International Roundup: Maier, Sullivan, Koznick, Tomba and Mayer

International Roundup: Maier, Sullivan, Koznick, Tomba and MayerAlthough he won the overall World Cup last season, Austria’s Hermann Maier says he may have hit a plateau in the long comeback from his 2001 motorcycle accident. ‘There is a slowing of the recovery’ said Maier last week in Vienna. ‘The problem is the entire right side. I cannot be as unrestrained in training as I was before. I must hold myself back.’

Maier said that he felt most aware of his limitations in giant slalom (he finished 15th in the season opener in Sölden). Maier said his season will really begin with the speed events in North America later this month. “Last year at the same time I did not know at all where I stood’ said Maier, asked of his expectations for the alpine world championships. ‘And in the spring I was suddenly entire World Cup winner.’

Last Thursday, Maier presented his autobiography at Salzburg’s Museum of Modern Art, saying its readers will learn new things about him. The book, entitled ‘The Race of my Life’ contains “many previously unheard episodes and some unknown facets of my personality,” Maier said in a news release. The book mainly focuses on the four-time world champion and two-time Olympic gold medalist’s August 2001 motorbike crash which nearly cost him a leg and the comeback that followed.

Maier recalled the tough times after the accident during an interview broadcast Thursday by Austrian state television ORF. “I was always positive that I would survive, although I was shocked that my body was in such a critical condition,” Maier said. “The nights were worst. When the lights went out, I was in panic. To get over these moments, I injected pain killers in my belly.”

Maier, 31, told ORF the biography also describes his struggles with the lauded Austrian ski team, of true and wannabe friends and his ambivalent relationship to the media, “enjoying life in the spotlight, but also wanting to be left alone.” The autobiography, for now only available in German, was co-edited by Knut Okresek, Maier’s former spokesman. –From AP and staff reports

Marco Sullivan undergoes surgery

Marco Sullivan, the downhiller from California who was supposed to play solid back-up this year to Daron Rahlves, Bode Miller and the rest of the American downhill team, underwent surgery on Tuesday. The team doctor who operated on his right ACL reports that the surgery was successful. He injured his right knee on a foggy day in Tignes, right before the World Cup Opening in Sölden. Sullivan talks about his injury at the U.S. Ski Team’s website. ‘He was training SG and he fell to the inside, caught his knee and jacked it, then he bounced back to his feet’ said the USST’s speed team coach John McBride. ‘[It’s a] total beating as he was very focused and worked so hard to get back in shape. He was also really starting to ski well so it is a real [disappointment] for all of us.’

Kristina Koznick is happy

Kristina Koznick, who finished fourth in the first World Cup of the season, has posted a new diary entry at her website describing what the season looks like from her advantageous position. The diary entry comes with great photos of her team.

Alberto Tomba speaks out about doping

Former Olympic champion Alberto Tomba said Saturday that his mom’s pasta and hard training — and not drugs — were his winning secret on the ski slopes. Tomba, known as “The Bomb” for his triumphs of the 90s, spoke against doping in the sport at a meeting in Modena of former and present stars of Italy’s ski teams.

He said doping was disloyal.”For winning I never resorted to banned substances … but just to hard training and my mom’s pasta,” he said (Tomba was sponsored by Barilla for much of his career). Another former great, Gustavo Thoeni, said doping isn’t enough to turn a mediocre skier into a champion. “If you train hard and you have qualities, they emerge at the end,” Thoeni said. “Doping is not enough to make a champion.” –The Associated Press

Christian Mayer back on snow

It’s been five weeks since Christian Mayer had broke his leg in Sölden, and he got back on snow on Wednesday at the Moelltaler glacier. “I felt still some pain, but with increasing movement it was a little better’ reported if the 32 year old at Austria’s ORF website. “This was to see, how the knee holds. Still I am not 100 percent pain free. Next week he’ll be training in Colorado, and hopes to race the December 4 giant slalom in Beaver Creek.

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