QUITE A RUN : There Was No Denying the Swiss, Who Won 7 of the First 8 Gold Medals

With a day off Friday, the competition pondered on how to stop the remarkable Swiss domination in the final two races of the Alpine Ski World Championships.

The Swiss have dominated this championship on home snow like no other nation has done before. With seven gold medals in eight races, the Swiss have broken the 25-year-old mark of five golds set by Austria in Chamonix, France.

Only the special slaloms for women and men remained on the schedule, and prospects for non-Swiss skiers grabbing the gold look brighter in these two disciplines.

In the women’s slalom on Saturday, American ace Tamara McKinney, the winner of two World Cup slaloms this season, faced a powerful Swiss quartet led by Erika Hess.

The two know each other well. Hess retained her combined title in Crans-Montana, but McKinney took the slalom portion and won the bronze medal in the combined.

Hess, 24, has won five gold medals in four championships. A gold medal in the slalom, which she won in 1982 in Schladming, Austria, would be a fitting highlight in her final season on the circuit.

McKinney, who also has announced her retirement at the end of the season, had a last chance to win a major title. Like Hess, she came to the previous championships in Bormio, Italy, two years ago as a favorite, but both fell and dropped out of the race.

In the closing event today, Jonas Nilsson of Sweden has the chance to join Hess as the only Bormio champion to retain a title. But he faces stiff competition from veteran teammate Ingemar Stenmark and two Yugoslav aces, Bojan Krizaj and Rok Petrovic.

And there is Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, the only skier who broke the Swiss winning streak by taking the combined title from Pirmin Zurbriggen. He also won silver medals in the giant slalom and the Super-G.

In addition to Swiss dominance, the championships so far have been marked by the downfall of previous title-holders. Perrine Pelen of France, the Bormio women’s slalom champion, has retired, leaving only Nilsson to try and save the honor of defending champions.

But there have been no outsiders winning gold medals here, either.

Zurbriggen lost the downhill and combined titles, but took the giant slalom and the inaugural Super-G. He was beaten by veteran teammate Peter Mueller for the downhill gold, but Mueller was considered one of his main rivals.

Zurbriggen, who will also start in the slalom, has a record seven medals in two championships, four of them golds.

Zurbriggen’s main rival for the overall World Cup title this season, Markus Wasmeier of West Germany, has had a disappointing championship.

In addition to losing his giant slalom title, Wasmeier also missed out in the downhill and the combined and had to settle for bronze in the Super-G, which he has dominated on the World Cup circuit.

Maria Walliser has dominated the women’s side nearly as much as Zurbriggen the men’s. Walliser beat teammate Michela Figini for the downhill and Super-G golds and added a bronze in the giant slalom. Figini was defending the downhill title.

“It’s hard to say what makes us, the Swiss, so dominating. We have a great team spirit, we are very confident, we go into every race to win,” Walliser said. “It seems that we just have the best skiers and that years of hard work are paying off.”

McKinney, in addition for looking for personal glory, was trying to redeem a disappointing U.S. team. In Bormio, Americans won one gold and three bronze medals.

Diann Roffe, the surprise giant slalom winner in Bormio, has failed to finish the race at Crans-Montana. Bronze medalist Eva Twardokens was 13th and the men were never in contention.

The Swiss domination has overshadowed the big comeback by Girardelli. The Austrian-born superstar shook off a recurring shoulder injury and returned to the form that gave him two straight overall World Cup titles.

The championships have also propelled Mateja Svet of Yugoslavia into the ranks of top women skiers. The 18-year-old took the silver in the event and the bronze in the Super-G, the first medals ever won by a Yugoslav woman.