SKIING / CHRIS DUFRESNE : A Glut of Talent Among Men Might Actually Hurt Austria

We listened in hushed silence from the back of the room as Werner Margreiter, coach of the Austrian ski team, recited the woes of having too many great skiers from which to choose.

Heart-wrenching stuff.

So many great skiers, Margreiter said, that it actually hurts the Austrian team in Olympic and World Cup competition.

So many that Austria could recruit with fishnets.

Margreiter spoke in melodious metaphor, describing his team as a giant forest in which all trees grow to the same height. Even after you cut a few trees down for the sake of national weeding, he said, there are still too many of the like.

Needless to say, this is not a problem in America.

Strangely, Margreiter made his remarks shortly after one of his pines, Thomas Stangassinger, won the World Cup slalom at Park City, Utah, and only hours after the sun had set on Austrian Guenther Mader’s giant slalom victory the previous day.

When it comes to producing winners, Margreiter was not speaking on behalf of the Austrian women’s team. After three-time World Cup overall champion Petra Kronberger stunned everyone with her sudden retirement last year at age 23, teammate Anita Wachter stepped up to keep the overall title in Austrian possession.

But what to do with all those Austrian boys wanting to grow to be the next Franz Klammer?

So many boys, who become men, who become Klammer-clones, that it’s difficult for one Austrian to score enough points in all four disciplines to win the cherished overall title. So many specialists that Austrians keep knocking Austrians off the pedestal, denying chances to pile up World Cup points.

Maybe five-time overall champion Marc Giradelli had it right years ago when he bolted his Austrian homeland to form a one-man wrecking crew for Luxembourg.

With the deepest ski bench in the world, Austria dominated the overall team championship known as the Nation’s Cup, winning both the men’s and women’s categories last season.

Yet, no Austrian man won any individual event. The best the country could offer was Mader, who finished fourth overall in the World Cup.

The Winter Olympics are fast approaching, and medals are precious to Austria.

When it comes to Austria and medals, there is no “I” in team.

“It’s a paradox,” Margreiter says of the glut. “It’s why we have no overall winner, or any event winners. Because so many of them have to fight their way up.”

Austria entered 31 racers in World Cup competition last season, 27 on a regular basis. Of the 27, 18 skied in only one event. Twenty-five skiers scored World Cup points (the top 30 in each race are awarded points).

Austria had 19 skiers who finished 18th or better and 13 in the top three.

But no individual champions. Mader came closest, finishing second in super-giant slalom to Kjetil Andre Aamodt.

In Austria, close isn’t good enough.

Franz Klammer wasn’t close.

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Italian slalom star Alberto Tomba, who knows what it means to be hounded by reporters, says he can empathize with former Chicago Bull superstar Michael Jordan, who retired in the prime of his career.

Tomba, winner of two Olympic gold medals, says he enjoys World Cup stops in the United States because he can escape from the media minions who follow him across Europe.

“It’s quiet here in the USA,” Tomba said last week after placing second in a World Cup slalom race at Park City. “He (Jordan) stopped because of the stress from the press. Like me, in Italy. He has been a great champion the last five years. Me too, in Italy. Maybe he should go to Italy to play basketball and I come here to go skiing.”

Tomba, who will be 27 when the Winter Games at Lillehammer begin in February, is already being asked to assess his chances of winning a gold medal in three consecutive Olympics.

He is already the only skier to have won gold in consecutive Olympics, claiming the giant slalom events at Calgary and Albertville, France.

“Everyone expects Alberto to win in the Olympics,” Tomba said. “But I don’t know before Lillehammer what will happen in races. There are a lot of important races before the Olympics. But I can’t say no. Maybe.”

Skiing Notes

Because the ski season changes almost hourly, the idea of getting up-to-date information on snow conditions and lodging via FAX is an idea whose time has come. Sportours, a division of Sport Chalet Travel based in La Canada, has started SKIFAX, a service by which skiers can have the latest skiing information faxed to their homes or offices. Best yet, the service is free. “You only have to pay for your fax paper,” said Jeff Hargleroad, President of Sportours.

The idea is to cut out the middle man, the U.S. Postal Service. The travel company hopes to make its money on the back end by assisting skiers with travel arrangements. If you want information on a certain resort, say Aspen, you call a toll-free number and a voice prompt transfers you to the appropriate number and the information will automatically be faxed to your machine. In its 13th week of operation, Hargleroad said 3,400 calls have been received and nearly 5,000 documents have been faxed. For more information on SKIFAX, call 1-800-660-2SKI.

Legendary racers such as Franz Klammer, Stein Eriksen, Billy Kidd and Tamara McKinney will be featured today in the second race of the 1993-94 Jeep/Eagle Tournament of Champions at Telluride, Colo. Channel 2 will televise the event at 1:30 p.m. The series features former World Cup and Olympic skiers in head-to-head handicapped, dual slalom races.

Winterfest ‘93, a ski and outdoors show with more than 200 exhibits, continues today at the Anaheim Convention Center from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults. Children 12 and under get in free.