LILLEHAMMER / ’94 WINTER OLYMPICS : NOTEBOOK

Skier Jeremy Nobis finally lived up to expectations with his ninth-place finish in the men’s giant slalom.

It was only the third top-10 finish in Nobis’ international career.

More important, Nobis won an Olympic sibling rivalry with his younger sister, Shannon, who was 10th in last week’s super-G.

“There was a little motivation to nip her, huh?” Nobis said. “Can’t let my little sister beat me in the Olympics. Got her by one.”

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The U.S. giant slalom skiers performed just about as expected. Paul Casey Puckett went out in the first run, Harper Phillips in the second and Erik Schlopy wound up 34th, last among skiers who completed two runs.

Schlopy’s time was affected because he missed a gate on the first run and had to hike back up the hill to ski it again.

Schlopy is not without a sense of humor.

He is also entered in Sunday’s slalom and wanted to pass along a prediction to a certain, flamboyant, Italian skiing star.

“Yeah, Tomba’s mine!” Schlopy said.

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What did Germany’s Markus Wasmeier, the gold-medal winner in the giant slalom, do in between runs Wednesday.

“First, I warmed up my feet,” he said. “It was real cold.”

Wasmeier also arrived for the second run about half an hour early, not knowing the starting time had been moved from 1 p.m. to 1:30.

“I was confused,” Wasmeier said. “So I passed my time with some free skiing.”

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Germans weren’t particularly supportive of Wasmeier after he had finished 36th in the Olympic downhill. But after winning gold in the giant slalom and super-G, it seems everyone’s his friend.

“A lot of people are shaking my shoulders and congratulating me,” Wasmeier said. “But you know who your friends are. I made the distinction of who they were with me.”

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The U.S. women might have three medal contenders in today’s giant slalom in Heidi Voelker, Eva Twardokens and Diann Roffe-Steinrotter.

Roffe-Steinrotter would not have been considered among the favorites in this event before her surprising gold-medal victory in super-G.