THE OLYMPICS / WINTER GAMES AT ALBERTVILLE : These Silvers Didn’t Figure : Women’s downhill: Alaska’s Lindh finishes second to Canada’s Lee-Gartner.

Two skiers from the New World showed the Old World some new tricks, and the old order of women’s downhill changed dramatically Saturday in an astonishing turn of events at the Winter Olympics.

An Austrian made the podium all right, but it wasn’t world champion Petra Kronberger, and the medal was only a bronze. Almost incredibly, the gold medal was won by a Canadian, Kerrin Lee-Gartner, and the silver medal went to an American, Hilary Lindh, who had never placed higher than sixth in a major international race.

Lee-Gartner, 25, whose previous best was a third, finished just .06 seconds ahead of the 22-year-old Lindh as the top five racers were separated by a mere .18 after their 1 3/4-mile descent on perhaps the toughest downhill course women have ever skied.

For Lindh, a former world junior champion from Juneau, Alaska, the silver medal more than made up for her disappointment here last winter when the U.S. women’s team, after taking only one training run on this long, fast and steep track, was awakened at 2:30 a.m. and spirited to Geneva for a flight home as the Gulf War erupted.

“We didn’t get to race on this course last year because of Desert Storm,” Lindh said. “And after the one training run, everyone was uptight. I was as nervous as I’ve ever been. But that was ridiculous, because this is not that bad of a course.

“I decided this morning just to concentrate on going all out, and not to worry about anything. In 1988, when I missed a gate and didn’t finish the (Olympic) downhill at Calgary, I was only 18 and I put a lot of pressure on myself. I was too serious, with too many expectations, and I was disappointed. I didn’t get to enjoy being at the Winter Olympics.

“This time, I went to a hockey game, and it was great. I took a lighter attitude and tried to enjoy myself all week.”

Lee-Gartner, who learned to ski at Red Mountain, not far from Calgary, said she, too, just turned everything loose, adding: “I took the all-or-nothing approach. I didn’t want to just ski well and finish fifth. I was going for a medal and a place on the podium, no matter what.”

The new Olympic champion, who has been racing on the World Cup circuit since the 1986-87 season and is married to Austrian-born Max Gartner, a former coach of the Canadian team, had a premonition that she would win a gold medal.

“About a year and a half ago, I dreamt that they announced my name and said, ‘medaille d’or, ‘ “ she said. “And I don’t even speak French.”

She didn’t have to Saturday--her skiing lost nothing in the translation.

Katja Seizinger, the 19-year-old German newcomer who started No. 10, took the first lead that gave an indication it might stand up, stopping the timer in 1:52.67. When Austria’s Kronberger, the two-time World Cup overall defending champion and current leader this season, fell .06 seconds short, the party started in Germany.

It lasted exactly 1:52.55, the time it took Lee-Gartner to plunge the half-mile of vertical drop to the top of the leader board.

At that point it looked as though Seizinger would hang in there for the silver and Kronberger, the combined gold medalist last week, would at least bag the bronze. But Veronika Wallinger, another Austrian, squeezed past both of them with her 1:52.64, and Lindh supplied the knockout with a smooth, mistake-free run of 1:52.61, which also relegated Wallinger to the bronze medal.

Said Lindh: “When I crossed the finish line, the crowd was quiet, and I thought, ‘Oh well, another so-so race.’ I had no idea of how fast I’d skied. Then I looked at the scoreboard, and wow!”

She broke into a little dance, which she said later, “is hard to do with skis on,” and, after the hugging stopped, called her parents in Juneau.

“It was about 3 a.m. there and they’d just been awakened and told the news by one of my former coaches,” she said. “They were really excited. My mom works for Alaska Airlines as a customer-service agent, and my dad worked for the state in natural resources until he became a consultant last year.

“I didn’t encourage my parents to come here. It would just have been an extra distraction. They were at Calgary, so they know what the Olympics are. But they’ve always been supportive, and it’s nice to know they’re there when I need them. I’m an only child, you know.”

Lee-Gartner also called her parents from the finish area but said: “It was a poor connection, and my mother was in a bit of a shock. So I’m going to have to hurry and call her back. I’ve got three sisters and a brother to call, too.

“I haven’t had time to appreciate the gold medal yet, with all the people around. I just want to take five minutes with my husband to really enjoy it. I’m sure we’ll crack open a bottle of champagne tonight. We need time to discuss our future life together, because we want to start a family, and skiing put a hold on that.”

Both North American medalists overcame injuries to reach the Olympics. “I’ve had two serious knee operations and one bad ankle problem,” Lee-Gartner said. “It took a lot of effort to keep skiing, but this is worth every sacrifice I had to make.”

Lindh said: “I injured my right knee in 1987 in the World Junior Championships and didn’t know at the time how serious it was. Dr. (Richard) Steadman wasn’t sure if I’d ever ski again, but he didn’t tell me that. Anyway, I was off skis for seven months, came back at Calgary and haven’t had a problem since.”

Only three Americans raced Saturday. Krista Schmidinger, 21, of Lee, Mass., finished 12th in 1:54.59, and Edith Thys, 25, of Squaw Valley was 25th in 1:58.13. Three other potential downhill starters were felled by a wave of injuries during training: Kristin Krone suffered a broken left hand; Wendy Fisher sustained a broken left thumb, two sprained knees and a mild concussion, and Megan Gerety bruised her left knee when she collided with a Norwegian coach.

Krone and Fisher fell and hurt themselves on the same big jump, which surprised Lindh, who said: “I couldn’t figure out why they had trouble there. I never had any problems with it.”

She had few problems anywhere while making what she called a breakthrough in her career.

“It seems like I was on a plateau for a long time,” Lindh said. “And I was becoming frustrated. The silver medal is a great relief. No matter what happens afterward, I’ve always got this.”