MAMMOTH MOUNTAIN, Calif. -- Hilde Gerg is an Olympic gold medalist and a World Cup champion. Now she's got her eye on the biggest trophy, that of World Cup overall champion.
"Last year I was third in the overall and you think this year you can perhaps be second or even first, but it's not easy," Gerg said. "You have to look at how the other girls are skiing."And the other girls, notably the Austrians, are skiing very well indeed. Austria's Renate Goetschl won consecutive downhills at Lake Louise, Alberta, last weekend, and Alexandra Meissnitzer added the super-G victory at the Canadian resort to a giant slalom triumph the previous week at Park City, Utah.
While Goetschl is primarily a downhiller, Meissnitzer excels in the downhill, super-G and GS and would appear to be the more serious challenger for the overall title, skiing's top prize.
"Alexandra Meissnitzer is skiing very well at the moment," Gerg said. "But it's a long season and we will see."
Last season, when Gerg finished third behind teammates Katja Seizinger and Martina Ertl, Meissnitzer skied to a fifth-place finish and Goetschl was seventh.
Gerg excels in the same events as Meissnitzer, and they'll go after each other in Thursday's super-G at this California resort. There's a slalom on Friday in which Gerg, the Olympic champion, will be among the contenders while Meissnitzer takes the day off.
Meissnitzer has had things her way so far, but Gerg might be ready to change that.
"Mammoth Mountain is a very good slope for me, steep and difficult," said Gerg, who has a victory, a second, a third and a fifth from previous visits here.
Gerg was third in the super-G behind Meissnitzer in Canada, and teammates Martina Ertl and Regina Haeusl each had fourths in the downhills won by Goetschl. While not victories, those placements are reason for German hope early in the season.
The German women have been very good in the 1990s, but last year "was a dream season for us," said Gerg, who added a gold medal in slalom and a bronze in the combined in the Olympics at Nagano, Japan.
"What happened happened. The success I've had, nobody can take it from me. It's mine," she said. "But we also want to continue to ski well. We want to say it wasn't only one season.
"It's very nice to have it, but now it's not going to be so easy. But I think it's good to have to fight; it's not so bad if it's not always so easy."
Gerg admits that some of Germany's early problems can be blamed on the absence of two-time overall champion Katja Seizinger, out with a knee injury.
"Every girl is skiing for herself, but on the team it's not so easy to tell who is the leader," she said.