Franz Klammer was my great idol in my younger years.

For the moment, the snow is quite wet and soft. If it was hard or icy, it would be a perfect downhill for my style, because I could fight even harder.

The crowd is wonderful. There is always a superb atmosphere in the finish area. It's good for the World Cup. I missed it a lot when I had to rest and it's so nice to be back here.

I planned to stop in 2002 after the Salt Lake City Olympics. I felt able to remain competitive another four years, and I wanted to stop while I'm still at the top.

I still have many goals left, especially the Overall World Cup standings.

I trained well this week but I think it will take some time until I recover my best rhythm in this specialty.

Being famous hasn't made my life any easier. Every minute I'm dealing with the baby-sitters is one more minute I'm not training.