SKIING / WORLD CUP AT MAMMOTH : Olympic Favorites Win This Time

Three weeks too late, the Olympic favorites in women’s super-G crossed the finish line and took their expected bows on the podium.

No one was handing out medals here Wednesday. Only handshakes, World Cup points and American dollars.

Germany’s Katja Seizinger restored order on the circuit by winning the first post-Olympic super-G with a time of 1 minute 20.07 seconds, a half-second faster than Bibiana Perez of Italy, who finished second.

Hilde Gerg, also of Germany, finished third.

Seizinger-Perez-Gerg: They might have shared Olympic glory.

Seizinger and Perez are the world’s top two ranked super-G skiers. Gerg ranks sixth.

So what happened at Lillehammer?

Seizinger and Perez both crashed, and Gerg, who won the last pre-Olympic World Cup super-G, finished a disappointing 18th.

These events helped clear an improbable gold-medal path for the American longshot, Diann Roffe-Steinrotter.

Wednesday’s race at Mammoth went so true to form that Roffe-Steinrotter skied a very good race and finish 15th. Picabo Street, the Olympic silver medalist in downhill, finished 12th.

“We were disappointed in the Olympics,” Seizinger said, speaking on behalf of Perez, whose English isn’t quite as good. “We met on the slopes at Kvitfjell and talked. You have to risk everything at the Olympics. We raced good until we went out. It’s OK, now that we are back.”

Seizinger, who avenged her super-G disappointment by claiming the Olympic downhill, is the World Cup leader in both events and is, according to Canada’s Kerrin Lee-Gartner, “skiing in another league.”

Perez, skiing ninth, seized the lead with a time of 1:20.57, but Seizinger left no doubt when she raced from 14th start position into first.

The course at Mammoth, playing host to its first World Cup, held up well under sunny skies and temperatures in the high 40s. But no one from the back of the pack was about to challenge the leaders.

Street, starting 42nd, made the most dramatic leap to finish 12th.

Despite not having a top-10 U.S. finisher, the race ranked as a shining moment for Americans.

Super-G has been the U.S. women team’s weakest event, which made Roffe-Steinrotter’s Olympic gold all the more stunning.

Street completed her first super-G of the season after four washouts and posted a career-best finish.

Roffe-Steinrotter, despite finishing 1.63 seconds off the pace, celebrated her highest World Cup placement this season.

“I was nervous again,” Roffe-Steinrotter said. “I think that’s just the way it is for me right now. The adrenaline level is up.”

As she had done at Lillehammer, Roffe-Steinrotter started slow but made up time on the more technical bottom.

Unlike Lillehammer, though, she ran out of course at Mammoth.

“I just needed more turns,” she said. “I needed the course to be 10, 15 seconds longer to be better.”

For Street, the result could mark a turning point in her super-G career.

“It takes experience,” Street said. “Believe it or not, after going out so many times, I learned what to expect.”

Street was surprised her concentration held up given the whirlwind that has been her life since winning Olympic silver.

“I actually got butterflies when I touched American ground in the plane,” she said. “I almost started crying.”

Since, she has been busy sorting through her mail and endorsement possibilities. She said she hopes to use her fame to inspire children.

“I’m hoping to get a spot on the Sesame Street Show,” Street said.

World Cup Notes

Other American finishes in Wednesday’s super-G: Shannon Nobis, 23rd; Hilary Lindh, 25th; Megan Gerety, 40th; Heidi Voelker 46th; Eva Twardokens, 51st, Krista Schmidinger, 54th. . . . Picabo Street will skip today’s slalom, race in Friday’s super-G, and then rest for next week’s downhill at the World Cup finals at Vail, Colo. She will then return home March 18 for a parade to be held in her honor in Sun Valley, Idaho. . . . First-place winners this week receive $8,400, with $4,200 for second and $1,400 for third.