SNOWBASIN — Every which way spectators turned on Monday, there was someone standing out in one of those blue and red, spider-web print, skin-tight race suits of the U.S. Disabled Ski Team.
Which is totally understandable since the U.S. dominated the women's super-G. It was as close to a complete sweep as a Paralympic event could possibly get.
The women went gold-silver-bronze in the sit-ski competition, then gold-silver-bronze in the stand-up class for leg amputees, then capped that with a silver in the stand-up combined.
Not counting the visually impaired class, since the U.S. did not have an entry, the American women won seven of the nine medals available in the events they entered.
In the mono-ski class, it was Sarah Will, Muffy Davis and Lacey Heward. And, in the stand-up amputee, it was Sarah Billmeier, Allison Jones and Sandy Dukat.
Mary Riddell was second in the stand-up combined, and teammate Jennifer Kelchner was fourth, just a half-second away from a medal. Winning the event was Lauren Woolstencroft of Canada.
Along with the medals, the U.S. women also met some goals.
Davis, a Park City resident, said as she talked about the sweep, "Our goal is to get USA women one-two-three in all four events. Right now we're two for four. Not bad." The U.S. women also swept all three places in the downhill mono-ski class on Saturday.
Then Billmeier, from Yarmouth, Maine, said, "Our goal in these Games was to sweep one event. We missed on the downhill, but we hit here. This is so awesome."
It was one of those days when success seemed to be contagious. Good runs were followed by better ones, starting with Heward's.
A bizarre accident put the 22-year-old in a mono-ski. A 100-pound weight fell off a bench and crushed her spine when she was 18 months old. She started skiing seven years ago in Idaho and entered her first race three years ago in Utah.
After watching the '96 Atlanta Games and later the Paralympic competition, "It got me going," she said as she reflected back on her beginning. "It made me believe I could do something like this.
"I worked so hard to get to this point. It's great to finally be here and finally get the adrenaline flowing and to get out there and go for it."
The women's course on Wildflower was difficult and fast. Much faster, said Davis, than she'd been led to believe.
"Our ski technician told us our skis were going to be fast, but I had no idea how fast he meant. It was a tight course so you really had to be on it when the skis were jetting away. It was hard to stay on top of them they were so fast," she said.
This was Davis' second silver in these Games.
Will, from Vail, Colo., one of the most decorated disabled skiers in the world, with her ninth gold coming in the downhill on Saturday and her10th gold coming on Monday, said the course was so fast at times, "it was hard to hold on."
"There were sections where I didn't want to back off, but I felt I had to. Once I got on the flats, I tried no to panic but to run a nice clean line and do the best I could," Will said.
Billmeier, who won a silver in the downhill, has now won 12 medals in four Paralympics.
She, too, had difficulties on the course, and was particularly late on one turn that she thought might have cost her the race, "but I guess everyone was late, so it didn't matter. But it was a tough course."
Asked to explain why the U.S. women so dominated Monday's races, consensus among the competitors was that they were all such close friends and worked so well together, they've been able to get the most out of their training. "Also, we keep pushing each other to do better. Definitely, if one skier has a good run, it pushes the others to go faster . . . That's what you saw today."
In the men's visually impaired, Bart Bunting (Nathan Chivers, guide) of Australia was first; Eric Villaon (Pere Comet, guide), of Spain was second; and Yon Santacana (Raul Capdevila, guide), also of Spain, was third.
Monday's medals were the first for Heward, Jones (Colorado Springs), Dakat (Chicago) and Riddell (Dove Creek, Colo.). Kelchner is from Truckee, Calif.
The alpine skiers will take Tuesday off, then return to Snowbasin on Wednesday for the men's giant slalom.
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