Kristi Terzian was a good skier. Five years on the U.S. Ski Team proved that. No one, though, back
before the season started, thought of her as a great skier."Great" was reserved for recognized skiers. Terzian wasn't. In skiing, good finishes bring attention. Terzian was among the struggling young stars hoping for a passing mention . . . a single World Cup point was a starter.
During her years with Rowmark Ski Academy, she had raced and trained at Park City. Then, last Thanksgiving, the 1989-90 World Cup season opened there. Family and friends were on hand to watch.
She was ready, even though her training runs hadn't been that good. But she'd trained hard over the summer and felt ready mentally.
She recalled that she'd "trained as hard as I could and prepared as much as I could for the World Cup. I felt if I gave 100 percent, I'd do well."
And she did. In that America's Opening World Cup, Terzian was the best U.S. skier. Against the world's very best she finished 10th in the giant slalom, then capped that with a seventh the next day in the slalom.
This was the first time she'd ever made it into the World Cup's prestigious top 15. She got her first points . . . and her recognition.
Terzian was recognized by the U.S. Ski Team recently as America's most successful woman skier. This past World Cup season she scored points in 17 races. Tamara McKinney had held the record at 15.
For Terzian, it was a season she knew she was capable of. No one had worked harder. After the Park City race, it became obvious that no one in the U.S. was skiing better.
But that was the U.S.
"Going over to Europe, I knew what the other skiers were thinking - that the only reason I'd ski well was because I was at home," she recalled. "The theory is that Americans can ski well at home, but not in Europe.
"I wanted to prove the theory wrong."
And she did, but not at first. After Park City, she fell out of the points for a couple of races. A slight equipment change and some added determination put her back in the gates. She scored points in the next 11 races, won the national, then headed for Stranda, Norway, in early March.
It was there she had her best and most memorable finish. She finished second in the giant slalom.
"I have a lot of Norwegian friends," she recalled. "It was special for me to be in Norway, then to have the good results. It was a neat thing for me."
Terzian started her early ski training in California. Unhappy with the training and education there, she and her sister, Katrina (who skied for the University of Utah), came to Salt Lake City in 1983 to ski with the Rowmark Academy. She is currently attending the University of Utah.
She joined the U.S. program through its development team. For five years she skied well and occasionally showed flashes of potential.
Last summer she set upon a new training program, one in which she didn't necessarily work harder, but directed her efforts "more to sports more specific to skiing . . . soccer, tennis, a little rock climbing, mountain biking. I tried to keep it varied.
"When we started ski training, I knew it was going to be rough. I knew my points (seeding) weren't that good. So I tried to be last off the mountain; I tried to ski the roughest courses I could. I tried to separate myself from teammates during training so there would be no distractions. Social life could come later.
"I think the result of all this is that I got a little smarter."
And better. She is, after all, the most successful U.S. woman skier in World Cup.