Redemption For Maier In Super-G

This time, Hermann Maier didn't surprise anybody, but he redeemed himself.

The Austrian star won the World Cup Super-G race Sunday in a time of 1 minute 29.53 seconds a considerable improvement over his 15th-place finish in Saturday's downhill.

Lasse Kjus of Norway was second Sunday in 1:29.85 while Maier's teammate Andreas Schifferer was third in 1:29.95.

The Austrian team ruled the race, taking six of the top eight spots all within one second of one another.

"It was a hard race, but I like hard races," said Maier, who caught an edge in Saturday's race and almost crashed. "I like to win."

Kjus was the big star of the weekend, finishing third in the downhill race.

"I'm really happy," he said. "Super-G is a tough discipline. We don't get the chance to test the course before we go down."

Saturday was Kjus's first World Cup downhill in almost a year following a three-month bout of whooping cough, and then bronchitis.

The Norwegian said he's getting a little tired of the Austrian dominance on the World Cup circuit.

"Sometimes it's lonely on the podium with them," Kjus said.

But he knows Maier is one of the best.

"He's hard to beat." Kjus said.

The win was Maier's 30th World Cup victory.

Stephan Eberharter of Austria won his first Word Cup downhill race Saturday. Eberharter was fifth Sunday.

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