SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : Parisien Finally Works Through Grief

Three years ago, for about an hour, Julie Parisien had an Olympic gold medal waiting for her after lunch. But then came the second run of the slalom, and she dropped out of the lead into fourth place with no medal to show for her day’s skiing at Meribel, France.

Last week, while competing in a Women’s Pro Ski Tour event at Squaw Valley, the 23-year-old now-former U.S. Ski Team racer acknowledged: “Yes, I do think about that a lot. I mean it’s part of the heartbreak of sports. Everybody’s got a day like that, you know, when they could’ve and should’ve and would’ve, but . . . “

Does the disappointment make her think about coming back and trying again in the 1998 Winter Games at Nagano, Japan?

“It does,” she said, “but not enough. That hope and wish is always there, but for me, I feel like I’ve succeeded in a lot of different ways, and I’m really proud of my career and what I’ve done. So I don’t feel like it’s necessary. I don’t feel the burning desire you kind of need for that dream.”

Parisien’s successes have included three World Cup victories and a silver medal in the slalom at the 1993 World Alpine Ski Championships, which she won only two months after the devastating loss of her brother, J.P., who was killed by a drunk driver on Dec. 17, 1992.

“My sister (Anna) and I had to go right back to Europe a week later,” she recalled. “It was just hell. If I could do it over again, I don’t think I would have gone back. But I just felt like it was important to get back into normalcy, into racing. I don’t know, in retrospect, I think it delayed my grief, and it was really tough.”

The full impact of her brother’s death struck Parisien last winter, when she finished no higher than eighth on the World Cup circuit and bombed out of the 1994 Olympics at Lillehammer, Norway, falling in both of her races.

“Definitely, it’s taken this long (to grieve),” she said. “And I think that’s part of the reason I just burned out of skiing. I couldn’t emotionally handle the team any more.

“After my brother died, I just didn’t want to deal with a lot of the politics in the sport anymore. So I tried having my own coach, and I chose a guy, Rob Clayton, who had coached me when I won at Waterville (Valley, N.H.) He’d kind of brought me up through the ranks and taught me how to win. I thought it would be an ideal situation.

“Unfortunately, Rob had some problems with the team himself. . . . When we tried to re-associate with the team at the start of last season, there were so many problems. They weren’t accepting the fact that I had my own coach, and it was really a difficult situation all around.”

So, in the prime of her career, Parisien retired from big-time international ski racing, a move that stunned Herwig Demschar, who was named U.S. women’s coach last summer. “In Austria,” he said, “you have to kick them out.”

Racing as an individual against somewhat lesser talent in the pros’ head-to-head format this season, Parisien has reached at least the round of eight in all five slaloms and has won three of the five giant slaloms. Going into this weekend’s competition at Keystone, Colo., she has earned $17,937 and is second in the tour standings with 195 points, 10 behind defending champion Camilla Lundback of Sweden.

“I love pro racing,” she said. “I’m having a great time. And psychologically, it’s so much better, because there are no head games being played. It just seems like much more honest competition to me. . . . There are a lot of other political factors that are involved in the World Cup that I think make it less pure.”

Still, the World Cup is The Show, and Parisien, never saying never, added: “The door is open, for sure, and the potential is there.” Then in the next breath, she hedged: “But I’m not sure. . . . Right now, I’m really enjoying the pro format. And if there’s more money involved in the future, I’ll definitely stay in this. It’s a great way to make a living and be able to pay for school while I’m working my way through.”

With her attendance limited to the summer and fall quarters, this could take awhile. Parisien is a veteran ski racer, but she’s only a freshman at the University of Vermont.

Skiing Notes

U.S. Olympic champion Tommy Moe, who suffered rib and facial injuries in a super-G spill Sunday at Whistler, Canada, will sit out this weekend’s Alpine World Cup downhill and super-G at Aspen, Colo. He plans to race at Kvitfjell, Norway, and Bormio, Italy, in succeeding weeks. . . . Alberto Tomba of Italy, with 1,050 points, is still 350 ahead of runner-up Jure Kosir of Slovenia in the overall standings, but the next four all gained some ground at Whistler. Five-time champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg is third with 646, followed by Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway with 593, Gunther Mader of Austria with 572 and Lasse Kjus of Norway with 569.

Vreni Schneider’s 54th World Cup victory Monday in the slalom at Maribor, Slovenia, moved the 30-year-old Swiss star into second place among the women with 874 points, 50 behind Katja Seizinger of Germany. . . . Americans Picabo Street and Hilary Lindh resume their downhill and super-G rivalry this weekend at Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Austria.

Hans Hofer won both races last weekend at Keystone, Colo., but is third on the U.S. Pro Ski Tour, with 346 points, behind fellow Austrians Bernhard Knauss (502) and defending champion Sebastian Vitzthum (392). Knauss has earned $114,575 with three events remaining on the schedule.