When the snow finally settled after the European opening races in the Men's Alpine Skiing World Cup this weekend, there were a lot of satisfied people.
A.J. Kitt: The 23-year-old from Rochester, N.Y., won the downhill race on Saturday, the first American man to post a victory on the Men's World Cup circuit in seven years.Marc Girardelli: The four-time World Cup overall champion won Sunday's super giant slalom and showed his tender knee is healthy. He started closing the gap on technical specialists Paul Accola and Alberto Tomba in a search for another title and Olympic gold medals.
American men's downhill coach Bill Egan. His forces had good results, which sparked American hopes in the Olympic Alpine ski events.
Kitt won $15,000. After American organizers sprinkled $75,000 among the technical skiers, the downhillers balked unless money was raised for them, too.
After a threat of a boycott, the Val d'Isere committee, along with the international federation, came up with the cash.
Kitt now hopes to emulate Bill Johnson, who won the Olympic downhill in 1984. Johnson won three World Cup downhills that year.
The next downhill is in Val Gardena, Italy, on Saturday. "I look forward to Val Gardena. I have skied there a lot," Kitt said.
If Kitt wins a second consecutive downhill, he would match Johnson, who won the last two races of the 1984 season following his Olympic victory in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia.