SKIING : Back Home, U.S. Can’t Find Downhill Groove

It did not rank with losing the America’s Cup to Australia, but it also did not bode well for the home country Thursday when two skiers from Canada won the men’s and women’s downhills on the first day of the Subaru U.S. Alpine skiing championships.

Showing signs of fatigue and general indifference about a less than challenging course, the American downhillers let two relative unknowns walk away with the $5,000 first-place money.

Cary Mullen won the men’s race in the morning with a time of 1 minute 11.53 seconds, edging Americans Tommy Moe, 1:11.60, and AJ Kitt, 1:11.73.

Lindsey Roberts, the only Canadian entered in the women’s downhill, won in 1:15.98. Edith Thys was second in 1:16.10, defeating third-place finisher Picabo Street by .01 of a second.

In effect, the shorter and slower course evened the playing field for the less established skiers.

Kitt, the best U.S. downhiller and a bronze-medal winner in the recent World Championships, said he skied a technically perfect race but that the course was not steep enough to distinguish his speed skills.

“It was just an easy course that doesn’t demand a lot of high technical skiing,” he said. “So there’s a lot of guys that can ski well on the course.”

Guys such as Mullen, who has not been much of a factor on the World Cup circuit, although he did finish seventh in the recent World Championships.

“It’s pretty limited,” Mullen said of the course. “You need certain skill on this hill. . . . You have to have a real good touch and be gliding well.”

Skiing fifth, Kitt was the leader after his run, but was surpassed by Moe, who thought his run from the eighth starting spot was good enough for first place.

But Mullen, skiing next, snatched victory from Moe with a run .07 seconds faster.

“I haven’t beaten him in a long time,” Moe said of finishing ahead of Kitt. “Mullen was right behind and he’s been skiing well. Somebody had to pop my bubble, I guess.”

On the women’s side, Roberts was basically sent to Winter Park to get some experience. The rest of Canada’s best skiers are competing this week in the Canadian championships for slalom and giant slalom at Mont Tremblant, Quebec.

Before Thursday, Roberts’ best showings were a fourth-place finish in the Canadian championships last December and a ninth in the World Junior Championships in 1990.

Roberts, 20, is lucky to be racing at all. On Feb. 10, 1991, she cracked her pelvis in three places and suffered a broken back when she crashed during a race. She sat out a year and a half and her career seemed in jeopardy.

At Winter Park on Thursday, she had a wild run down the course, which ended with a spectacular crash after she crossed the finish line.

“It seems like when I go for it and have a really radical run, I do pretty well,” Roberts said.

Thys, a U.S. ski team veteran who has had more lows than highs in recent years, was thrilled with her second-place finish. She was left off the squad that represented the U.S. women in Japan at the World Championships.

“I was really depressed at first,” she said. “I felt horrible about myself.”

But after some self-reflection, Thys was able to rebound with a strong race.

Street, coming off her silver-medal performance in combined at the worlds, considered herself lucky to survive the course. She got sick on the return trip from Japan and was not her usual self.

“I just gave myself enough room so that nothing would happen to me,” she said. “I’m not going to hurt myself here when I have five more World Cups to race. It’s not worth it at all.”