European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 31, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Tuesday january 31,1989 the stars and stripes Page 25 on the Agenda in Vail editor s note Franz Klam Merset world cup records with 25 career downhill victories and five season titles and won the downhill Gold medal in the 1976 olympics. He retired in 1985. By Franz Klammer for the associated press the Best skiers in the world Are in Vail Colo., for the next couple of weeks for the world Alpine ski championships. Here s a look at the events slalom almost every skier starts with the Sla Lom simply making turns going Down the Mountain. That s How i Learned to ski when i was growing up in Austria. It helps you develop the skill needed to ski the other events. Shalom is the slowest of the Alpine disciplines the obstacle course of skiing. The Gates Are very close together and a racer must change edges very quickly to stay on the course. The great slalom Rac ers make a turn so quickly that they be actually completed it by the time they get to the Gate. When they Are at the Gate they Are already getting ready for the next one. When i was racing the poles were solid and you had to ski around them. Today s slalom pole is hinged and it flops away when the skier hits it. Today s skier looks like a hockey player with All the padding they Wear to run Over the Gate. Giant slalom this is the most difficult event tech Nique Wise. It mixes the Speed of Down Hill with the turns of slalom. The difficulty is in making turns at these speeds. Instead of turning quickly As in slalom you must set a clean Edge and ride it through the turn. It s fun to ski giant slalom to have some Speed and then Seta clean Edge. You can t see the Speed on to like you can with downhill but it is a very fast race. And it is very much out of the tall line across the Hill instead of straight Down. 0 super giant slalom this is an event that i personally Don like. As we say in German it s not meat and it s not fish. There s just nothing going on. You do have to Deal with a lot More Speed so it s something like downhill but you Don t need the tech Nique you have to have for downhill or giant slalom. Downhill the downhill Means Speed of course and danger. You have to Challenge the Mountain and try to get to the limit. The Ideal downhill would be Steep with very technical turns on the top Speed an jumps m the Middle and a Flat for about seconds near the Bottom. The top part at Mulgary last year was fantastic. You re not thinking of getting Hurt when you race downhill. If you re in Good shape you re thinking ahead of your skis and you think you Are going Siow if you re not in Good shape your mid is behind the skis and that s when you have trouble. Re Al Down Hiller goes for it All the i. You cannot hold Back and try for second or third place. You have to take so stowing. World Alpine ski championships putting the Arm on another Triumph the second to portion of the Switzerland s Vrem Schneider elbows a Gate pole on her Way to second after sunday s first run exploded during or to i 7? it Ned s Alom in Vail Colo. Schnei beat Mckinney by 1.29 seconds. The downhill Der who trailed America s Tamara Mckinney by More than a combined event is scheduled for thursday. This season Tomba bombs out As Schneider compiles record run by Mike Clark twelve months ago Vreni Schneider argued that she was t the female version of Alberto Tomba. How right she was. These Days Tomba would love to be called the male version of Vreni Schnei Der. The bashful quiet Swiss stylist duplicated Tomba s feat of winning slalom and giant slalom Gold medals in the 1988 olympics at Calgary but the two stars have followed markedly different orbit since then. For Tomba 1988 was one big party. He won nine world cup races finished second in the Overall standings and landed a flood of endorsement contracts. Schneider finished her season at Home quietly working to rebuild a knee injured during a downhill crash in Colo Rado a couple weeks after the olympics. While Tomba enjoyed his celebrity and according to some of his italian critics frittered away precious training time Schneider worked. Now As the world s Best skiers get Down to business at Vail Colo., for the world Alpine championships Schneider is considered a lock to win two More golds. Tomba faces the possibility of being blanked. Schneider has dominated slalom and giant slalom like no woman in the history of skiing. She has won the five giant slalom and four slalom that have been run so far most by comfortable margins. On sunday she came from 1.17 seconds behind to win the slalom portion of the combined wresting Victory from Ameri can Tamara Mckinney. You can beat her Only in your dreams said Mckinney the 1983 Over All Champion and one of the top slalom racers Ever. That is simply the Best women s ski ing i be Ever seen said Schneider s somewhat dazed coach Jan Tischhauser who admits something More than his training regimen is at work Here. Ill go to Vail relaxed the still Reti cent Schneider said. What i have won no one can take away from Tomba was just As dominant last year on the men s Side but the world has risen to meet him this time around. He won the first three and six of the first seven slalom last season but Only one of five this year. Marc Girardelli the two time Overall Champion from Luxem Bourg and Armin Bittner of West Ger Many have been the slalom Kings each winning twice. Tomba has fared even less Well in giant slalom. He won three times last season in skiing s most difficult discipline but has Only a pair of third place finishes this time around. Girardelli three time Overall Champion Pirmin Zur Briggen of Switzerland and Austria s Rudi Nierlich have been winning and even a second year racer named Ole Christian Furuseth from Alpine Light weight Norway has had the measure of the italian Ace. Arrigo Gat Tai head of the italian olympic committee contended that Tomba s superiority in 1988 was annulled because his opponents worked hard while Tomba did not during the summer Tomba according to the italian press became a fat cat at the dining table As Well As at the Bank. A lot of his million Dollar Windfall went toward adding some 20 pounds to a muscular Frame that Al ready carried 190. But As Gat Tai mentioned most of Tomba s problem is his Competition notably Girardelli Back from injuries an Zurbriggen. Norwegian captures men s race Beaver Creek Colo. A unheralded Ole Christian Furuseth of nor Way broke from a tightly bunched pack after the first run to win the slalom por Tion of the men s combined Competition by one Hundredth of a second monday at the world Alpine ski combined slalom results will be paired with a downhill on Friday to de Termine the combined medallists. Luxembourg s Marc Girardelli who placed third m the combined slalom loomed As the Clear Cut favorite for the Gold medal because of his downhill prowess. Furuseth 22, whose Best world cup result was a second in a giant slalom this season came from sixth place after the first run to Edge Sweden s Jonas top seven racers in the first run were separated by a Mere 19-Hundredthsof a second setting up fierce Competition in the second heat. Veteran Paul from melt of Liechtenstein led the Way in the first run at 49.96 was clocked in 46.77 seconds for the quickest second run Over a slightly Shorter 57-Gate course. Nilsson in fifth place had a 46.82 in the second run. That left Furuseth with an aggregate time of 1 minute 36.89 seconds while Nilsson finished at 1 36.90. The four skiers ahead of them after the first run could do no better. Girardelli finished third in 1 37.65, followed by Tetsuya Okabe of Japan in 1 37.66 and Frommelt in 1 37.83. Switzerland s Pau Accola was sixth in 1 37.85. Austria s Guenther Mader another expected contender in the combined was ninth in 1 38.14, and Switzerland s Pir min Zurbriggen stood 11th in 1 38.47.bob Ormsby of Tahoe City calif., was
