Sestriere, Italy – Lindsey Kildow came into the Olympics with three legitimate chances to bring home a medal. Now, realistically, she is down to one.
Still sore and stiff from a frightening training crash she endured on Monday, the Ski Club Vail racer lost her balance today and fell in the second run of the combined slalom, ending her hopes of winning a medal in the combined. Kildow finished fourth in the combined at the world championships last year and figured to be a strong medal candidate in the event here before her crash.
Kildow finished eighth in Wednesday’s downhill, an admirable result considering she cannot walk without a decided limp because of trauma to her back and a buttocks muscle. She is slated to ski every event here but her last realistic chance for a medal figures to come Sunday in the super-G — if she is up to it physically.
“I hope so,” she said weakly when asked if she would be able to race Sunday. “I just need to go rest.”
All three runs of the combined — one of downhill, two of slalom — were scheduled for today but the downhill was postponed until Saturday because of weather.
About four inches of snow fell overnight — the first snowfall of the Games — and the start of the combined downhill initially was delayed an hour and 15 minutes. One racer, Nika Fleiss of Croatia, left the start house but lost control and fell coming off a jump while high winds raked the mountain. She was able to right herself and continued to the finish, but race officials immediately halted the race and then called it off for the day, citing high winds.
. “It’s just too dangerous for the competitors,” said Sarah Lewis, secretary general of the International Ski Federation. “Even though they have done a fantastic job clearing the course, the winds did not permit us to have a safe course today.”
Fleiss blamed the wind for her crash.
“It pushed me back and lifted up my skis,” Fleiss said. “I had no control over what was happening. It was really dangerous. It’s the right decision to (postpone) the race. I’m glad to be alive and not injured. It’s the right decision for the other girls who are up there.”
Marlies Schild of Austria, who won a bronze medal in combined at last year’s world championships, is leading after the slalom with an advantage of .46 of a second over world champion Janica Kostelic of Croatia. Kathrin Zettel of Austria is in third place and world silver medalist Anja Paerson of Sweden is fourth.
Resi Stiegler of Jackson Hole, Wyo., is the top American in ninth, 2.22 seconds behind Schild, probably too far back to take a medal in Saturday’s downhill. Stiegler, 20, is a slalom specialist with limited downhill experience. Her father, Pepi, won a gold medal in slalom at the 1964 Olympics, skiing for Austria.
Julia Mancuso of Olympic Valley, Calif., is 11th. She is a better downhiller than Stiegler but is probably too far behind to win a medal as well.
“I just have to go out and ski the best downhill race and see what happens,” Mancuso said. “You never know what can happen in the downhill.”
Kostelic, who won four medals at the Salt Lake Olympics, said she is sick, tired and may not complete the combined Saturday even though she seems poised to win a medal.
“I definitely don’t feel well,” Kostelic said. “I feel really bad. There’s no reason to compete while I’m feeling like this.”
