Martina Ertl - (Sept. 12, 1973)...’98 Olympic combined silver medalist, ’98 World Cup GS champ; ’96 GS Worlds bronze medalist, ’96 World Cup GS champ; ’94 Olympic GS silver medalist; ’93 Worlds GS bronze medalist; 12 World Cup wins...understandably - and repeatedly - overlooked when teammate Katja Seizinger was competing, Ertl’s attacking style of racing makes her - when she’s healthy -a continual threat in SL, GS and super G...in addition to a dozen victories (eight in GS, two each in SL/SG), she has 29 other podium - i.e., top-3 - visits...started as a slalom/GS racer, but she’s broadened her outlook and skis all events (DH is her weakest)...she smiles when she thinks back to the high school teacher who told her she was wasting her time in "a silly sport" and that she’d never be successful...she and Hilde Gerg are neighbors in Lenggries...tore a ligament in her left knee in October ’96, came back a few weeks later but reinjured it in January, but still raced at the ’97 Worlds...tore a ligament in her right knee in Are, Sweden, just after the ’99 Worlds in Vail...younger brother Andreas is on the German’s men’s team...

Hilde Gerg - (Oct. 19, 1975)...’98 Olympic SL champion, combined bronze medalist; ’97 World Championships super G bronze medalist, combined bronze medalist; 9 World Cup wins...her all-round skills makes Gerg - seemingly a natural SG racer (gold medalist at ’94 World Juniors in Lake Placid) - a steady threat...she was third in the World Cup overall standings in 1997 and ’98, runnerup to Meissnitzer in ’99...but, with a couple of injuries and more emphasis on DH/SG, skidded back last season to 26th overall - despite two podiums in DH and two more in super G...lived on a mountain in Lenggries and had to ski down to school as a youngster - she’s been skiing "since I could think"...

Rogina Haeusl [HOY-zl] - (Dec. 17, 1973)...’00 World Cup downhill champion; 1 World Cup win...Haeusl has been watched with anticipation since she won a World Cup downhill in Cortina almost eight years ago...and last season she came mighty close to doubling her career total - five second-place finishes and four other top-10s in DH helped give her the downhill championship even though she didn’t win a race...multiple injuries to her left knee have kept her away from that second win...she and Martina Ertl graduated together from border guard school...1992 World Juniors gold medalist in downhill and super G...