Three days after her downhill run that shocked the Alps, Hilary Lindh skied to a 17th-place finish Tuesday in the women's super giant slalom Olympic race held at Meribel.
Starting 25th out of the gate, Lindh, the silver medalist at Meribel Saturday in the women's downhill, made up a little time, and ground, on the field, but not enough. She was timed in 1:25.37, slightly more than four seconds behind the gold medal winner, Deborah Compagnoni of Italy, who finished in 1:21.22. Second place went to French skier Carole Merle and third place to Katja Seizinger of Germany. Austria's Petra Kronberger, the winner earlier in alpine combined, missed a second Olympic medal when she finished 1/100th of a second behind Seizinger.Eva Twardokens of Reno, who finished in eighth place at 1:24.19, was the top U.S. finisher. Diann Roffe, America's best hope in the event that is a combination of slalom skiing and downhill skiing, fell a third of the way into her run, and the fourth American skier entered, Julie Parisien, was disqualified after missing a gate.
Lindh had newfound celebrity status as she skied in her first race after Saturday's silver medal run. She said her life hadn't changed since Saturday, other than she hadn't gotten much sleep.
"It's been a few days since I got a good night's sleep," she said, but stopped short of using that as an excuse for Tuesday's run. "I wasn't thinking about what happened the other day (Saturday) for today's run. It had no bearing. I feel pretty good about how I skied. I wasn't really hoping for any particular time."
While she was a longshot for the downhill, Lindh was even more of a longshot in the Super G. She came into the race just 33rd in the World Cup's Super G rankings and was only the fourth-ranked American in the event, behind Roffe (No. 12), Parisien and Twardokens .
Prior to Saturday's downhill, she was No. 16 in the World Cup rankings for that event and was the top-ranking American.
Still, her leap to No. 2 in the downhill, finishing barely in back of Canadian Kerrin Lee-Gartner, was a prodigious one - and when Lindh lined up for Tuesday's Super G the ski world was still talking about it.
Bob Beattie, ESPN's skiing commentator and a former U.S. Ski Team coach, said, "What she did in the downhill you just don't see very often in this sport. It was a tremendous achievement."
Beattie said he wasn't particularly surprised, however, "Because she had the potential.
"Hilary's always had the potential," he said. "What she did on Saturday was ski at the top of her ability. In the past she hasn't been able to do that. I don't know why. Maybe she's always had a tendency to be a little hard on herself, to get down on herself. Everything matters to her. What she did today (in the Super G) matters to her. She wants to win so badly."
It was Lindh's drive for excellence that caused her to transfer to Salt Lake City's Rowmark Ski Academy in the middle of her ninth grade year in 1984. She moved away from her home and her parents in Juneau, Alaska, and took up residency for the next three and a half years at Rowmark, where the daily regimen called for early morning classwork and ski training every afternoon in the nearby mountains.
Under the guidance of Rowmark Coach Olle Larsson, Lindh became the world junior downhill champion as a high school junior, in 1986, and also won the U.S. national downhill championship.
Larsson, Lindh said Tuesday, sent her a telegram after she won the downhill and became Rowmark's first-ever Olympic medalist.
Not many American ski academies can make similar claims. Lindh's silver medal is only the ninth ever won by a U.S. alpine skier, men or women, and one of just 21 total Olympic medals won by American skiers since 1948 when alpine skiing events were added to the Winter Olympics.
"I don't think it will change my life that much," said the 22-year-old Lindh Tuesday. But Beattie said, "It will have a big effect. It makes her a part of history."
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How Utahns Fared
John Aalberg, Salt Lake City; John Bauer, Park City; and Luke Bodensteiner, Salt Lake City, made up three-quarters of the four-man United States entry in the men's 4X10-kilometer cross-country relay race. Teaming with Ben Husaby of Eden Prairie, Minn., they placed 12th (out of 16 teams entered) with a time of 1:48:15.8. The team from Norway won in 1:39:26.0.~