Beaver Creek – This used to be where the potent Austrian “Power Team” set the tone for a new season by dominating the podium day after day and overpowering the rest of the world with its awesome depth.
They used to tease Hermann Maier about purchasing a slopeside mansion because he already owned the mountain, winning six World Cup races and two gold medals at the 1999 world championships.
But for the first time since the Birds of Prey debuted in 1997, Team Austria failed to win a race here the past four days. Reigning World Cup overall champion Benjamin Raich had two “did not finish” results in three starts. Maier finished 23rd in downhill and 11th in giant slalom.
“We are disappointed,” Austrian head coach Toni Giger said. “The results are not as we expected, but we have to respect that the other nations did great races. We have to be better in the future.”
Sweden’s Andre Myhrer led a slalom podium of relative unknowns Sunday, capturing his first World Cup victory. Mike Janyk of Canada (second) and Felix Neureuther of Germany (third) achieved their first podiums.
Neureuther made his breakthrough on his grandfather’s 95th birthday.
“I am just a little bit afraid he will drink too much tonight,” Neureuther joked.
American Ted Ligety stood second after the first run but straddled a gate 12 seconds into the second heat.
Like last year’s slalom here, it was a race of attrition, but the problem then was a blinding snowstorm. Sunday the cause was a tight second-run course set by Croatian coach Ante Kostelic with his son, Ivica, in mind.
“Kostelic’s father is known for setting doozy courses,” Ligety said. “It’s too bad they let him do that. It doesn’t make the sport all that entertaining when everybody is hacking it up. He tries to get people to go out because he knows Ivica isn’t going to do that well anymore. That’s what he has to do to get guys out, so Kostelic will have a better result.”
If that was the plan, it didn’t work. Kostelic was one of eight who failed to finish the second run.
Austrians swept the Olympic slalom last February, but their best finish Sunday was seventh.
Their only podium here: third in super combined by Rainer Schoenfelder, the Olympic bronze medalist who was a DNF on Sunday.
U.S. head coach Phil McNichol knows better than to believe Austrian supremacy is crumbling.
“It only falls your side of a hundredth (of a second) so many times,” McNichol said. “They’ve had some bad luck, but by no means should it indicate they’re not training correctly or have lost the edge or aren’t as good as they used to be.”
If you want a team to watch in the interim between the Turin Games and Vancouver in 2010, Canada would be a good pick. Canadian men earned a super-G win and another podium last week in Lake Louise, Alberta.
The women picked up a podium and three top-10s in a super-G there Sunday. Janyk’s sister, Britt, was 11th.
“The Canadians are probably the coming team, if you’re talking four events,” McNichol said. “They’re going to be really hard charging for the next couple of years.”
American Jimmy Cochran, who finished 22nd, was thrilled for Janyk.
“Just kind of salt of the earth,” he said. “All those Canadians are like that. They’re a great group of guys. Honestly it couldn’t happen to a nicer kid.”
Janyk said the young Canadian skiers are feeding off one another as their results improve and the Vancouver Games loom.
“We have some great coaches, and we really work well with them,” Janyk said. “We have a great team atmosphere. We live together and die together.
“We’ve been racing together for a while, and we know this goal is there for 2010 to have a very strong Canadian team. I think it’s always in the back of our minds, and it allows us to push that extra bit.”
Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
