European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 13, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A Quot melt a it amp a my Ipiniu a ill Wake up Call Kronberger revives american stands 2nd t a a Jar a Krista Schmidinger soars to a second place finish wednesday in the downhill portion of the Alpine combined in Meribel France. By Dave Carpenter Albertville France apr Petra Kronberger the rip Van Winkle of women a Alpine skiing this Winter awoke just in time at the Winter olympics on wednesday. The austrian superstar answered the repeated a a what a wrong with Petra a questions by careening Down the rugged a Rock of Iron course More than a half second faster than her nearest competitor a an unlikely american a in the combined downhill. It was no Small feat that Kronberger managed to stay on her feet on what skiers have called the worlds toughest women a downhill course. The new course which already has knocked three skiers out of the olympics with injuries scored two More wipe outs yesterday despite warm temperatures that slowed it Down. . Skier Krista Schmidinger was the Surprise runner up in the first part of the Alpine combined event which concludes today with the slalom. The 21-year-old from Lee mass., has never finished higher than ninth in world cup Competition a downhill last season at Vail colo., and with a poor history in slalom is still a Longshot for an olympic medal. Also on wednesday Bonnie Blair americans Golden girl coasted to a 21st-place finish in the women a 1,500-meter Speed skating. Blair who specializes in Shorter distances and successfully defended her title in the 500 meters on monday goes for Gold again Friday in the 1,000. Jacqueline Boemer of Germany upset favored teammate Gunda Niemann for the Gold medal in a relatively slow 2 05.87, Niemann going for her my Winter olympic medals through wednesdays events Germany 4 4 2 10 Austria 3 3 4 10 unified team 3 1 2 6 Norway 1 1 1 3 Finland 0 1 2 3 France 1 2 0 3 Italy j 1 0 2 United states 1 0 0 1 China 0 t 0 1 Canada 0 0 1 1 Japan 0 0 1 1 Switzerland 0 0 1 a Tow a Silver  does nol include demonstration sports aps amps second Gold medal in Albertville was .05 behind Boerner for the Silver while Seiko Hasimoto of Japan took the Bronze As the first asian medallist Here. Americans had their Best Ever olympic showing in luge yesterday when Cammy Myler of Lake Placid n.y., moved up a spot in the final two runs to finish fifth in the women a singles. Hometown teammate Erica Terwillegar was ninth. Two americans gave Strong Hope for medals in freestyle Mogul skiing. Nelson Carmichael of Steamboat Springs colo., was fourth among 16 skiers who qualified for the menus final and two time world Champion Donna Weibrecht of West Milford n.j., was second among women qualifiers for today a finals. Sisters Doris and Angelika Neuner claimed the first Ever olympic Gold and Silver in the women a luge for Austria. Susi Erdmann of Germany who beat out Myler for the world cup title this season won the Bronze. Fabrice Guy and Sylvain Guillaume won Frances first Ever olympic medals in nordic skiing snaring in a joyous French sweep of the top two spots in nordic combined. Germany proved its superiority in men s biathlon with two time world Champion Mark Kirchner and Ricco Gross finishing 1-2 in the 10-Kilometer race yesterday. Finland Sharri Eloranta earned the Bronze. Josh Thompson of Gunnison colo., who failed to live up to expectations in 1988, was 32nd. Schmidinger a downhill specialist who narrowly missed crashing into a retaining Barrier on the Bottom half of the course finished .52 seconds Back with the race of her life. World cup downhill Leader Katja Seizinger was third. A i was pretty psyched a said Schmidinger who was third in the final training run on tuesday. A obviously i dreamt of doing Well but its different when its for  Kristin Krone of Truckee calif., fell and broke her hand when she banged full Speed into a Fence at the Bottom of a noodles a the bump that finished not Only Ginther but . Skier Wendy Fisher. Warwara Zelenskaya of the unified team who fell at noodles on sunday crashed there again yesterday. Russians make it 8 straight Albertville France a soviet Union unified team or russians. No matter what the name in olympics pairs skating they re Gold medallists. World champions Natalia mis Kutie nok and Artur Dmitriev won the eighth straight pairs title for the former soviet Union on tuesday night the longest championship Streak in the history of the Winter games. All of the couples have been russian. Mish Kutsenok said she was disappointed to have the olympic Flag and Anthem played at the awards ceremony. A i like my Anthem the russian Anthem and the russian Flag it s not Good for me to not hear and see them she said in halting English. Dmitriev concurred. A that s life. But i would have rather seen the soviet Flag and heard the russian Anthem a Dmitriev said. Elena Bechke and Denis Petrov of the unified team got the Silver and canadians Isabelle Brasseur and Lloyd Eisler took the Bronze As the top six plating i the original program remained the same. A that War my dream to have two of my couples on the medals stand in the olym m Canadian leers reach medal round a Page 23 pics. Usually i have just one a said Tamara Moskvina coach of the top two russian pairs. A a in be never had two teams in the same olympics. A thanks to each other they made this Reat achievement. Between the players Ere there is just the Normal rivalry but great  none of the americans could match the Bronze medal by Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard four years ago. . Champions Calla Urbanski and Rocky Marval the a Blue Collar couple a she is a cocktail waitress and he owns a trucking company a struggled from the outset. One slipped at the end of r split triple twist and they both nearly fell. Their spins were out of synch and Urbanski did a single Axel while Marval hit a double in Side by Side jumps. That weak performance dumped them to 10th, and they left the ice without smiling clearly disappointed. A a lot of people were watching us and behind us and it Wasny tour Best so you can to be Happy about it a Urbanski said. Natasha Kuchki and Todd Sand ranked third in the world kept slumping. They have not had a standout performance since last years worlds and the double Axel has been their biggest problem. Sand who fell twice at last months . Nationals and again in sunday nights original program stepped out of one double Axel and went Down on the other in the free skate. He also stumbled during footwork and Cut a double toe Loop to a single. Kuchki Sand stayed sixth helped by two excellent throws. A live had a virus and i had to Cut practice Short yesterday a Sand said. A i was fatigued tonight. On the second double a Eli was too pooped to  Jenni Meno and Scott Wendland the National runners up wound up 11th. Their free skate was Perky Ana clean highlighted by two double axes and a throw double Axel. A it Felt really Good tonight a she said. A we came Here to skate our Best and we did that in both of our  still the night like every other night in pain since the 1964 Innsbruck olympics belonged to the russians. The stars and stripes february 13,1992 c Page 24 a inside sports yet tuesday s olympic results a Page 20 Ben Abrams prep pc Ken s a Page 21 Robinson Sharp in spurs win a Page 22 whalers snap wingless Streak a Page 22