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Technical Analysis Tuesday, Feb. 11, 1998
Transcribed from Audio: The terrain of this venue, which will also be used for the women's downhill on Saturday, February 14th, had been criticized for being too flat by one of the favorites, Katja Seizinger. She expressed her worry that the course would not be a sufficient test of the racers' ability to carve clean turns down steep, icy slopes. Her misgivings were to prove well-founded. In fact, the fresh snow of the past three days had the effect of making the course even easier. The Russian coach set the gate pattern with very few difficult turns in an attempt to gain an advantage for his own team, who are primarily downhill specialists. But the racer to take maximum advantage of this Russian set course was an American— Picabo Street, who won the USA's second gold medal of these games, after Jonny Moseley's victory in the mogul competition just one hour previously. This women's Super G course required excellent gliding capability. The ability to hold a low aerodynamic position and let the skis run smoothly and softly over easy terrain, and Picabo Street is undoubtedly the best glider among all the women skiers. Two Austrian downhill specialists, Michaela Dorfmeister and Alexandra Meissnitzer, took the silver and bronze medals. In fact, Dorfmeister was only one-hundredth of a second outside Picabo's time. The pre-race favorites, Seizinger and Isolde Kostner (ITA), finished outside the medals, confirming that this course was probably too flat to be worthy of an Olympic championship. Still, it's been a huge moral booster for Picabo Street, who's coming back from torn knee ligaments last season, and a severe concussion last week, and she is now surely the favorite for the women's downhill in a few days time.
— Martin Bell, Mountain Zone International Correspondent
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