SKIING WOMEN’S WORLD CUP : U.S. Takes Fall; Downhill Won by Austrian

Americans are somewhat scarce this weekend in the Berner Oberland, where Sabine Ginther of Austria won a World Cup downhill Saturday and Vreni Schneider of Switzerland is favored to give the home folks something to cheer about in today’s slalom.

Today figures to be better for the U.S. Ski Team because there’s a clear chance that one of its women could score an upset victory.

That possibility was lacking Saturday as the best American finisher, Hilary Lindh of Juneau, Alaska, wound up about as expected--in 11th place, after topping the field in the first training run last week.

But the race is the payoff, as it will be Feb. 15, when these same skiers meet again in the Olympic women’s downhill at Meribel, France.

It was a U.S. racer, at least, who provided the most exciting moments on a dazzlingly sunny day at the base of the Eiger.

Kirstin Krone, 23, of Truckee, Calif., had a good-looking run going when she suddenly lost it about two-thirds of the way down the course while skiing in excess of 55 m.p.h.

“I felt I was really racing aggressively,” she said later at the team’s hotel, “and in training my fastest splits had been on the bottom third of the course, so I was hoping for a good result. Then my right ski just caught an edge and I really flipped.”

The blond-haired Krone, whose best World Cup downhill result is a fourth place last season at Vail, Colo., hit the snow hard and cartwheeled a couple of times before bouncing to a stop.

“I’ve never been hit by a train,” she said, “but now I know what it feels like.”

This wasn’t her worst downhill spill, however. “I’ve had so many,” she said. “And at Calgary, during training for the 1988 Winter Olympics, I had both my left and then my right ski go out from under me. I did a split all the way into the (safety) net.

On a scale of 10, she said: “The one here rates about an 8. It just shook me up all over and knocked the wind out of me. Luckily, there was no structural damage. My body still aches, but it’s nothing that ice and some time won’t cure. It’s better that it happened here than in the Olympics.”

Krone finished her ice cream sundae as Edith Thys, another Californian, walked into the hotel dining room.

Thys, 25, of Squaw Valley, ended up 35th but did not feel too discouraged.

“I made a lot of changes before this race,” she said. “Without getting too technical, it involved both my skis and my stance. I did it now rather than wait for the Olympics because I needed a race to get used to it. I felt good out there, and I think my confidence is coming back.”

Thys said her new configuration should also help in the super-G, an event in which she placed second last season at Furano, Japan.

Other American placings Saturday were Krista Schmidinger of Lee, Mass., in 14th; Megan Gerety of Anchorage, Alaska, in 21st; Picabo Street of Sun Valley, Ida., in 43rd, and Wendy Fisher of Incline Village, Nev. in 59th.

Four of these seven U.S. downhillers will be included on the U.S. Olympic Alpine team, which will be named late today--probably Lindh, Krone, Thys and Schmidinger.

Lindh, who started 22nd, was eighth for a while Saturday, until three racers in the third and fourth seeds posted faster times. Her clocking was 2.21 seconds slower than Ginther’s winning 1:49.72, which blew away the entire field. Runner-up Miriam Vogt of Germany was 2nd in 1:50.99, followed by third-place Chantal Bournissen of Switzerland in 1:51.14.

Carole Merle of France finished 15th to gain 22 points on Schneider, the World Cup leader with 751, who was 40th Saturday. However, Merle, who has 709, figures to lose back some of that ground today because she’s not as proficient as the Swiss star in the slalom.

The main American slalom contenders are Julie Parisien of Auburn, Me., and Eva Twardokens of Santa Cruz, Calif. With a little luck, maybe one of them will earn a spot on the podium (for finishing in the top three) and everybody will then be forced to speak a little English around here, at least for one day.