By Anna Thompson
Winter sports editor |
Make no mistake about it, Hermann Maier's overall World Cup ski title caps one of the most amazing comebacks in sport.
The Austrian is fortunate to be able to walk let alone ski, yet he has defied doctors and his critics to clinch the title for a fourth time.
He was crowned 2003-4 champion on Saturday when a giant slalom at the World Cup finals in Sestrieres in Italy was cancelled because of fog.
It left his 42-point lead at the top of the standings unattainable by the slalom specialists with only Sunday's race remaining.
Maier, a 31-year-old former bricklayer, is renowned for his ferocious competitive spirit and daredevil skiing.
He was rejected by the Austrian ski team as a teenager but was determined to prove them wrong and came from nowhere to perform well at the 1995 National Championships in Ellmau.
Maier was welcomed into the national team and his amazing career began.
He won the World Cup crown three times in four years from 1997-98 to 2000-01 and claimed two gold medals at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano.
But his formidable career looked all but over when he was involved in a terrible motorbike crash in August 2001.
Surgeons seriously thought about amputating his right leg because it was so badly damaged.
 | MAIER FACTFILE Born: 7 Dec 1972, Austria World Cup wins: 47 World Cup titles: Super-G (1998-2001, 2004), overall (1998, 2000, 2001, 2004), GS (1998, 2000-2001), downhill (2000-2001) World Championship titles: Super-G, downhill, Vail (1999) Olympic honours: Super-G gold, GS gold, Nagano (1998) |
Maier, from Flachau, had a titanium rod fitted as he ignored the huge pain he was in to rehabilitate himself into the world's best skier again.
He had setbacks along the way and a crash in summer training in Chile in 2002 fuelled speculation he would have to retire from the sport.
But he persevered and made his racing comeback in January 2003.
He signalled his return to world class form in February 2003 with a superb silver medal in the super-G at the World Ski Championships held in St Moritz in Switzerland.
Later the same month he won his first World Cup race for almost two years when he triumphed in a super-G at Kitzbuhel and fired a shot across the bows to his rivals.
This season was his first full effort since 2001 and it started rather lamely with 16th place in a giant slalom.
But it gathered pace and he clinched the super-G title with two races to spare after finishing on the podium in every race, including three wins.
And now he has added the overall gong to his lengthy list of titles.
|  What he has done is awesome, sensational |
A clearly delighted Maier said: "This fourth victory is very special. "At the beginning of the season my goal was just to finish the season, to get in as many races as possible.
"So you can imagine the emotion of this victory.
"I'd say that this title is worth my first Olympic gold medal in Nagano in 1998 after I had crashed [in the downhill]. Maybe even a little bit more."
The surgeon who decided not to amputate his leg, Arthur Trost, summed up Maier's achievement.
"What he has done is awesome, sensational," he said.
"At one point we prayed only that he would be able to walk again, never mind ski again.
"Few people would have been able to do what he's done."
This season the man they call "The Herminator" - for his explosive, aggressive style - has powered his way back to the very top.
And even his rivals will salute Maier's outstanding comeback.
MMIX
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