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Show WaDirM Cunip Sfldmimg Reno's Eva Twardokens inches closer to the World Cup winner's platform It's not easy to spell and it's not easy to pronounce. But it's a name you're likely to see more and more in stories about the World Cup circuit, so you'd better get used to it. The name is Eva T-w-a-r-d-o-k-e-n-s. In her first full year of World Cup competition, this 19-year-old Reno resident is starting to show up more and more near the top of the race results. Twardokens' best result yet came Saturday in Arosa, Switzerland when she finished second in a controversial contro-versial super giant slalom behind West Germany's Marina Kiehl. Skiing on a fog-shrouded course, Kiehl apparently finished 34 hundredths hun-dredths of a second ahead of the American skier. However, Curry Chapman, the Canadian women's coach, said he saw Kiehl miss a gale, a charge apparently verified by the television replay. However, the judges saw it differently, and Kiehl was awarded first place over protests from several teams. Third place went to the current leader in the race for the overall women's World Cup, Michela Figini of Switzerland. Other U.S. finishers included Cindy Nelson in 11th place and Debbie Armstrong in 27 th. In the only other women's World Cup alpine competition during the past week, a couple of familiar names ended up at the top of the list in a slalom held FYiday, also at Arosa. In first it was old pro Maria Epple of West Germany, with the first slalom win in her long career. And in second it was America's Tamara McKinney, former World Cup overall champion. After the first run McKinney was in fifth, more than a second off the pace. But she cut loose in the second run, coming within one hundredth of a second of catching Epple. "That first run was a fighting run," she said later. "It wasn't something that flowed ... But the second run felt great. I took tons of chances and I got away with them." Third place went to another old pro, Switzerland's Erika Hess. The only other American to finish was Karen Lancaster in 23rd. On the men's World Cup circuit, Austrian downhill specialist Helmut Hoeflehner continued his winning ways with a victory in the Arlberg-Kandahar downhill at Gar-misch-Partenkirchen, West German Saturday. The runnerup was Switzerland's Swit-zerland's Peter Mueller while Austrian Anton Steiner finished third. The top U.S. finisher on the day was Bill Johnson in 17 th. And on Sunday spectators at Garmisch-Partenkirchen witnessed a 1-2 finish in super giant slalom by skiers from two of the world's smallest countries, Luxembourg and Liechtenstein. In first place it was Marc GiraruVlli. a ,. an vet Italy wi skis for Luxembourg, with his seventh W orld Cup victory of the season. And in second, 17 hundredths behind, it was Andreas Wenzel of Liechtenstein. Liechten-stein. Girardelli and Wenzel are also 1-2 in the overall World Cup men's point standings. The top American finisher was Ben Akers in 43rd. The World Cup tour will be on hold for the next 10 days while the Alpine World Championships take place in Bormio, Italy. Downhill races are scheduled to be held Jan. 31 through Feb. 3, slalom Feb. 4 and 5, giant slalom Feb. 6 and 7 and slalom again Feb. 9 and 10. Meanwhile, the World Nordic Championships have just finished in Seefeld, Austria. And they didn't give Americans much to cheer about. Here are some of the highlights of the last five days of the competition: In the women's four-by-five-kilometer relay Jan. 23, the Soviet Union, which did not win any medals in the women's cross-country events at Sarajevo, took the top prize with the Norwegians in second and the East Germans third. The Americans finished 10th. In the men's four-by-ten-kilometer relay Jan. 24, the gold medal went to Norway with Italy second and Sweden third. The U.S. finished 9th in the 16-team field. West Germany took first place in the nordic combined team competition Jan. 24-25 ahead of Norway and Finland. The U.S. team of Pat Ahearn, Joe Holland and Matt Byerly came home ninth in the 11 -team field. With Grete Nykkelmo leading the way, Norwegian women swept the top four places in the 20-kilometer race Jan. 26. Sue Long of Manchester Center, Vermont had the highest American finish in international nordic racing this season by finishing 17th. In the 70-meter jumping competition compe-tition Jan. 26, East Germany's Jens Weisflog soared to the gold medal outpointing Andreas Felder of Austria. The top American finisher was Mike Holland in eighth. Sweden's Gunde Svan picked up his third medal of the World Championships, and his second individual title, by winning the men's 50-kilometer race Jan. 27. He had opened the championships by winning the 30-kilometer race. The top American was Audun Endestad in 34th. |