COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. ? One good run doesn't make a season or even a race, but it can make the day, especially when the day is headed nowhere special.
The first run of the Women's World Cup Challenge left little hope of any podium celebration for the U. S. Ski Team. Only two of six racers made the first cut of 30 in the giant slalom, and even then a downhill specialist posted the best run ? and finished 20th.
But Kirsten Clark didn't feel hopeless. OK, she explained after the race, she was nervous, she made two turns when one would do and she was timid on her first run.
"On the second run I went for it. I did everything I could to win," she said behind nods of approval from her coach.
Clark didn't win; in fact, she finished ninth, but her second run was the fastest among the world's top 30 skiers . . . "And it proves to me that I can compete," she added.
Andrine Flemmen of Norway won the race, with Allison Forsyth of Canada in second and Sonja Nef, the reigning World Cup GS champion from Switzerland, in third.
The series will continue with a women's slalom today. The World Cup will then move to Aspen, where the men's GS, scheduled Saturday, was canceled, but the two men's slalom races ? Sunday and Monday ? will be held. The men's downhill scheduled for the following weekend at Beaver Creek was also canceled, all because of the lack of adequate snow.
The race started out with no particularly good runs for the Americans. Kristina Koznick, from Burnsville, Minn., one of the team's top hopefuls, didn't ski fast enough to qualify for a second run.
"I made one big mistake near the top of the course," she explained.
Sarah Schleper of nearby Vail, coming off her best season, had a disappointing first run ? 26th ? and a more
disappointing second run, finishing 30th of 30. All of her time, said Marian Cernigoj, head women's coach, "was lost on the bottom section . . . a half second on the first run and a full second on the second. It's something we'll have to look at and find out why."
Clark, from Raymond, Maine, who won a World Cup downhill last season, made the U.S. team eight years ago on her technical skills but quickly concentrated on the speed events.
"Lately, I've worked hard to bring my giant slalom back," she said. "I was a little nervous for the first run. On the second I charged downhill the whole way, and I didn't make a mistake."
Cernigoj agreed as he sat listening. "It was a good, clean run. I'll have to talk with the other coaches to see what happened with the other five skiers," he added.
After the first run, Nef and Flemmen were tied for the lead with runs of 1 minute, 13.65 seconds. Forsyth was in fourth. On the second run, Flemmen came within one-hundredth of a second of Clark's run to win with a combined time of 2:23.81. Forsyth was 2:24.48, and Nef a 2:24.50. Clark's two-run total was 2:25.27.
The win was especially important to Flemmen. One year ago she was injured in a race in Aspen. For this race, she said with a smile, "I feel good."
Especially so, she continued, considering the Copper Mountain course was flatter than she would have liked, and because, overall, the small Norwegian team ? only four skiers ? did so well. Her teammate, Stina Hofgard Nilsen, finished fifth.
There were moments, though, when even the winning racers reflected a somber mood. Several racers from many countries wore black armbands. Regine Cavagnoud of France was recently killed in a training accident in Europe. Last year, Cavagnoud had won a giant slalom race at Copper Mountain. A number of racers reflected back on the win, their friendships and the lost opportunity to ski with one of the world's top racers.
Going into today's slalom, Cernigoj felt confident the day would, at least, start off better. The U.S. team is stronger in the slalom. Last week, Koznick finished third in a tune-up race to the World Cup. At least, that's the way things are supposed to go.
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