A Full Olympics’ Worth of Skiing All in One Day

On the 10th day, the sun came out and it stayed out, a rarefied combination that transformed one date on the Olympic ski schedule into an Alpine Lolapalooza, an all-day three-ring Rossignol-and-Ringling Bros. circus.

Men’s super-G followed by women’s downhill followed by the downhill portion of women’s combined. It was ski till you drop, ski until we tell you to stop, ski as if your life depended on it because once the next storm hits, your Olympic ski career very well could end then and there.

The scene at Hakuba on Monday looked like the home video of an entire Mammoth ski vacation replayed at hyperspeed--98 individual runs down the slope crammed into a little more than four hours. Every top-flight speed skier on the planet, male and female, took at least one trip down the side of Mount Karamatsu, not so much racing each other or the clock but trying to beat the next storm front.

A week’s worth of piled-up postponements led to Big Monday, which finally cooperated with a crisp and clear window of opportunity to get in three much-delayed races. A stunning development, overshadowed only by the incredible gold-medal triumph of Hermann Maier--or is it Hermann Munster?--the indestructible Austrian ski monster who crash-landed in the Japan Alps only three days ago.

By now, everyone in America has seen Maier’s amazing shuttle launch and reentry during his crazed downhill run on Friday the 13th.

(CBS had it on a continuous 24-hour loop, didn’t it?)

*

Just what was Hermann trying to do there--pioneer the new Olympic demonstration sport of human snow catapulting? You still can’t watch it once without instinctively reaching for the Advil; multiple replays require immediate ice treatment and stretching.

That was a world-class crash, the kind of blowout a skier typically gets to make only once in his career.

The Herminator, however, simply dusted off his shoulders, gathered his broken skis and grunted, “I vill ski super-G Monday.”

And then . . . he wins it.

Maier’s time of 1:34.82 was more than half a second better than runners-up Didier Cuche of Switzerland and Hans Knauss of Austria, who both came in precisely at 1:35.43 to tie for second. It was the third time an Olympic Alpine race resulted in a shared silver medal.

This was an iron-man competition, squared, and now Maier needs a new nickname, one that truly does him justice.

The Herminator?

After taking the best shot Karamatsu had to give and walking away a winner--by TKO--Maier makes Schwarzenegger look like simply another ice dancer.

Once Maier had pounded the mountain into submission, the first ski tripleheader in Olympic history moved to the women’s side. Two downhill runs, two downhill winners: Katja! Katja!

Katja Seizinger of Germany, a disappointing sixth in last week’s women’s super-G, reasserted herself as the world’s preeminent female skier by winning the downhill gold medal in 1:34.82 and, minutes later, winning the downhill portion of the women’s combined competition in 1:28.52.

Picabo Street had no shining sequel for her rousing super-G victory. This time, she and Seizinger switched spots in the standings--Street placed sixth in downhill, and did not compete in combined.

*

Away from the slopes and into the forest, Larissa Lazutina skied off with her third gold medal of the Games, tying her with the United States. Lazutina anchored Russia’s 20-kilometer women’s cross-country ski team to victory, making her the first triple-gold medal winner in Nagano.

The United States remains stuck on six medals, awaiting each coming speedskating race with great anticipation, and then watching with slumped shoulders as the Dutch, the Germans, the Canadians and the Japanese skate off with all the goods.

Post-Bonnie Blair, post-Dan Jansen, U.S. Speedskating suspected this would be a rebuilding fortnight. But 0 for six after six races? With no placement higher than Jennifer Rodriguez’s fourth in the women’s 3,000-meter event--and she’s the new kid on the ice slab, a convert from roller blades, crossing over only 18 months ago.

Ids Postma of the Netherlands stole all the thunder this time, setting an Olympic record to win the men’s 1,000 meters, with Dutch teammate Jan Bos finishing second and Japan’s Hiroyasu Shimizu, the 500-meter champion, taking third.

Potential silver lining: Chris Witty, world-record holder in the women’s 1,000 meters, doesn’t skate her best event until Thursday.

Although at this rate, the U.S. speedskaters would gladly settle for a bronze lining.