Kennedy Skids Out of Contention : Luge: America’s best hope is in 10th place going into today’s final two heats. Teammates fare even worse.

Up here in the Alps, the United States had high hopes for a medal in the men’s luge. Unfortunately, performances were no match for the hopes.

With the sun beaming off the summit of snow-covered Mt. Blanc in the distance, U.S. Coach Wolfgang Schaedler forced a smile and tried to put the best possible face on a sad situation.

“If we can finish in the top six, it is a terrific result,” said Schaedler, who only a week ago had said the United States had a realistic chance to claim its first medal in luge.

The United States can win a medal, all right, but it’s going to have to happen in 1994 in Norway. All it took was two runs Sunday on the elevated refrigerated track to put any U.S. medal hopes in the deep-freeze.

“A medal is not realistic now,” Schaedler said.

Duncan Kennedy, America’s best hope, skidded in Turn 5 and again in Turn 13 on his second run and finds himself in 10th place going into today’s final two heats.

The two other Americans fared even worse. Robert Pipkins hit the wall four times at the start of his first run and is in 26th place. Wendel Suckow was consistent, but not very fast and is 13th.

Kennedy’s combined time of 1:31.402 puts him well behind gold-medal favorite Georg Hackl of Germany. Austrians Markus Schmidt and Markus Prock are second and third.

It was a disappointing result for Kennedy, the 24-year-old from Lake Placid, N.Y., who had won medals in five of six World Cup events this winter. He seemed to have the World Cup title wrapped up, but fell to second when he finished 16th in the final race at Calgary. It remains the highest World Cup finish by an American.

After his first heat Sunday, Kennedy was in good position, sixth, but dropped to 10th after the second run when he had only the 20th-best time in the field of 34.

In fact, the only speed Kennedy showed was the swiftness with which he left the track afterward, refusing to talk to reporters. So it was left to Schaedler and Kennedy’s mother to talk for him.

“It’s a bummer,” said Betsy Kennedy.

And what went wrong?

“Everybody has a theory,” she said. “He peaked too soon . . . the disappointment at Calgary. . . . I just don’t know. Maybe the pressure of winning five medals in six races. I don’t know if it’s a theory, but it’s a possibility.”

Schaedler said that Kennedy was right where he should have been after the first run. Sixth place was a “perfect setup,” said the former Lichtenstein Olympian who has been coaching the U.S. team for six years.

But on the second run, Kennedy experienced two major problems, Schaedler said.

They would be the turns at No. 5 and No. 13, where both times Kennedy failed to exit smoothly.

“He messed up a little bit,” Schaedler said.

Pipkins’ problems were immense by comparison. The 18-year-old from Staten Island, N.Y., who four years ago didn’t know what a luge was, got off to a bad start in his first Olympic race when he tried to change the direction of his sled.

His four bounces off the starting chute left him in 32nd place, two positions from last.

The only black luger in the world, Pipkins said he has been more nervous before other races.

“I don’t know what it was,” he said. “You just hope something like that doesn’t happen in a race. Messing up like that kind of messes up your chances of a good finish.

“When you start like that, you think about getting off and starting all over again,” he said. “You can’t do that.”

Pipkins did move up six places with a smooth second run, typical of his style. He earned a berth on the U.S. team with a remarkable performance at the Olympic trials in Lake Placid when he led after the first weekend, then crashed twice in his next three runs, then set a track record on the next run.

“He showed on the second run today what he can do,” Schaedler said.

Suckow, 24, of Marquette, Mich., said he regards his showing in his first Olympics as something to build on.

“I’ve gotten all the first-time things out of the way now,” he said. “Next time, I know what to expect. I’ve pretty much handled all of the emotion stuff.”

Kennedy’s chances for any kind of medal are virtually nil because he is 0.716 behind third-place Prock. Since this Olympic sport times its races in 1,000ths of a second, Kennedy trails Prock by the luge equivalent of a day and a half.

“Yes, everybody looked for a medal here,” Schaedler said. “(But) our goal was to be in the medal in Norway. This was a step up. A medal was possible here, especially after (Kennedy’s) first run with the setup we had, we would be able to make one.

“But I’m not disappointed. Everything is possible in luge, I realize, but maybe not this any longer.”