Mountain Fan

February 1, 1999
A fairy tale isn't supposed to start like this, but it did. Women on the US Ski Team just hope there's still a fairy tale ending. Snow blotted out the opening event of the two week long World Alpine Ski Championships, erasing the chance for the games to begin on a high note with the women's super-G, now delayed until Wednesday.

Snow started flying early Monday morning and only increased as the day wore on. By race time, it was coming down too hard to see. Race judges delayed the start and an hour later announced the postponement.

"We don't know what the Super Bowl is. Everything here is football, football, football. This is the Super Bowl for us. In Austria, skiing is the top sport. We are going to win everything in Vail..."—An Austrian Fan

"It was coming down pretty hard for awhile," said US skier Caroline Lalive. "The main thing was the snow was covering the pine boughs, and with the flat light, it made it hard to see. That's part of ski racing. It happens all the time, especially in the speed events. There's nothing you can do about it."

The US's Megan Ganong

She's not quite the hometown girl, but Steamboat Springs' Lalive is close enough. The 19-year-old Ski Worlds rookie was anxious to get her first World Championships result Monday before heavy snow snuffed out the women's super-G. Seventh in the combined at the 1998 Winter Olympics at Nagano, Lalive will compete in all disciplines except the downhill. She's hoping for a strong run in at least one discipline, with eyes on a top-5 result while she's in her neck of the woods.

It was a party-party atmosphere in Vail Village Monday for the kickoff of the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships. Not only was Vail back in the spotlight, hosting the Worlds for the second time in a decade, the town was in full party mode, celebrating the ski races and the Broncos' second Super Bowl victory.

More than 2,000 people packed into the grandstands Monday for the opening race and though the women's super-G was postponed, it didn't detract from the atmosphere, especially for a rowdy contingent of Europeans, who were ringing bells, blowing horns and singing songs.

The Meissnitzer Fan Club

"We don't know what the Super Bowl is. Everything here is football, football, football. This is the Super Bowl for us," said Deiter Buecheler, a fan from Salzburg, Austria, who traveled to Vail with the Alexandra Meissnitzer fan club. "In Austria, skiing is the top sport. We are going to win everything in Vail."

The Americans are always a few steps behind the Europeans when it comes to emulating ski traditions, but things are slowly changing. For the first time, the US Ski Team has an official "American House," a sort of central lodge where ski team members, coaches, officials and US Ski Team guests can socialize and relax between races. Team members watched the Broncos win the Super Bowl on Sunday and a handful of parties and dinners are planned throughout the event.

"We've done it to give the people who support the team, the donors and the sponsors, a chance to get closer to the sport and closer to the athletes," said Tom Kelly, vice president of communications for the US team. "With the Worlds in the United States, we're trying to get people excited about the sport. So far it's been great."

While the women were waiting it out at Vail, the men were scoping out what awaits them in Tuesday's super-G on the fearsome Birds of Prey course down the road at Beaver Creek. Already known as one of the steepest, most challenging courses on the circuit, the racers got a one-hour freeskiing preview of the course before it was closed.

American Chris Puckett will be among the competitors in Tuesday's field, which is expected to be a launching pad for Austrian gold medalist Hermann Maier. While Maier is shooting for a win, Puckett is hoping to keep it close.

"The course is incredibly fun. I haven't skied anything that looks so exciting anywhere," Puckett said, hoping for a top-15. "You can't make too many mistakes on this course. There are so many knolls, curves, blind turns. It's a tough course."

Puckett said the US men's team trained for one hour on the Birds of Prey course, then for two hours on the Centennial Run at Beaver Creek before hitting the gym for stretching and hoops.

— Andrew Hood, Mountain Zone Correspondent