SKIING : Bill Johnson Will Retire, but May Turn Pro

Bill Johnson, the only American to win a gold medal in an Olympic downhill race, will retire from international ski racing later this month, a few weeks short of his 30th birthday.

Johnson, who called his shot in the 1984 Games at Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, has been hampered by knee and back injuries and failed to qualify for the U.S. team at either the 1988 Winter Olympics or the 1989 World Alpine Ski Championships. He skied briefly in Europe in December but did not return for the post-holiday World Cup races.

The formal announcement of Johnson’s retirement will be made during the U.S. Alpine Ski Championships at Crested Butte, Colo., Feb. 16-23, according to his agent, Jon Franklin.

There has been speculation that Johnson, who lives in Lake Tahoe, Nev., and will turn 30 on March 30, may compete on the U.S. Pro Tour, which continues into April.

The U.S. men’s team received a sorely needed boost on Saturday when A.J. Kitt, 21, of Rochester, N.Y., finished a surprising fourth in a World Cup downhill at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy. This occurred just two weeks after Bill Hudson, 23, of Squaw Valley placed a creditable 13th in the Hahnenkamm downhill at Kitzbuhel, Austria.

Jeff Olson, 24, of Bozeman, Mont., who was considered America’s No. 1 downhiller, broke his collarbone during training at Kitzbuhel but hopes to race in the nationals.

A downhill scheduled for Laax, Switzerland, Sunday was canceled because of a lack of snow, and the next World Cup men’s races won’t be until March 3-4 at Jasna, Czechoslovakia, after the annual break for each country’s national championships.

Pirmin Zurbriggen of Switzerland won Tuesday’s super-G at Courmayeur, Italy, charging to within striking distance of his fourth World Cup overall title with 295 points, 83 more than his closest pursuer, Ole-Christian Furuseth of Norway. Guenther Mader of Austria is third, another 19 behind.

Diann Roffe, 22, of Williamson, N.Y., finished third in a World Cup giant slalom Monday at Veysonnaz, Switzerland, behind Mateja Svet of Yugoslavia, to move into second place in the women’s GS standings with 74 points. However, Austria’s Anita Wachter placed second in the race, boosting her total to 120 and clinching the title in that discipline.

In the overall standings, Roffe, who won a gold medal in the giant slalom at the 1985 World Championships and seems to have finally regained her form of that season, is 11th with 89 points.

The No. 1 woman is Petra Kronberger of Austria with 258 points, followed by Wachter with 248 and Michaela Gerg of West Germany with 217.

Maria Walliser, 26, of Switzerland, a two-time World Cup champion who announced last weekend that she will retire at the end of this season, is fourth with 174.

Two women’s super-G races are scheduled this weekend at Meribel, France.

Skiing Notes

After placing third behind Austrian Sebastian Vitzthum and Norwegian Ove Nygren in Saturday’s giant slalom at Winter Park, Colo., Phil Mahre of Yakima, Wash., defeated another Norwegian, Torjus Berge, in the slalom final Sunday to climb to sixth place in the U.S. Pro Tour standings with 241 points. . . . Jorgen Sundqvist of Sweden retained the lead with 301 and has a 44-point margin over runner-up Tomaz Cerkovnik of Yugoslavia. . . . The troupe is in Nagano, Japan, for this week’s World Pro Championships. The Women’s Pro Ski contingent will race at Mast Hope, Pa., this weekend.

Ernst Vettori of Austria finished third in a World Cup 70-meter jumping event Wednesday at St. Moritz, Switzerland, to widen his lead in the overall standings. Olympic champion Matti Nykanen of Finland withdrew because of a cold. Frantisek Jez of Czechoslovakia won with jumps of 288 feet 10 inches and 302 feet for 218.6 points. The top Americans were Tad Langlois of Newport, N.H., and Jim Holland of Norwich, Vt., who finished 31st and 37th, respectively. They’ll jump Friday at Gstaad and Sunday at Engelberg, both in Switzerland.

Steve Kanaly’s seventh annual celebrity bash on Sunday at Bear Mountain earned a record amount for the March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, according to Fran Manhart, the event’s director. “We do not know by how much, but we are sure we exceeded last year’s record of $165,000,” Manhart said. The races, involving 65 film, TV and sports personalities, were held in a snowstorm. . . . All recreational skiers are eligible to race in the Jeep/Eagle Challenge Ski Series, which stops at Snow Summit Saturday and at Snow Valley Sunday.

Kirkwood will play host Friday to the Ray-Ban Great Instructors Race, a Far West regional qualifying event for ski-school teachers and coaches. The national finals will be held April 8 at Snowmass, Colo. . . . The Jose Cuervo Games of Winter will be held Saturday at Alpine Meadows. . . . The NFL Players Assn. Ski Race for the Disabled continues through Sunday at Purgatory, near Durango, Colo. . . . Carma Burnett and Rick Frongillo were the top regional pacesetters in the NASTAR recreational racing trials at Mammoth Mountain.