World Cup Skiing : Steiner Upsets Hess in Women’s Slalom

Austria’s Roswitha Steiner upset favorite Erika Hess of Switzerland in the first women’s slalom race of the ski season Sunday and posted her first World Cup victory since 1983.

It was an unexpectedly good start for the 22-year-old Austrian, who last year failed to win a single World Cup race.

Steiner’s last previous World Cup triumph was a slalom event at Jasna, Czechoslovakia, in February 1983.

The Austrian skier capitalized on a perfect and fastest first heat down the Kandahar track. Her winning aggregate time was 1 minute 30.02 seconds.

Hess, a former world slalom champion and twice an overall World Cup winner, finished 20-hundredths of a second behind the winner and 10-hundredths of a second ahead of teammate Brigitte Oertli, who placed third for a good Swiss overall showing.

Eva Tawardokens of Squaw Valley, Calif., produced a sensational showing for the second consecutive day, coming in fourth, 72-hundredths of a second behind Steiner.

The 20-year-old American, who had placed fifth in Saturday’s super-giant here, skied her best-ever Cup slalom and said she could have achieved a better place if she had concentrated more on technique in the second heat.

“I was a bit nervous and I had to fight a little,” Tawardokens explained. She dropped one place from the first heat, in which Steiner had edged Oertli.

Hess, who lagged fifth after the first run, improved three places but could not catch up to the Austrian leader.

“I am happy with second place as I had a poor first run. I crossed skis and a risked a spill,” said Hess who had placed 13th in the super giant slalom.

Steiner produced heat times of 44.40 and 45.62 seconds. She explained she had good slalom trainings last week “and it paid off today. I feel great with this good start. I am really happy for myself and the team.”

Camilla Nilsson, an 18-year-old Swedish skier finished fifth overall, posting the fastest second heat in 44.76 seconds.

Tamara McKinney of Squaw Valley, Calif., the No. 1 slalom skier of the U.S. team, finished 10th, 1.70 seconds behind the winner. She said that she was unhappy with her place but happy with Tawardokens and the good start of the U.S. squad.

Sunday’s first place gave Steiner a tie for first place in the overall Cup standings with West Germany’s Marina Kiehl, winner of Saturday’s race. Each has 25 points.