WIPEOUT

The weather service issued an avalanche advisory for Mt. Yakebitai on Tuesday. That disaster didn’t occur, fortunately, but the day for the U.S. women snowboarders still could be classified as one.

Perhaps it was a natural one. After three of the four either fell or were disqualified in the first run, they complained about the low visibility and icy, uneven course conditions that had postponed the start of the giant slalom for 24 hours.

“Right now, it’s a race for survival,” said Rosey Fletcher of Girdwood, Alaska.

It didn’t seem to have an adverse effect on the favorite, France’s Karine( Ruby. The winner of six of seven World Cup races this season, she easily won the first women’s snowboard gold medal in Winter Olympic history with a two-run combined time of 2 minutes 17.34 seconds.

Germany’s Heidi Renoth was far back in second place with a time of 2:19.17. Austria’s Brigitte Koeck finished third in 2:19.42

“A lot of people are two, three and four seconds out,” Fletcher said after the first run. “That’s not the way a race should be.”

What race? Ruby had an almost insurmountable lead of 1.95 seconds over her closest challenger, teammate Isabelle Blanc, going into the second run. Blanc, seeming assured of a medal, missed the final gate on the second run, fell and slid to the finish line on her back.

Ruby suggested that she benefited from her start position of second, enabling her to ride on a fresh layer of powder before it turned to ice. Of course, it’s also possible that she’s that much better than the rest.

But it did seem strange that, after the first four riders had descended without incident, three of the next six, among them Fletcher and Lisa Kosglow of Boise, Idaho., fell, and a fourth, Betsy Shaw of East Dorset, Vt., was eliminated for missing a gate. Seven of the 31 competitors were out before the second run.

Sondra Van Ert, considered the United States’ No. 1 medal contender, was fortunate enough to go later, after a five-minute delay allowed fresh snow to blanket the course.

Even so, all she earned from her efforts that her teammates didn’t was the chance to ride again. She improved from 16th after the first run to 12th with a time of 2:26.56, almost 10 seconds slower than Ruby.

Van Ert, however, didn’t blame the conditions.

“No problem,” said Van Ert, of Ketchum, Idaho. “It’s a winter sport. Everything was perfect.”

Van Ert’s final run brought to an end the dismal Olympic debut of American slalom experts, who can only hope that their halfpipe counterparts fare better Thursday. The best finish for the men Monday was Chris Klug’s sixth.

“The whole team, men, women, every person here, was a medal contender,” Van Ert said. “The women’s team is phenomenal. But if you go out to win a race, anything can happen.”

Shaw allowed that the pressure might have gotten to the Americans.

“I don’t know if it’s because it’s the Olympics and people are freaking out,” she said.

But the most significant factor, she said, was the weather.

“It was a challenging course, challenging snow, challenging visibility, just the whole complete atmosphere,” she said. “I know I freaked out when I felt the snow. It was very alien to me.”

So it was to Kosglow, who said she knew as soon as she left the chute that she was in trouble.

“I said, ‘Oh my God,’ ” she said. “It threw me for a loop. Some people obviously were able to adjust, but I wasn’t one of them. I wish I had been stronger.”

Asked if she was disappointed that U.S. snowboarders hadn’t given a better accounting in their first opportunity to appear before major network television audiences, Kosglow smiled and said, “Do you have to ask me that now?

“The sport isn’t being showcased very well. The snow, the visibility, the flat light. These women are not this bad.”

The day, though, was not a loss for at least one of them.

Van Ert failed to make the Olympic team as an Alpine skier, went to school and tried several careers, including one as a surveyor for former high jumper Dick Fosbury’s civil engineering firm, before discovering snowboarding. She couldn’t contain her emotions.

“There’s nothing I treasure more than just being at the Olympics,” she said. “I’m going to cry.”

Then she did.

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Medalists

Snowboarding

Women’s Giant Slalom

Gold: Karine Ruby, France

Silver: Heidi Renoth, Germany

Bronze: Brigitte Koeck, Austria