Clark Posts First Victory in World Cup

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

Feb. 25, 2001 12 AM PT

HUNTSVILLE, Utah —

Bad weather forced the cancellation of Saturday’s World Cup men’s races at Snowbasin, but the U.S. Ski Team did manage to make headline news--half a world away.

Kirsten Clark claimed her first World Cup victory, winning the downhill at Lenzerheide, Switzerland.

Clark, a 23-year-old from Raymond, Maine, won with a time of 1 minute 27.07 seconds, finishing ahead of Regine Cavagnoud of France and Petra Haltmayer of Germany.

“I believe you’re seeing the real me,” Clark said in a teleconference after her win.

Clark said her breakthrough gives her a big confidence boost heading into next year’s Olympic Games at Salt Lake City.

“I think my chances are really good now,” she said.

Picabo Street, trying to make yet another comeback from injury after winning the 1998 Olympic gold in super-giant slalom, finished seventh, and American Jonna Mendes finished 22nd.

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Chris Dufresne

Chris Dufresne was the Los Angeles Times’ national college football/basketball columnist from 1995 to 2015. He also covered skiing at the Winter Olympics and wrote extensively on most sports. He is a multiple national award winner and was named 2011 California Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sportswriters and Sportscasters Assn. A Los Angeles native, he started at The Times in 1976 as a truck loader and literally worked his way up (two floors to be exact).

Clark Posts First Victory in World Cup

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