Daily Updates — Live from Nagano

Women's Downhill Color Commentary by Martin Bell [click for audio]

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Transcribed from Audio:
A few minutes after the Super G finish, the mist cleared up and the women's downhill was held in perfect conditions. Germany's Katja Seizinger made up for her disappointment in the Super G by winning gold on a downhill that was icy, fast, and technically demanding.

Two of the other favorites, Austrian Renate Goetschl and Italy's Isolde Kostner crashed out, although Kostner's crash was due to a faulty binding release. This allowed in Sweden's Pernilla Wiberg and French woman Florence Masnada for the silver and bronze medals.

Picabo Street of Sun Valley, Idaho, was unable to adjust to the tougher icy conditions, probably due to a lack of training earlier this season, and finished in sixth. In a way, the rain that fell on Nagano two days ago has proved to be a blessing in disguise as it transformed snow into ice, turning a relatively easy downhill course, that had been criticized by Seizinger, into a truly challenging test. Seizinger will now go into the giant slalom confident that she can take on the favorite in that event, Deborah Compagnoni.

Pernilla Wiberg has underlined her statement as the best female all around skier of the 1990's and will almost certainly retain her Olympic title in the combined event.

— Martin Bell, Mountain Zone International Correspondent