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Five Questions What to look for at the alpine world championships
With the Salt Lake City Games just a year away, the Alpine World Ski Championships in St. Anton, Austria (Jan. 29-Feb. 10), is the sport's last major competition before the next Olympics. Here are some questions that will be answered over the next two weeks: 1. Could the Austrian men sweep their events? Maybe. Benjamin Reich, winner of consecutive slaloms in Wengen, Switzerland, and Kitzbühel, Austria, is the team's best technical skier and a potential doubler in the slalom and giant slalom. Four other Austrians -- Mario Matt, Christoph Gruber, Heinz Schilegger and Stefan Eberharter -- have finished in the top two in races this season. Two weeks ago in Wengen the Austrian men swept the top five places in a slalom event right on the home snow of their red-faced chief rivals. And that was without Hermann Maier, the world's best downhiller. 2. Is the Herminator as good as ever? Maier is his own worst critic. That's what makes him as good as he is. He schussed away with the overall World Cup crown, compiling a fat 2,000 total points, more than twice as many as all but one other skier. Consider that this season he has complained about the snow, whined about his skis, bellyached about race organization, cursed his leaden legs live on European television and forfeited points for not skiing through the finish area before dismounting from his skis. It has been a lousy season for him ... and he's 300 points ahead in the World Cup standings. This is what it was like when NBA teams held Michael Jordan to 28 points. Maier is good for multiple medals in St. Anton and would like nothing better in front of his countrymen than to improve upon merely being the best. 3. Which female skier will emerge in St. Anton? The home crowd also gets to cheer Renate Goetschl, who has battled Croatian teen sensation Janica Kostelic for the World Cup lead most of the year. The Austrian women swept the Super G at the last worlds, and Goetschl will be one of the favorites when that event kicks things off on Monday. Kostelic is a heavy favorite to take the slalom, an event in which she has been virtually unbeatable, winning eight straight races. She has been named the country's top sports personality for the last three years -- and she's only 19. Swiss star Sonja Nef, 28, spent most of her early career recovering from surgeries to fix torn ligaments in her right knee, even taking injections of shark oil to strengthen the joint. This year she has won five GS races. Veteran Frenchwoman Regine Cavagnoud has won three Super G races this season and should be one of Nef's chief challengers. 4. Will the United States win any medals? Some American probably will, but the question is who? U.S. alpiners tend to do well in world and Olympic events even if they haven't been doing much on the World Cup circuit. But the Yanks have actually skied their way onto the podium eight times this year and finished fourth on three other occasions. Kristina Koznick, whose decision to train with her coach/boyfriend has left her estranged from the U.S. team, has placed in the top three in three races this year and could be a factor in the slalom. Sarah Schleper, another good slalom/GS skier, earned her first trip to a podium this year. Daron Rahlves won two downhills last season and was third this year on the treacherous Kitzbühel course, considered to be the most challenging in the world. The rise of Erik Schlopy, from exiled Pro Tour washout to a man who placed second at a recent GS in Bormio, Italy, has been astounding. Downhill ace Chad Fleischer has been struggling to find his form but may still be the team's best talent. U.S. skiers won't match the Austrians over the course of these championships, but they won't equal skiers from Guam, either. 5. What sets the worlds apart from other races in Europe? Keep in mind that these courses, like many used for world championship and Olympic competition, tend to run fast, have fewer turns, and be less technical and challenging than many of the more venerable courses on the World Cup circuit. This sometimes widens the field of contenders and is a reason why at least one seasoned skier who doesn't fare well at such a competition will inevitably lament the ease of the course and the mental framework of the course-setter. Look for good gliders who can keep their speed, but not necessarily the most aggressive skiers, to do well here. Sports Illustrated staff writer Brian Cazeneuve covers Olympic sports for tha magazine and is a frequent contributor to CNNSI.com. Look for reports from St. Anton over the next two weeks.
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