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Ready to play spoiler Americans could shock at World Alpine Championships
ST. ANTON, Austria (AP) -- While the host Austrians are struggling to deal with the weight of expectations and competing at home, the Americans are gearing up to do what they do best: Pop one at a major event. With a knack for pulling surprise victories at the big events, the Americans have arrived in Austria's skiing heartland ready to stun in the final major test ahead of the Olympics at home in Salt Lake City. Slowly and silently, the Americans have climbed the ranks this season, reaching the podium eight times in all, skimming it in fourth place three times and, as usual, becoming the dark horses few really notice until too late. "I think the Americans are not usually very consistent so there's no pressure in the big events," reasoned Rahlves, the winner of back-to-back downhills in Kvitfjell, Norway, last season. "And when there's no pressure, it's easier to pop one. Those who are consistent and do well all the time have a lot more pressure to cope with. "Take Tommy (Moe). He had no pressure ahead of the Olympics in Lillehammer. He steps it up and boom! wins the Olympics. He had the ability and with the others under pressure he was able to win." Moe swooped in to take the downhill Olympic gold in 1994, edging home favorite and overall World Cup champion Kjetil Andre Aamodt. Other American dark horses who have come through include Billy Johnson, who snatched the Olympic downhill title in Sarajevo in 1984. Hilary Lindh won the downhill at the 1992 Olympics in Albertville and Diann Roffe-Steinrotter took the silver in the giant slalom the same year. Julie Parisien was runner-up in the slalom at the world championships in Morioka, Japan, in 1993. "They have an uncanny knack of going big at the major events," said Tom Kelly, the U.S. ski team spokesman. "We have a history of that. Much to the frustration of the European skiers. "There are a couple major factors. It's partly because the sport is not a day-to-day sport in the United States. The worlds and Olympics tend to be a focal point of the American public, it's easier for them to understand. And so the skiers know this is their chance, they bet it all." This year, the American team has shown a depth of talent which could prove irritating to the mighty Austrians in St. Anton. Erik Schlopy placed second in a giant slalom in Bormio, Bode Miller finished third in another giant slalom in Val d'Isere, while Rahlves crossed third in the notorious downhill in Kitzbuehel and fourth in the Super-G the day before. The women's team, too, is a potential threat in the technical events, with Kristina Koznick climbing the podium three times in the slalom and Sarah Schleper placing second in the event in Sestrieres, Italy. Young, promising all-rounder Caroline Lalive, who has collected points in every discipline, placed sixth in another slalom in Flachau, Austria. With all that said, at the last world championships in 1999 on their own territory in Vail, Colorado, the Americans failed to climb the podium even once. "But we didn't have much medal potential on the team then," argued Kelly. Koznick was perhaps the team's only medal hopes at the time, but she has never managed to follow the American trend, traditionally doing poorly in showcase situations. She failed to complete the slalom at the Nagano Olympics in 1998 and went out again at the last worlds on home snow in Vail, Colorado, the next year. "It's true, Americans tend to do well at the big events, but I have yet to do well at a big event," said a wry Koznick, the winner of four World Cup races, all slaloms. "Hopefully I'll fall in line at these worlds." But with six skiers on the team reaching the podium at least once this season, the pressure has somewhat lifted off Koznick. The 13 skiers on the world championship team have all scored points on the World Cup this season. Rahlves, who recently overcame ski as well as confidence problems, firmly believes Americans have what it takes to win, but sometimes simply have trouble believing it. "A number of us on the team have the ability to be competitive with the other skiers on the World Cup," said Rahlves. "The thing is, if you think there's something special that the other skiers are doing and you feel you have to take a lot of risk to make up for that, that can be bad. "You need to take risks but it's a fine line between taking the right risks and taking too many risks. If you take too many, you can go out. I've done that before, taken the lead and then mess up a section. I did that in Nagano. It cost me an Olympic medal."
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