Sestriere, Italy – Perhaps it is fitting that the struggling U.S. Ski Team’s best chance for a medal in today’s women’s slalom may come from a skier who was on crutches until four days ago.
Kristina Koznick suffered a partially torn anterior cruciate ligament in her right knee and a bone bruise in a freak accident Feb. 4 at Ofterschwang, Germany. She is the team’s highest-ranked slalom skier, seventh in the World Cup standings.
“It would be kind of a fairy tale to win a medal, but why not?” Koznick said. “Anything’s possible. I’m definitely going to give it my best.”
Koznick was warming up for a World Cup giant slalom race when she mistakenly skied off an 8-foot drop-off.
“I didn’t fall or anything, but when I landed I knew my right knee wasn’t going to be OK,” Koznick said. “You think you’re dreaming, because you think there’s no way (six) days before the Olympic Games that something happens like this. It was incredibly emotional.”
Koznick, 30, plans to retire after this season. Since 1997 she has had 20 World Cup podium finishes and six victories, finishing second in the season slalom standings in 1998 and 2002. She failed to finish in the past two Olympics and finished only two of six slaloms at the world championships.
“I know mentally I’m definitely strong enough to handle this,” Koznick said. “I know it’s going to be about biting down and giving everything I have. That’s part of the reason we’re not racing the giant slalom (Friday). I’m pretty positive my knee is going to be really sore after Wednesday night. I know to go for a medal, I have to give it everything I can, no matter if I’m in pain or not.”
The best finishes for the U.S. women in three events thus far are two seventh-place finishes (Lindsey Kildow in super-G, Julia Mancuso in downhill). Joining Koznick in today’s race will be Kildow, Sarah Schleper of Vail and Resi Stiegler of Jackson, Wyo.
