixth race since he returned to ski training four weeks ago by sharing the silver medal. The 30-year-old powered down the Corviglia course in 1min 39.57sec, matching the time set by the unlikely American slalom skier Bode Miller to the exact 100th of a second.

Sharing times is rare in skiing and this is the second time Maier has achieved such a feat in a world championship super-G.

"I was not happy with my run and can do much better than I did today," he said afterwards. "I made mistakes in the finish and was not close enough to the gates."

But for a man with a titanium rod in his right leg who still could not ski in December for the pain, and who only made the team here thanks to a unbelievable victory in Kitzbuhel a week ago, it is a remarkable comeback.