Italy's Deborah Compagnoni passes a gate during her first run in the Women's Giant Slalom competition of the XVIII Winter Olympic Games on Mount Higashidate in Shiga Kogen, Friday Feb. 20, 1998. Compagnoni threaded her way down an icy giant slalom course to become the first Alpine skier to win gold medals in three Olympics.AP Photo/Susan Walsh

Italian takes command of giant slalom

Web posted February 20, 1998

Associated Press

SHIGA KOGEN, Japan -- Italy's Deborah Compagnoni, bidding to become the first Alpine skier to win gold medals in three Olympics, took a lead of nearly a full second on the first run of the women's giant slalom.

Compagnoni, the defending champion, finished the run down an icy course Friday morning (Thursday night EST) in 1 minute, 18.94 seconds to take a lead of .94 seconds over Sophie Lefranc of France.

Compagnoni also held a big lead after the first run of the slalom a day earlier, only to lose the gold to Germany's Hilde Gerg by 6-hundredths of a second.

But Compagnoni's specialty is the giant slalom, in which she is two-time defending world champion. It's the event in which she won nine straight World Cup races, a streak that ended just last month.

``I skied relaxed. Let's say I gave 80 percent of my potential,'' she said of the first run. ``It's a very difficult and technical course, the kind of course I like most. It's a course where you must use your brains in addition to your legs.''

A mixture of rain and snow fell during the first run, and organizers moved the start of the second run up 45 minutes because of the prospect of worsening weather conditions.

Andrine Flemmen of Norway was third in 1:20.04, followed by Austria's Alexandra Meissnitzer in 1:20.13 and Germany's Katja Seizinger in 1:20.19.

Seizinger already has won gold medals in the downhill and combined event this week. Meissnitzer was a bronze medalist in the super-G last week.

Sarah Schleper of Vail, Colo., was 26th on the first run in 1:23.63. Alexandra Shaffer of Aspen, Colo., was 29th in 1:25.02 and Julie Parisien of Sugarloaf, Maine., was 30th in 1:25.34.

Caroline Lalive of Steamboat Springs, Colo., slid off the course near the top.

U.S. women's head coach Herwig Demschar said the course was just too tough, especially in the deteriorating weather.

``It's not a very good advertisement for women's sports. Normally you should have a good balance between where you can challenge the course and difficulty,'' Demschar complained. ``As long as they can challenge and go fast it's fine. The course is very difficult and now with the rain it's impossible. The only woman who can ski this course is Compagnoni.''

Spela Pretnar of Slovenia, who failed to finish the first run, agreed the conditions were awful.

``It's the toughest course I've ever raced on,'' she said. ``The snow was breaking up and there were a lot of holes. And then, with the rain on the goggles, you had no chance.''

Compagnoni has had to overcome a series of physical problems throughout her career, including surgery on both knees, a broken shinbone and intestinal surgery.

In addition to her giant slalom victory in the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, she won a gold medal in the super-G in 1992 at the Albertville Games.