SPORTS : U.S. Skiers Pull Out of World Cup

The U.S. women’s ski team abruptly withdrew from the World Cup competition scheduled this weekend and returned home, the event’s press chief said.

The three American women, Hilary Lindh, Kristin Krone and Alison Fenn, were to race in the World Cup downhill event here this weekend. The team left their hotel early today, Jacques Belin said.

Meanwhile, in Wengen, Switzerland, the U.S. men’s team pulled out from the World Cup races after an appeal from their federation to return home because of war in the Middle East, according to Hugo Steinegger, press chief of the event.

Belin did not give a reason for the departure of the women’s team, but it came only a few hours after a multinational force launched a series of punishing bomb attacks on Iraqi positions in Iraq and Kuwait. With the start of the Gulf War, Americans abroad are increasingly concerned that they could be targets of terrorist attacks.