Aspen – He was here to watch Kristina Koznick begin the ending of her career, to see if blossoming star Lindsey Kildow could regain the knack for slalom he knows she has, and to watch two other racers he nurtured take toddlers’ steps on the World Cup.
Sunday’s World Cup slalom – won by Sweden’s Anja Paerson – wasn’t a great one for the Americans, but it was a very proud one for Erich Sailer.
Sailer coached Koznick, Kildow, Kaylin Richardson and Sterling Grant on tiny Buck Hill near Minnesota’s Twin Cities when they were kids. Buck Hill has a vertical drop of barely 300 feet, but somehow Sailer manages to build the foundations of World Cup careers there.
Koznick, 30, has won six World Cup slaloms. She finished a disappointing 14th on Sunday in what probably was her last World Cup race in the U.S., but she was happy to see the man who got her started.
“He just instilled in me from 8 years old that I could be the best in the world,” Koznick said. “He never said, ‘You are,’ he never lied, he always just said, ‘If you want to, you can be.’ To hear that from 8 years old, and then to have his ski expertise on top of that, it really guided me in an amazing way. I’m so glad I grew up there.”
A native of Austria, Sailer has been at Buck Hill 35 years.
“Kristina is a wonderful natural slalom skier,” Sailer said. “She really made me famous. She was the best (in the U.S.) for a long time. I think she is still able to do it. She can still win a medal. She is still skiing fast.”
Kildow, 21, spent her teen years at Ski Club Vail, where she learned the speed disciplines. She has been on the World Cup podium eight times in downhill and super-G with two wins. She finished 30th on Sunday.
“I had her about six or seven years, I taught her the fundamentals,” Sailer said. “She could be in slalom just as good as she is in downhill. She just needs (more) time in the gates.”
Richardson, a promising 21-year-old beginning her third World Cup season, didn’t qualify for the second run. Grant, 18, made her World Cup debut and fell just before the finish in the first run. Just that they were in the race underscored the debt the U.S. Ski Team owes Sailer.
“He was amazing,” Koznick said. “Coming from Buck Hill, there were four of us racing today. That’s pretty amazing in itself.”
Koznick hoped to perform far better in the first slalom of a season she expects to be her last.
“It’s pretty disappointing because I would have liked to have won a World Cup in the U.S.,” Koznick said, breaking into tears and pausing to let a wave of emotion pass. “It’s pretty disappointing because I’ve been training really well and I feel really comfortable for the first time in a long time.”
Kildow was unconcerned by her performance, although she is counting on her slalom ability – along with her prowess in downhill – to make her an Olympic medal threat in combined.
“It’s early,” Kildow said. “You don’t want to be peaking right now. You want to peak in February. I’ve got a lot of progress to make, but I think it’s a good start. Technically I think I’m skiing well, it’s just a matter of making it a solid two runs.”
The other American to qualify for a second run Sunday, Julia Mancuso, finished 19th.
“If everybody was skiing up to their potential, we’d be busting open some champagne right now, but that’s not the case,” said Trevor Wagner, U.S. slalom/giant slalom coach. “We’ve just got to keep plugging ahead and keep doing the same stuff we do. Eventually all of it is going to come together.”
Even the great ones falter. Croatia’s Janica Kostelic had an imposing lead after the first run of 0.84 seconds but finished 0.19 behind Paerson.
“I just didn’t attack,” said Kostelic, like Paerson a two-time World Cup overall winner. “I didn’t let the skis go.”
Paerson did, and she was rewarded with her 27th World Cup victory.
“You always have to fight,” Paerson said. “The more you fight, the more you win.”
Staff writer John Meyer can be reached at 303-820-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
