U.S. Continues Uphill Struggle

If Sunday was an Olympic preview in alpine women’s slalom skiing, it’s going to be good news for them but not for the U.S.

Anja Paerson of Sweden and Janica Kostelic of Croatia finished 1-2 in a World Cup slalom race on the last day of the three-day Aspen International.

Paerson and Kostelic.

Kostelic and Paerson.

Get used to these names, because they may dominate Alpine headlines at the 2006 Turin Olympics.

Paerson overcame a one-second first-run deficit to post a winning time of 1 minute 36.01 seconds, which was 0.03 of a second better than Kostelic’s time of 1:36.04. Kathrin Zettel of Austria was third at 1:36.44.

The top American finisher was Kristina Kosnick in 14th place, with Julia Mancuso (19th) and Lindsey Kildow (30th) rounding out the result sheet.

This is being touted as the strongest U.S. women’s team in years, yet, for the moment, it is a work in progress.

In six races on the World Cup circuit this year -- at Lake Louise, Canada, and Aspen -- the U.S. women have one top-three finish -- Kildow’s downhill victory at Lake Louise.

The Americans were shut out in three Aspen races, with Kirsten Clark’s fifth-place finish Friday topping the highlights.

“Obviously, if everyone was skiing up to their potential, we’d be busting out some champagne, but that’s not the case,” said Trevor Wagner, the U.S. slalom and giant slalom coach.

Slalom is not the deepest American event, and the U.S. team was not at full strength in Aspen with Sarah Schleper and Resi Steigler not racing because of injuries.

“It’s just a matter of time,” Wagner said. “We’re going to be the best in the world. We’ve got the depth and talent to do it.”

With the exception of the 30-year-old Kosnick, who skis independently of the U.S. team, the squad needs some aging.

Mancuso and Kildow, the two budding stars, are only 21.

Mancuso was skiing on new boots and never really felt comfortable.

Kildow is better in speed events but is working toward becoming an all-event talent. She never had a chance in Sunday’s slalom after making a mistake at the end of her first run.

“I don’t think it was terrible,” Kildow said. “It was good skiing, it’s just not there yet.”

The problem with the youth argument is that Sunday’s podium stars are not exactly over the hill. Paerson, the slalom winner, is 24 and Kostelic is 23.

The two have won four of the last five World Cup overall titles.

Paerson scored her 27th World Cup victory.

There was a time people in Sweden talked about her surpassing countryman Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup victories.

“For me it’s somewhat silly to be compared to him,” Paerson said. “He is like a god in skiing.”

Paerson and Kostelic, though, could be compared for years to come.

Kostelic won three gold medals at the 2002 Salt Lake Games, and Paerson had a silver and a bronze.

Kostelic can only hope that she does not repeat in Turin what she did in Aspen.

Kostelic scorched the field in her morning run of 48.27, which was 0.84 of a second faster than Zettel and 1.03 seconds faster than Paerson.

The race, presumably, was over.

“Normally,” Paerson said, “you don’t take one second from Janica.”

Kostelic, though, tried to protect her lead and skied too cautiously in her afternoon run.

“The only thing I want to say about the second run is that it was pretty careful,” she said. “It was one of the easiest runs of my life and I didn’t attack. It was a terrible thing to do.

“I’m sure it won’t happen again. I’m very, very, positive sure.”