Skiing Roundup : McKinney Wins Her Second Slalom of Season

Tamara McKinney may be finding her old form just in time for the World Alpine Skiing Championships in two weeks at Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

McKinney posted the ninth World Cup slalom victory of her career and second this season Sunday at Mellau, Austria, as the Swiss were shut out of the top three for only the second time this season.

“I feel great, I’m happy,” McKinney said. “It’s the best I skied recently.”

McKinney, of Olympic Valley, Calif., also regained the lead in the Cup slalom standings with 90 points, ahead of Brigette Oertli and Erika Hess, both of Switzerland, who are tied for second with 77.

Vreni Scheider of Switzerland, 12th on Sunday, leads the overall standings with 183 points. She is followed by three other Swiss women--Maria Walliser with 182 points, Oertli with 148 and Hess with 128. McKinney is fifth at 118.

“The Swiss have a great team, and they have a lot of strong and talented girls,” McKinney said. “I don’t think (Sunday’s result) takes away anything from what they have done so far.”

McKinney, 24, was fastest in the second heat and was timed in 1 minute 48.79 seconds for her two runs over the course that was flagged with 63 and 62 gates, respectively, and had a vertical drop of 180 meters. She was fifth after the first run.

Mateja Svet of Yugoslavia was second in 1:49.23 and Margorzata Mogore of France third in 1:49.26.

Eva Twardokens of Olympic Valley, Calif., finished 13th in Sunday’s race in 1:51.10.

Markus Wasmeier of West Germany blazed through a snowstorm to win a men’s Super-G ski race at Garmisch-Partkenkirchen, West Germany, and move into second place in the overall World Cup standings.

The Cup leader, Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland, followed his victory in Saturday’s downhill with a second-place finish in the Super-G.

Wasmeier was timed in 1 minute 23.44 seconds while scoring his second World Cup victory this season.

It was the fifth World Cup career victory for the 23-year-old Wasmeier, who also won the opening Super-G at Val d’Isere, France, on Dec. 6.

Zurbriggen, who collected 15 points for his third downhill victory this season Saturday, added 20 for the second place in the Super-G and opened a 12-point lead over Wasmeier with a total of 147 points. He was timed in 1:24.15.

Alberto Ghidoni of Italy, a late starter at No. 39, finished third in 1:24.18. Franck Piccard of France was fourth in 1:25.00.

Michael Mair of Italy, the runner-up to Zurbriggen in the downhill, tumbled off the course and was eliminated. Team doctors said Mair injured his right knee.

Defending World Cup champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, who had the fastest intermediate time before Wasmeier, fell at the same spot halfway down the course.

The best American finishers were Tiger Shaw of Stowe, Vt., and Michael Frost of Charlotte, Vt., who tied for 40th in 1:26.81.

Fredy Glanzmann of Switzerland won a World Cup Nordic combined ski event with a total of 428.86 points at Reit Im Winkl, West Germany.

Torbjoern Loekken of Norway finished second with 417.10 points and Klaus Sulzenbacher of Austria was third with 407.61.

Hypollit Kempf of Switzerland was fourth with 407.03 points and Hallstein Boegseth of Norway was fifth with 406.73.

Kempf, with 62 points, leads the World Cup circuit in the Nordic Combined after four events. He is followed by Allar Lewandi of the Soviet Union with 55 points and Loekken with 53.