Skiing / Bob Lochner : Will Bill Johnson Return? He Was Badly Injured, but Has Bounced Back Before
Another chapter in the up-and-down story of downhill racer Bill Johnson is being written at South Lake Tahoe, where the 1984 Olympic gold medalist is recuperating from 2 1/2 hours of surgery on his left knee.
Will it be the final chapter? Apparently, that’s up to Johnson, who will be 27 next March 30. Certainly, he’s through racing for this season, but what about defending his title in the 1988 Winter Games at Calgary, Canada?
Dr. Richard Steadman, who performed the operation to repair ligament and bone damage, said this week: “It is definitely a career-threatening injury. However, some people heal better than others, and Bill should return.”
Immediately after his spill last Friday during training for the World Cup downhill at Val Gardena, Italy, Johnson said half-jokingly, “I’ll be back skiing in three weeks.”
Make that six months, according to Steadman.
Or you can listen to Wally Johnson, Bill’s father, who said last weekend, “It’s tough to keep him down. I remember when he was 12 or 13 and he severely injured both knees. The doctor told him not to ski any more that winter. Well, three weeks later, he ripped off the casts and entered a junior downhill race. Of course, he didn’t do too well, but he skied--and finished.”
Tamara McKinney’s second place in the World Cup slalom Wednesday at Courmayeur, Italy, boosted the Olympic Valley, Calif., racer into fourth place in the women’s overall standings with 56 points, behind three Swiss--Vreni Schneider with 86, Maria Walliser with 85, and Erika Hess with 58.
Schneider won Wednesday’s race in 1:24.06, just .05 of a second ahead of McKinney, who took the lead in the slalom standings with 40 points.
The women will compete in another slalom at Courmayeur today, then go to Valzoldana, Italy, for a slalom and a giant slalom this weekend, before breaking for the holidays.
The men on the World Cup circuit are at Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia, for a giant slalom Friday and a slalom Saturday. Another slalom at Hinterstoder, Austria, Sunday will wind up action until after New Year’s, except for a parallel slalom Dec. 28 in West Berlin.
Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland continues to top the men’s overall standings with 105 points, followed by Richard Pramotton of Italy and Markus Wasmeier of West Germany, who are tied at 93 apiece.
That wily old Swede, Ingemar Stenmark, is fourth with 66.
Stenmark, 30, is still undecided about whether to continue racing after this season, depending on whether the International Ski Federation (FIS) changes the eligibility rules that kept him out of the 1984 Winter Olympics at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.
“I am 99% certain I won’t be allowed to compete in the 1988 Games,” Stenmark said recently. “I have been waiting for a long time, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they make their decision some weeks before the event. But I won’t wait that long. I’d rather quit skiing after this season.
“It would have been nice to end my career with an Olympic competition, but it seems most unlikely that the FIS would change their mind.”
The Calgary Olympics are set for Feb. 13-28, 1988.
Four Southland ski areas--Goldmine, Mountain High, Snow Forest and Snow Summit--are operating daily on 12 to 24 inches of man-made snow, and Ski Sunrise is making it five on weekends.
Storms are continuing to detour around the High Sierra, but snow-making has enabled June Mountain and Boreal to offer limited beginner-type skiing, and they were joined Wednesday by Alpine Meadows. Heavenly Valley plans to open two novice runs today, and Northstar will decide today whether to give it a go this weekend.
Skiing Notes Snow Forest, at Big Bear Lake, will play host to 40 visually impaired and deaf first-time skiers Monday in a program sponsored by the Junior Foundation of the Blind. Lynn Hale, who has worked with disabled skiers, lined up the instructors, who will work on a one-to-one basis with the participants. . . . “Skating and Striding: Cross-Country Skiing,” produced and directed by Harvey Edwards, won top overall honors in the 13th annual Ray-Ban International Ski Film Festival at Vail, Colo. It also placed first in the instruction and technique category. Other winners were “Rendezvous in Jackson Hole,” by Dick Barrymore (resort and travel); “Evolution--and That Is Skiing,” by Joe Jay Jalbert (racing and competition), and “Apocalypse III,” by Alain Gainard (special skiing). . . . Mesa Airlines will offer three daily flights--25 minutes each way--between Albuquerque International Airport and Taos, N.M., beginning Saturday. . . . Royal West Airlines has started nonstop jet service between LAX and Eagle County Airport, near Vail-Beaver Creek, Colo. . . . Last Saturday’s World Cup men’s downhill at Val Gardena, Italy, won by Canadian Rob Boyd, was taped by GGP Sports and will be shown Saturday at 3 p.m. on Channel 7. . . . Ski magazine’s SKIwee program of instruction for children 4 through 12 will be offered this winter at Goldmine in Southern California and at June Mountain, Dodge Ridge, Heavenly Valley and Ski Incline in the High Sierra. . . . A new series of Weekend World Cup races for recreational skiers, sponsored by City Sports magazine and Stella Artois, a Belgian beer, is scheduled to start Dec. 27 at Goldmine. The finals of the 13-week series will be held March 27-29 at Mt. Reba-Bear Valley, where qualifying racers will have a shot at winning $25,000--and losing their amateur standing.