McKinney Wins First Slalom of Season

Tamara McKinney, frustrated by a winless season on the World Cup circuit, blew away her competition with an aggressive second run to win the women’s slalom title Sunday in the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships at Cooper Mountain, Colo.

Norway’s Henrik Smith-Meyer, who skis for the University of Utah, won the men’s slalom.

McKinney, 1983 World Cup champion who is 17th this season, had a blistering second run of 48.87 seconds for a combined time of 1 minute 38.15 seconds--a second faster than Eva Twardokens of Squaw Valley, Calif.

West Germany’s Sonja Stotz was third in 1:40.03.

Beth Madsen of Aspen, Colo., finished fourth in 1:40.23. She also finished fifth in the downhill and her won the giant slalom to take the combined title.

Smith-Meyer had a combined time of 1:46.29.

Paul Mahre of Gig Harbor, Wash., younger brother of former World Cup standouts Phil and Steve Mahre, was second in 1:47.13. Tiger Shaw of Stowe, Vt., took third in 1:47.20, and Canada’s Jim Read was fourth in 1:47.24.

Shaw, who won the giant slalom and placed eighth in the downhill, was the men’s combined champion.