NOTEBOOK

Possibly more good news for U.S. skiers?

Picabo Street of Sun Valley, Ida., won the final training run for the women’s downhill, to be raced today.

Street’s time of 1 minute 36.50 seconds was .19 faster than German’s Katja Seizinger, the race favorite.

“I like the downhill here,” Street said. “There’s a lot going on all the way down. And the snow is really hard.”

Teammate Hilary Lindh, the defending Olympic silver medalist, was 12th.

Julie Parisien, meanwhile, is looking like a medal threat in the women’s combined, a two-day event that combines the times for a separate downhill and slalom.

Parisien, not noted as much of a speed skier, has taken a liking to the Kvitfjell downhill course and has been among the training leaders for skiers who will also ski combined.

If Parisien can finish high in the downhill, she figures to make up considerable time on the others in the slalom, her specialty.

*

After much soul searching, Canada’s Kerrin Lee-Gartner has decided to race in today’s downhill.

Lee-Gartner has been deeply affected by the recent death of her good friend, Austrian Ulrike Maier, killed Jan. 29 in a downhill crash at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.

Lee-Gartner, the defending Olympic champion, has not competed in a downhill race since Maier’s death.

“I made a lot of mistakes today,” she said after placing 31st in downhill training. “But it was fun to race again.”