SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : Now, Twardokens Isn’t Just Another American Finisher

Just about everybody in ski racing had given up on Eva Twardokens. Sure, every now and then she’d pop up in the World Cup results with a finish in the top 15, but more often than not, she was down there listed under “Other Americans.”

It wasn’t exactly the career the Reno native had in mind when she earned a bronze medal in the giant slalom at the 1985 World Alpine Ski Championships before her 20th birthday.

“I was so young, I just went out and skied,” she said this week. “Whatever happened, happened.

“Then, I blew out my right knee in December of ‘87, in the first race of the season. I’ve had a hard time coming back.”

Now, it would appear, she is back.

After missing the rest of 1987-88, including the Calgary Winter Olympics, Twardokens struggled through the next two seasons, with an eighth in the slalom at the 1989 World Championships in Vail as her best result.

Before this season began, the big guns on the U.S. women’s team figured to be Diann Roffe, who won the gold medal in that ’85 giant slalom, and Kristi Terzian, who scored points in 17 World Cup races last winter.

Then, in fairly rapid succession, Terzian severely injured a knee in October, and Roffe, after a promising start, fell during a downhill training run on Dec. 19 at Morzine, France, also going out for the rest of the season because of a serious knee injury.

“It was a bummer for the team,” Twardokens said. “I think it’s good to have a lot of top people to push you to better results. But we had to go on, and I just went about trying to have a good season for myself.”

The breakthrough began on Jan. 11 at Kranjska Gora, Yugoslavia, where Twardokens finished fourth in a giant slalom, her best World Cup result since she was second in a super-G at Arosa, Switzerland, way back in ’85.

Then, in the World Championships at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria, three weeks later, Twardokens finished fifth in the giant slalom, less than a second behind winner Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden. The following week, she skied the fastest first run in a World Cup giant slalom at Zwiesel, Germany, and hung on for second place behind Anita Wachter of Austria.

Twardokens, who credits her coach, Fritz Vallant, with helping improve her technique last summer, then came home and swept the slalom and giant slalom titles in the U.S. National Alpine Championships at Crested Butte, Colo.

Since prizes are now permitted by the International Ski Federation, Twardokens also left Germany with a half-carat diamond. She is, however, more interested in gold--in the shape of a medal at the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville, France.

“I want to ski next year for sure,” she said. “But I learned in ’88 that ski racing is so risky, you can’t put all your eggs in one basket. I just take it day by day, and hopefully, good things will follow.

“That’s a dream for me, to win. I can see it, but you just have to put together the right circumstances. And I think I can do it.”

Whether or not those circumstances occur this weekend during the World Cup finals at Waterville Valley, N.H., Twardokens, who finished ninth in the giant slalom here last Sunday, will go back to Santa Cruz, where she has her own apartment, and spend the summer doing her other favorite things.

“I really like windsurfing,” she said. “And I’ve got my pilot’s license, but I want to get an instrument rating.”

Twardokens, who turns 26 next month, also has a mountain bike, and this consuming need for speed has been a source of some concern to her parents.

Still, George and Halina Twardokens have supported her all the way, from those early days in peewee races at Mt. Rose, near Reno, through junior competition at Squaw Valley and onto the U.S. ski team.

“My mother actually drove me around to ski races and got more involved in my skiing,” Twarkdokens said. “But my father has been a major influence, too. He’s a professor of kinesiology at the University of Nevada in Reno and has helped me a lot.”

George Twardokens, who was a member of the 1956 Polish Olympic team, defected to the United States during the ’58 World Fencing Championships in Philadelphia.

Now, his daughter is ready to carry on the family’s Olympic tradition, 36 years and a few ups and downs later.

Snow is continuing to pile up in the mountains of California, creating a White Easter for skiers.

Southland slopes are covered with up to six feet, including a top 12-inch layer of powder; Mammoth Mountain has about 10 feet, and resorts on both sides of the Sierra as far north as Lake Tahoe are in similar mid-winter shape.

Many of the larger ski areas will remain open well into April, or even May. The only trouble is, it’s spring, and after Easter week, most skiers’ thoughts will probably turn to the beach.

Skiing Notes

So, Alberto Tomba decided to race in a super-G at Lake Louise, Canada, last Sunday, after all. It was a longshot attempt to overtake Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg for the World Cup overall title. But the Italian apparently cut into a chairlift line, allegedly knocking down a female skier and swinging a ski pole at the female lift attendant, and was banned from the race, prompting him to say, “It’s the last time for me (to race at Lake Louise).” Girardelli, who has a sore knee, withdrew--in protest, he said, although his rival’s enforced absence from the field meant Girardelli’s fourth championship was no longer in jeopardy. . . . In last Friday’s downhill at the Alberta resort, A.J. Kitt of Rochester, N.Y., finished fourth, equaling his best previous World Cup result last season at Cortina, Italy.

U.S. women downhillers also came through last weekend, placing four in the top 15 of both races at Vail. On Friday, Kristin Krone of Truckee, Calif., was fourth; Megan Garety of Sun Valley, Ida., fifth; Hilary Lindh of Juneau, Alaska, 12th, and Edith Thys of Squaw Valley 13th. On Saturday, Thys came in fourth; Krista Schmidinger of Lee, Mass., ninth; Lindh 10th, and Krone 12th. . . . In Sunday’s giant slalom, Julie Parisien of Auburn, Me., was a surprising fifth. . . . Petra Kronberger of Austria clinched her second consecutive World Cup women’s overall title.

Highlights of the weeklong American Ski Classic at Vail, Colo., were taped by GGP and will be televised in a 90-minute CBS sports special on April 7. . . . U.S. Skiing, which oversees the U.S. ski team, has named Duncan Edwards, 36, a law graduate of the University of San Diego, to the newly created position of director of marketing. He will also serve as staff counsel, according to Howard Peterson, president and CEO of U.S. Skiing. . . . The U.S. men’s giant slalom title will be determined next Wednesday at Stowe, Vt. The race was postponed because of a snowstorm during the recent National Alpine Championships at Crested Butte, Colo.

This weekend’s next-to-last event on the U.S. Pro Tour was moved to Keystone, Colo., after it was decided three weeks ago that Mammoth Mountain, the originally scheduled site, didn’t have enough snow. Now, there’s plenty in the Sierra, of course, but it’s too late to switch again. . . . Although Bernhard Knauss of Austria, with 672.5 points and $164,775 in earnings, has won the championship, there’s still a battle for second place between Ove Nygren of Norway, with 546.5 and $80,056, and Phil Mahre of Yakima, Wash., with 509 and $86,400.

Bear Mountain will offer daily live entertainment and a variety of contests and giveaways during its Spring Break III Saturday through March 31. . . . Snow Valley has a Spring Break Defroster Special: Students with a valid ID can ski for only $23 daily, Saturday through the end of the season. . . . Harrah’s won the 11th annual Corporate Ski Challenge at Alpine Meadows, with Hewlett Packard second and the Resort at Squaw Creek third. . . .The finals of the Absolut Bartenders competition are under way through Sunday at Snowmass, Colo. . . . The Junior Olympics for various age groups are in progress at Lake Placid, N.Y.; Whitefish, Mont., and Juneau, Alaska, through Sunday. . . . The U.S. Masters Alpine Championships will be held Saturday through next Friday at Vail and nearby Beaver Creek.