Kostelic Stands Out

The women’s slalom was raced Wednesday in white-out conditions for the winners and the usual wipeout conditions for the Americans.

These Olympics are beginning to have a familiar sting to them.

Croatia’s Janica Kostelic continues to stand tall through finish lines while American women fall down.

Racing in near blizzard conditions that hindered visibility, Kostelic managed her usual 20-20 vision run and took another step toward Olympic Alpine history in winning the slalom with a two-run time of 1 minute 46.10 seconds.

Laure Pequegnot of France, the world’s top-ranked slalom skier, finished 0.07 of a second back to claim the silver, while Sweden’s Anja Paerson won the bronze with a time of 1:47.09.

Kostelic became only the fifth female Alpine skier to win three medals in the same Olympics, joining two Germans, Rosi Mittermaier (1976) and Katja Seizinger (1998), Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein (1980) and Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider (1994).

Kostelic already had won a gold medal in the combined and a silver in the super-giant slalom. She has a chance to win a record fourth medal in Friday’s giant slalom at Park City.

Kostelic, only 20, said she skied two bad runs in bad conditions but “found the best way down today.”

She said she does not feel pressure to win a fourth medal.

“If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I still have two Olympics ahead of me.”

On the subject of scary thoughts, it was another horror-flick day for “Scream USA.”

Kristina Koznick, the world’s No. 2 slalom skier, skied off course only five gates from the finish in her morning run, failing to make the transition from a left turn to a right.

“Unfortunately, I didn’t keep my body with my skis,” she said.

Medal hopeful Sarah Schleper went out a bit farther up the front face when a boot came out of her binding.

“It popped right off,” Schleper said. “I was still standing up when I passed the next gate, and I was like, ‘I don’t think my ski’s there anymore.’”

Schleper felt slightly better knowing her mistake was not “pilot error.” No, this was an equipment failure, like a race car blowing a gasket at the Indianapolis 500.

The U.S. women’s Alpine team has become a daily sob story, a downhill trail of tears.

Three of America’s four entries in the slalom failed to complete their first run.

Lindsey Kildow, the 17-year-old who placed sixth in last week’s combined, finished 32nd, a snail’s-crawl 14.63 seconds off Kostelic’s pace.

Koznick choked on her words as she tried to convey her disappointment.

“My coach said I’d be crying either way,” Koznick said. “He said, ‘You’d be crying either way, if it’s good or bad.’ Unfortunately, these weren’t the tears I wanted.”

Koznick was consoled in the finish corral by Dan Stripp, her coach and boyfriend.

For several minutes, Stripp faced Koznick, his hands on her shoulders, his eyes locked on hers. A few times Stripp used his glove to wipe tears from her cheek.

Only an ambulance chaser could enjoy these tales of heartbreak: bright, smart, talented young women, who have devoted their lives for their Olympic moments, suddenly falling down as if someone planted tripwires in the slopes.

It started last week with Caroline Lalive, who crashed in the downhill, withdrew from the combined after missing a gate on the first slalom run and finishing 17.85 seconds out of first, and crashed again in the super-G.

Lalive was so crushed after the super-G she stayed up on the course, afraid to come down, like a kitten stuck in a tree.

But Koznick?

She was as much of a sure shot as America had in these Games.

Yes, she bombed out in slalom at the 1998 Nagano Games after being touted as a contender, but Koznick seemed beyond that failure.

She is 26 now, at the top of her game. Did you know Koznick had finished every slalom she raced this year until Wednesday?

The native of Burnsville, Minn., broke away from the U.S. team two years ago, and the split seemed to have done her good.

Koznick complained about the almost white-out conditions and how the warm snow was hardly ideal for skiers.

“What happened is the snow didn’t freeze,” she said, “and there were holes and it’s so rough that even the best in the world, they almost look like juniors coming down. It’s frustrating, because we all like to ski on ice.”

Yet the conditions were the same for everyone, and Koznick, as one of the top-ranked racers, got to select a low start number, bib No.3.

Truth is, Koznick got her shot on the hill before it really deteriorated and, in the end, the best racers ended up on the podium.

Kostelic is the defending World Cup champion in slalom; Pequegnot and Paerson rank first and third in the current World Cup standings, forming a ranking sandwich around No. 2 Koznick.

“It was rough, I was fighting it the whole way down,” Koznick said. “I didn’t ever feel like, ‘Yeah, this is great.’ It was like, ‘Oh my God, it feels like I’m on a bull.’”

It’s almost as if the American women’s failures in Salt Lake have become contagious.

Bill Marolt, president of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Assn., issued a quote about being “very disappointed” with the results but said he doesn’t buy into the domino theory.

“I really don’t,” Marolt said. “I think it’s different conditions, different courses. I think Kristina was actually skiing very well. Sarah was a binding.”

What next, bad room-service food? Unless the women score a shocking surprise in Friday’s giant slalom, they will be held without a medal for the first time since the 1988 Calgary Games.

It’s not only a time to stop the bleeding, it’s time to stop the crying.

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Three for Five

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