SKIING U.S. ALPINE CHAMPIONSHIPS : Terzian, Grosjean Win Slalom Titles

Sometimes in skiing, the will to quit is as strong as the will to win.

Kristi Terzian can tell you.

Saturday, she won the women’s slalom in the Subaru U.S. Alpine Ski Championships, defeating favorite Julie Parisien with a blistering second run and a total time of 1:17.81.

The victory came only hours after Terzian last mentioned giving up.

“Last night (Friday),” Terzian said. “To my boyfriend.”

Attempting to rebound from two knee operations that forced her to miss two racing seasons, Terzian, 25, was fast approaching another career crossroads. Her latest setback came at the world championships in Japan, where she was disqualified in the slalom after skiing off course.

“I didn’t want to have regrets,” she said of her decision to continue the season. “The easy thing would have been to quit and move on.”

Because of her decision, Terzian picked up $5,000 for first place and, for the first time in a while, looked happily toward the future.

All told, it was a day of redemption for the U.S. team.

Matt Grosjean, a disappointment on the World Cup circuit, defended his national championship by winning the men’s slalom earlier in the day.

Grosjean never spoke of quitting, although it may have been suggested by others after he failed to qualify for a second run in four consecutive World Cup events to start the season.

Better things were expected of Grosjean, 22, after his 10th-place finish in slalom at the 1992 Olympics.

Yet, his best showing this season before Saturday had been a 14th-place finish in a World Cup event and a 15th in slalom at the world championships.

The competition at the U.S. Nationals does not compare with a World Cup field, but it was a confidence boost.

“You need something just to make you feel good,” Grosjean said. “It wasn’t a World Cup today. The way I skied wouldn’t have been very good in a World Cup.”

But it was something.

What’s more, for the first time all week, Terzian and Grosjean denied the Canadians another U.S. title.

Canadians Cary Mullen and Lindsey Roberts swept the men’s and women’s downhill Thursday, with Mullen returning Friday to win the super-giant slalom.

But then came Terzian. Before her injuries, she was one of the U.S. team’s bright prospects. In the 1989-90 season, she set a team record with top-15 results in 17 World Cup races.

But then she injured her right knee and missed the entire 1990-91 season. In her first race back the next season, she injured her left knee and underwent arthroscopic surgery. She made an effort to return for Olympic qualifying, but reinjured the knee again and underwent more surgery after the Olympics.

Terzian said she is giving herself a year to see where she stands in the international field.

Saturday was the first step back.

“This is sweet,” she said. “This will help me go to the next level, I think. I know I deserve this. I worked very hard. I’m glad it worked out.”

Terzian was second behind Parisien after the first run. But her second run of 38.09 seconds was nearly a second faster than Parisien, who faltered at the top of the course and never recovered.

Parisien slipped to third place behind American Carrie Sheinberg, another hard-luck story who had known only failure this season. After a poor training run this week, Sheinberg said she cried for 45 minutes.

She wasn’t crying Saturday.

“My teeth are cracking because I’ve smiled so long,” she said.

The pressure to win was hanging heavy on Grosjean’s shoulders in the men’s slalom. He was the defending champion and the leader after the first run.

But seconds before his second run, from the 15th starting position, the fair weather turned on Grosjean, leaving him to negotiate the course in a driving snowstorm.

“I couldn’t see,” he said. “I did it by Braille. I needed something like this to boost my confidence.”

Grosjean won with a total time of 1:39.44, four-tenths of a second faster than Canadian Rob Crossan. Eric Villiard of Canada finished third.