Hermann Maier

When I was a child, all I wanted was to enter the Austrian team and to compete on the World Cup tour. I had to fight hard to reach this. I wanted badly to win each race.

This time, I took it easier. I stood up before it so as not to crash again.

The crowd is wonderful. There is always a superb atmosphere in the finish area. It's good for the World Cup. I missed it a lot when I had to rest and it's so nice to be back here.

Ski racing, especially downhill, is a dangerous activity and there are many accidents. It would be really too bad to lose everything because of a crash.

One victory more or less doesn't make the difference for me now.

It's funny to have become an elegant skier now. But my drive is still the same.

It was really tough to race the GS a day after the downhill, but that's over now. I'm looking forward for the rest of the season which is also quite interesting.

It was necessary to organize my career to remain at the top level until Salt Lake City.

If I remain healthy, I can win more races, but I don't think so much about setting new records. I'm already proud to have become the leading Austrian World Cup racer.

I won a great giant slalom in Japan last week, and it gave me momentum for this final part of the season.

I was quite moved to see this huge crowd which attended the ceremony in the middle of the town.

I trained well this week but I think it will take some time until I recover my best rhythm in this specialty.

I still have more to fight for in the coming years.

I still have many goals left, especially the Overall World Cup standings.

I sat down with my trainers to check my past seasons and to see what could be done to keep me motivated and in good shape. I had to find a new motivation, a new momentum.

I planned to stop in 2002 after the Salt Lake City Olympics. I felt able to remain competitive another four years, and I wanted to stop while I'm still at the top.

I lost races because I wanted too much to win them in beating my rivals.

I like to win. If I lose, I'm not very happy.

I have a strong lead so far, and I would be proud to win it because it remains the summit for a skier. I also aim to collect several smaller crystal trophies at Are, especially the GS Cup.

I'm happy to belong to this group of top champions having excelled here.