Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

photo
Follow the Gold Picabo Street
[click to zoom]
Picabo Wins Gold!
Americans Make it Into the Medal Count
Wednesday, Feb. 11, 1998
Hakuba, Japan


Torn ligaments and concussions, no problem. America's darling Picabo Street is back and better than ever as she grabbed gold in Nagano today, racing to victory in the women's Super-G in 1:18.02, a one one-hundredths of a second win.

The Austrian women took the rest of the podium spots with Michaela Dorfmeister winning silver in 1:18.03 and Alexandra Meissnitzer taking the bronze in 1:18.09.

Women's SG
Technical Analysis


[click for audio]
[click for transcript]
Get the FREE RealPlayer
"Katja Seizinger allegedly was earlier criticizing the course as being too flat and not challenging enough. She finished 6th..."
Picabo was seeded second and, after finishing, sat in the pit watching as each of the racers failed to best her time. She appeared confident, though it's impossible to guess what was going through her mind as she got closer and closer to gold.

Though she says, "I knew when I crossed the finish line that I had it," the Olympic committee reported. "I attacked it from top to bottom. I pushed really hard down the first pitch. Then I caught a lot of air on the first big jump. I knew I had the speed. I knew I had a good run going and skied it very aggressively toward the bottom, because I was mad at myself because I made a mistake toward the top," she said.

photo Street at the finish line
[click to zoom]
While Street saw ultimate glory, US racer Kristen Clark, saw ultimate defeat. Clark, who followed Street, missed a gate and was disqualified. Meisnittzer then came with 1:18.09 and remained in the second spot through several racers.

Katja Seizinger of Germany who posed a big threat to Street and the podium, allegedly was earlier criticizing the course as being too flat and not challenging enough. She finished 6th.

Dorfmeister, of Germany, had a strong run and just missed Picabo's time. When Dorfmeister looked to the scoreboard, she immediately fell back on her skis, incredulous that she had missed a gold by that close of a margin.

photo In front of the cameras
[click to zoom]
Street is the comeback queen at this point. Only two weeks ago she knocked herself silly in an Are, Sweden World Cup. She had a concussion and was taken to the hospital, but was released soon after. The US Ski team Coach Herwig Demschar said at the time, the Are fall may have been good for Street as after a major injury, the psychological stress over the thought of a re-injury is foreboding.

Street missed much of the season after a 1996 ligament tear. She returned to the World Cup circuit Dec. 17, when she tied for 10th in Val d'Isere, France. Street moved herself up to top-5 for most of the remaining races, but wasn't near the form of Seizinger, who, at the time had a five-in-a-row winning streak. Street bowed out of the Lake Louise, Canada and Mammoth, California World Cups to continue training for the Olympics.

And it paid off.

"It was a tender moment. We both had tears in our eyes. I thought back to the operating room and all I'd been through and my eyes just welled up?" Street said after talking to her doctor, the famed Dr. Richard Steadman, of Vail, Colorado.

Street and moguls expert Jonny Moseley started the USA off to a good medal start, both bringing home gold.

This is Street's first visit to the middle of the podium after winning silver in Lillehammer in 1994.

Check out The Mountain Zone's exclusive pre-Olympic interview with Picabo.

Results

    1 Picabo Street United States 1:18.02
    2 Michaela Dorfmeister  Austria 1:18:03
    3 Alexandra Meissnitzer Austria 1:18.09
    4 Regina Haeusl Germany 1:18.27
    5 Renate Goetschl Austria 1:18.32
    6 Katja Seizinger Germany 1:18.44
    7 Martina Ertl Germany 1:18.46
    8 Melanie Suchet France 1:18.51
    9 Stefanie Schuster Austria 1:18.53
   10 Hilde Gerg Germany 1:18.59
   11 Isolde Kostner Italy 1:18.62
   12 Warwara Zelenskaja Russia 1:18.72
   13 Svetlana Gladishiva Russia 1:18.82
   14 Carole Montillet France 1:18.88
   14 Pernilla Wiberg Sweden 1:18.88
   16 Regine Cavagnoud France 1:18.91
   17 Kristine Kristiansen Norway 1:19.02
   18 Florence Masnada France 1:19.03
   19 Ingeborg Helen Marken Norway 1:19.16
   20 Melanie Turgeon Canada 1:19.20
   21 Heidi Zurbriggen Switzerland 1:19.22
   22 Bibiana Perez Italy 1:19.47
   23 Barbara Merlin Italy 1:19.64
   24 Mojca Suhadolc Slovenia 1:19.66
   25 Trude Gimle Norway 1:19.71
   26 Janica Kostelic Croatia 1:19.77
   27 Kate Pace Lindsay Canada 1:19.89
   28 Karen Putzer Italy 1:20.16
   29 Kathleen Monahan United States 1:20.25
   30 Spela Bracun Slovenia 1:20.29
   31 Corinne Rey Bellet Switzerland 1:20.31
   32 Jonna Mendes United States 1:20.35
   33 Anna Larionova Russia 1:20.61
   34 Catherine Borghi Switzerland 1:20.69
   35 Lucie Hrstkova Czech Republic 1:21.74
   36 Kumiko Kashiwagi Japan 1:21.89
   37 Olesja Alieva Russia 1:22.00
   38 Tamara Schaedler Liechtenstein 1:22.90
   39 Ariana Boras Bosnia-Herzegovina 1:24.48
   40 Monika Kovacs Hungary 1:24.77
   41 Carola Calello Argentina 1:25.08
   Simona Pastinaru Romania DNS
   Kirsten L Clark United States DNF
   Yulia Krygina Kazakhstan DNF 

Brent Brookler, Zone Team East, for The Mountain Zone.

[Back to Updates]