SKIING : It’s Already Been Season of Bumps, Lumps

It has been barely three weeks since the international racing season started, and already a high percentage of the world’s top skiers have gone flying off bumps, crashing into fences and otherwise knocking themselves off the slopes for days, weeks or months.

The latest string of accidents occurred during World Cup downhill training at Val Gardena, Italy, where in the last two days:

--Peter Mueller of Switzerland, downhill silver medalist in both the 1988 Winter Olympics and the 1989 World Championships, fell in a bumpy stretch of the course, tore ligaments in his left knee and is expected to be lost for the season.

--Mueller’s teammate, Philip Schuler, and Austria’s Gerhard Pfaffenbichler and Peter Wirnsberger II suffered knee injuries on those same “camel’s bumps” and will be sidelined indefinitely.

Although questions have been raised about the safety precautions being taken by organizers of this and other World Cup events, one racer, Norwegian Attle Skaardahl, told the Associated Press that the Val Gardena course was safe, adding: “You can face risks only if you are not fast enough at the bumps or undecided about the line to follow.”

Swiss star Pirmin Zurbriggen said Mueller crashed “because he was clearly uncertain about whether to jump or go around the bumps.”

These accidents happened less than a week after mishaps that felled:

--Alberto Tomba of Italy, a double Olympic gold medalist in 1988, who broke his collarbone in a super-giant slalom at Val d’Isere, France, last Sunday and will be out until the middle of January.

--Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, a three-time World Cup overall champion, who suffered a severe kidney bruise when he smashed through a plastic fence during another super-G race at Sestriere, Italy, on Tuesday and will be unable to ski again until after the holiday break, Jan. 6-7 at Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia.

Of the course at Sestriere, Zurbriggen said: “Safety along the track was not good enough,” and added that it was as fast and technically demanding as a downhill.

Earlier, the following were victims:

--Tamara McKinney of the United States, a former World Cup champion and women’s combined gold medalist in last February’s World Championships, who injured her left knee during training on a Swiss glacier in mid-October and may never race again.

--Vreni Schneider of Switzerland, the defending World Cup women’s champion and a double Olympic gold medalist in 1988, who underwent arthroscopic surgery this week after jamming her left knee during a practice downhill run Dec. 6 at Steamboat Springs, Colo., and will not return until competition resumes in Europe Jan. 6-7 at Piancavallo, Italy.

--Michael Mair of Italy, Martin Hangl of Switzerland and Helmut Mayer of Austria, each of whom have missed races with one injury or another.

Skiing Notes

The women on the Alpine World Cup circuit will ski in a pair of downhills Saturday and Sunday at Panorama, Canada. The resort is 11 miles west of Invermere, B.C. . . . Austria’s Anita Wachter remains atop the overall standings with 103 points, followed by two West Germans, Michaela Gerg with 98 and Regina Mosenlechner with 62.

The men will compete in four races over seven days--downhills today and Saturday at Val Gardena; a slalom Sunday at Madonna di Campiglio, Italy, and another downhill next Thursday at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, site of the next World Championships, Jan. 21-Feb. 3, 1991. . . . Ole Christian Furuseth of Norway is still the overall leader with 118 points, but three-time champion Pirmin Zurbriggen is only 17 behind after winning the super-G last Tuesday at Sestriere. Armin Bittner of West Germany is third with 79.

Cross-country skiers will continue their North American tour this weekend in Canada with Nordic World Cup races for the men at Thunder Bay, Ontario, and for the women at Calgary. . . . Last weekend’s season-opening winners at Mountain Dell, east of Salt Lake City, were Sweden’s 40K relay team, anchored by Gunde Svan; Italy’s Stefania Belmondo in the women’s 15K freestyle; Norway’s Bjorn Daehlie in the men’s 15K classical, and Finland’s Janna Savolainen in the women’s 5K classical. . . . Leslie Thompson of Park City, Utah, finished 19th behindBelmondo.

World Cup jumpers will hop over to Sapporo, Japan, this weekend for the third stop on their around-the-world odyssey. Ari-Pekka Nikkola of Finland leads the standings with 57 points after winning the 70-meter competition at Lake Placid, N.Y., last weekend. He is six ahead of Ernst Vettori of Austria, who took the 90-meter event. Jan Bokloew of Sweden and Heinz Kuttin of Austria are tied for third with 48. Mike Holland of Norwich, Vt., was the highest-placed American, finishing 36th in the 90-meter and 48th in the 70-meter.

Phil Mahre’s victory over his twin brother, Steve, in the final of the U.S. Pro Tour’s slalom last Sunday at Waterville Valley, N.H., moved him into second place in the standings with 75 points, 13 behind defending champion Jorgen Sundqvist of Sweden, who is also the top money-winner with $8,950. Sundqvist defeated Austria’s Guido Hinterseer in the giant slalom final. . . . Niklas Lindqvist of Sweden is tied for third with Joerg Seiler of Switzerland, each with 70 points. The pros stop at Nashoba Valley, Mass., near Boston this weekend. Locally, the California Handicap Ski School will be dedicated Sunday at Bear Mountain, near Big Bear Lake. The school was made possible through contributions by the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles and other individuals and organizations.