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Show PciKC A8 Thuixhu, March 1 3, 19Iib Pjr't, Rt TTTT 7 Tl 71 .ST . ' ' ' i 1 i . ' . J -TIT) S-vTTlTinnp 'l t w' . i-j. -i-i. -i. i i-L Ir v Brutal: Tough course American World Cup ! by KURT KIDMAN Record staff writer The face of the Men's Giant Slalom run at the Park City Ski Area had too many teeth in it for the members of the United States Ski Team and it chewed up the members' high expectations. The whispers making the rounds before the race said to watch Tamara McKinney, she's got a good chance to win. Her race lasted about eight gates when she was unable to hold a turn and skied off the course. Nobody felt worse about failing than McKinney. Going out so quickly had her on the verge of tears. She stayed on the course for two or three minutes after she was disqualified and showed obvious disappointment by throwing her goggles down as she stood there with her head down. "I feel bad for Tamara because she was skiing the best I'd seen her ski in training all year long," said Tori Pillinger, a native of Park City and a member of the USST. The top American finisher was Eva Twardokens in 11th place. Her time for the two runs was 1:54.15, a whopping five seconds behind winner win-ner Erika Hess. . "I'm disappointed in all the mistakes I made," Twardokens said. "I think having the crowd here helped though, I don't think I could have finished my first run without them. My first run was awful, I just kept going from recovery to recovery. I'm satisfied with my second se-cond run, it was a competitive time." 'I'm disappointed in all the mistakes I made. I think having the crowd here helped though, 1 don't think I could have finished my first run without them. My first run was awful, I just kept going from recovery to recovery.' Eva Twardokens In fact, her second run was quite good. It was the ninth-fastest time and less than a second slower than Hess. "I'm not proud," Twardokens added. ad-ded. "I'll take World Cup points any way I can get them." The only other American skier to pick up World Cup points was Beth Madsen, who finished 14th. Points are awarded to the first 15 finishers. She was very happy with the points as they were her first ever and it was the day before her birthday. "I'm very happy with how I finished. finish-ed. It was a tough course, it was really hard to let go," Madsen said. "I felt it was a really turney course." Other than Madsen, however, there was very little silver lining in skiers the American cloud. "The race was a little W ting, yes, we would have better but that's ski raci ,H John Dakin, information dirL the USST. "The hill and & tions really hurt us. The i 4 and sticky snow in between toll. " wasn't a situation w 6 skied badlv. "Some days vou pat th k. some davs the hp.ir o-.t. & - 4 '"w JUU Also finishine fnr Lynaa Mcuehee in lfith a..,. in 18th, Edith Thys in 19th and n? were so difficult that onlv nt starters were able to finish the? nine l"0 The second most riic,.: skier on the hill, behind mT. m was probably Park City's own?, Pillinger. Her first run nlaiJ"1 21st and she had an excellent shotof marking uic LUJJ J. iasi year sne was in a similar position, but then went nut v... halfway down the run. This time she made it about five gates farther "I'm disappointed, I really yim a top-20 finish. Maybe next year Pillinger said. "It (the course) tj pretty narsn, pretty hairv I very nervous in the start and I u nappy i maae u aown (the first run) I knew probably almost evervlw,, on the hill here and I wanted to to well for all of them." Twardoken's points move her ii a tie for 20th place in the overall World Cup standings. She is tied with McKinney, who is currently uin in ine siaiom standings. 71 ft, 5 Eva Twardokens sloshes through the gates on the way to an llth-place finish in Tuesday's World Cup race at Park City Ski Area. Left: Brigitte Oertli of Switzerland swings around a gate. Below: Helene Barbier of France took a tumble during her first run. ' ' X photos by Neal Palumbo . . ' " i- - .5 1 k ,.,.y.,,iiuiatm:. The home crowd turned out for Park City's Tori Pillinger. World Cup from A1 had a very slow second run and finished sixth. "It helps to have more experience ex-perience on all different types of snow," Hess said after the race. "If the course is nice and in good shape, the young girls do well. If the course is difficult, you have to change a little bit to do well. I saw McKinney fall and I knew what to do. You can't go too straight down the course or you will not make the turns." Although Hess said she had problems on the first run, she was the fastest by six-hundredths of a second. After her came a succession succes-sion of skiers who looked like they were struggling just to finish. "The first run was awful, I made a lot of mistakes," said Twardokens. "I just wanted to finish. The whole thing was tough." Plenty of skiers echoed her comments, but perhaps Char-vatova Char-vatova said it all when, after the first run, she turned to Italy's Nadia Bonfini and said, "Brutal eh?" About halfway through the first run the conditions began to deteriorate. The fog and the snow moved in and it was difficult to see halfway up the course from the bottom. More than once race announcer John Dakin had to assume a skier had fallen because she hadn't appeared through the gloom. But the veterans like Hess are used to all the different distractions distrac-tions and tough conditions. Her second run was cautious because she knew she didn't have to be the fastest down the hill to win the gold medal. "After the first run I knew I could win, I didn't have to take too many risks," she said. "I have lost too many times where I tried to ski fast in the second run and lost. I decided I was going to finish, even if I did not ski well." The fastest second-run time went to overall fourth-place CfTY! J s4 6 Eva Twardokens checks out the course before her first run. finisher Adelheid ' Gapp from Austria. All of the skiers seemed to ski the second run a bit more conservatively conser-vatively and only six of the 26 were unable to finish. By the time the last skiers crossed the finish line, the Swiss flags were waving, the cowbells were banging and Hess was being beseiged by a swarm of media. "The crowd was very good today," to-day," said Pelen. "It is good to be here and great to race here." Indeed, all the skiers had high praise for the crowd. "I like it here because so many people cheer for me it makes me feel like I'm at home," Hess said. '"It makes me very happy. All the people are with me, not just the Swiss people." Also finishing for the American team were Lynda McGehee in 16th, Amy Livran in 18th, Edith Thys in 19th and Brenda Buglione in 20th. The win virtually assures Hess of the World Cup slalom championship. cham-pionship. She now has 110 points, 15 ahead of Steiner. All Hess has to do is place in the top 15 in the last slalom next week at Water-ville Water-ville Valley, N.H. If Hess doesn't finish and Steiner places first, the two will tie for the championship. The overall title still seems firmly in the grip of Switzerland's Maria Walliser. Hess is in second place, but she is 33 points behind. The 1986 World Cup overaU competition can be colored red with a big white cross right in the middle. The top five skiers, Walliser, Hess, Michela Figmi; Brigette Oertli and Vrem Schneider are all Swiss. The top Americans , McKinney and Twardokens, Twar-dokens, are tied for 20th. "Maria Walliser is very strong at the moment and if l second behind her at the end i will be happy," Hess said. Hess, Charvatova and Pelen au seemed happy with their resuw in the race, but all showed B strain of a very long season " , hints of retirement. , Will Hess come back here ine year to defend her title and try' win the huge trophy that will P the first skier to win three tm at Park City? "I think after 10 yearsyouar tired of traveling and.do?she the things besides skung. said. "Hike skiing but it s other things you must . ' have good results it is easy keep going but if you haves bad races it is tougher Just then Pelen looked huge silver trophy, leaned ove Hess and said, "maybe you co" just ski Park City." itt That would be fine Badami and the thousands" in Utah who have "J beat a tough mountain and 0 . . . . ,.ows in a 'u" competition |