SKIING / Bob Lochner : It Was Tough Sledding for Alpine Racing

It was an off-year all the way around for Alpine ski racing, which had no major international event to give it focus and virtually no snow throughout most of the European portion of its calendar.

Several stars, including Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg, Alberto Tomba of Italy, Vreni Schneider and Peter Mueller of Switzerland, and Tamara McKinney of Olympic Valley, Calif., missed some or all of the World Cup races with severe injuries, and two others--Pirmin Zurbriggen and Maria Walliser--called it quits after distinguished careers on the Swiss national team.

Zurbriggen, 27, went out on top, equaling Italian Gustavo Thoeni’s record of four World Cup overall titles. He wound up with 357 points, 123 more than slalom specialist Ole Christian Furuseth of Norway, and was doubtless helped by the prolonged absence of three-time champion Girardelli from the circuit.

Despite his runaway victory, Zurbriggen told the Associated Press: “It was the toughest season I’ve experienced, but it was worth it.”

Walliser, a two-time World Cup champion who turns 27 in July, finished fourth in the women’s standings with 227 points, as Petra Kronberger, 21, of Austria held off teammate Anita Wachter to take the title with 341 points. Wachter had 300. Schneider, the defending champion, was sixth with 189, despite being injured.

The top American was Diann Roffe of Williston, Vt., who was 10th with 130 points. Roffe, 23 on Saturday, won the giant slalom in the 1985 World Alpine Championships at 17, but she said the 1989-90 season was “my best year ever,” adding: “I’m a little bit older and wiser. Earlier, I didn’t know seriousness. Now I have put in the hours. But I think there is more for me next year.”

The highlight of the 1990-91 season will be the World Alpine Championships on Jan. 21 through Feb. 3 at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.

Then, in successive years, will follow the 1992 Winter Olympics at Albertville, France; the 1993 World Alpine Championships at Morioka-Shizukuishi, Japan; the 1994 Winter Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway, and the 1995 World Alpine Championships at a site to be determined--before the next off-year rolls around in ’96.

Phil Mahre is within striking distance of leader Bernhard Knauss on the U.S. Pro Tour, which resumes today through Sunday at Steamboat, Colo., after last weekend’s meet in Japan was canceled because of a lack of snow.

The three-time World Cup champion from Yakima, Wash., is fourth in the standings with 387 1/2 points, 30 behind the first-place Austrian, with Norwegian Torjus Berge (400) and Swede Jorgen Sundqvist (389) sandwiched between them. Knauss has earned $94,529, Mahre $55,875.

Knauss also leads the Million Dollar Plymouth Super Series--three events being conducted within the overall tour--with 82 1/2 points, followed by Berge and Austrian Christian Orlainsky, with 75 apiece, and Mahre with 67 1/2. The Steamboat races comprise the middle leg of this series, which ends April 6-8 at Aspen, Colo., with the winner getting a $100,000 bonus and a Plymouth Laser.

Skiing Notes

ESPN will show taped highlights of a recent pro race at Sugarbush, Vt., tonight at 9, and follow that on Sunday at 2:30 p.m. with Saturday’s giant slalom at Steamboat, Colo. . . . Snow Summit will play host to the Southern California Snowboard Championships this weekend. . . . The World Pro Mogul Tour will stop at Mt. Reba-Bear Valley Saturday. Cameron Boyle and Cindy McGee, both of Squaw Valley, lead the standings after the meet earlier this month at Snow Summit. Boyle won the men’s division there; McGee placed second to Patti Pinnell of Snowbird, Utah.

June Mountain will stage a Children’s Winter Carnival Saturday and Sunday with instruction and games for skiers 3 to 12. . . . Regional finals in the Ski Classic corporate series will be held today through Sunday at Mammoth Mountain. . . . The Absolut Vodka Bartenders’ national finals are under way through Sunday at Jackson Hole, Wyo. . . . The Subaru U.S. Freestyle Championships begin a five-day run Wednesday at Telluride, Colo.

Warm weather and a shortage of snow plagued the Holmenkollen Festival last weekend at Oslo, in which East German Jens Weissflog won the 90-meter jump for the second year in a row. Because porcelain approach tracks had to be used, the event will not be included in the World Cup jumping standings, which are currently led by Finland’s Ari Pekka Nikkola. . . . C.J. Mueller, 38, of Breckenridge, Colo., won the first World Cup speed skiing meet of the season at Willamette Pass, Ore., with a speed of 160.75 kilometers per hour, which translates to slightly more than 100 m.p.h. The fastest woman was Tarja Mulari of Finland at 156.92 k.p.h.