Word: slalomers
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Stenmark only rarely competes in the downhill; its headlong plunge does not appeal to his sense of precision. He is strictly a specialist in the slalom and the giant slalom, fascinated by their intricate swoops and switchbacks. At Innsbruck four years ago, Stenmark fell in the slalom and had to content himself with a bronze in the giant slalom. He came to Lake Placid determined to take the big prize that had escaped him, a gold medal...
Thousands climbed up Whiteface Mountain to watch Stenmark in the first of two runs in the giant slalom. At the countdown, Stenmark poled powerfully out of the start house and into the first few tightly set gates. He was minutely off on the turns at first, then settled into the swoopingly rhythmic gate-to-gate dance that makes his style instantly recognizable. Just at the penultimate gate, Stenmark slid down so low on his right ski that his body was canted almost parallel to the snow. For an instant, it looked as though his try for gold would vanish...
Something about the second run of the giant slalom seems to evoke all of Stenmark's skills and desire. Once, he ranked 23rd after the initial round and still managed to win, since first place is decided by the combined times of the two runs. On the second run down Whiteface, Stenmark swept down the course in a style close to perfection. His timing, his anticipation of the gates, his relaxed air, gave the run a preternatural grace. A cat can slink across a dressertop dense with perfume bottles and barely brush them with its fur; Stenmark went through...
Three days later, Stenmark skied the shorter slalom course with such artistry that he won his second gold medal, plucking it away from Phil Mahre, 22, probably the finest male skier the U.S. has ever produced. After his ankle injury on the same Whiteface course a year ago, Mahre began skiing toward a surprising comeback. In his first race in Europe this winter, he did well enough to earn World Cup points. Said Team Director Bill Marolt: "Who could have believed he could do it in his first race? God, what an athlete...
...overtook Mahre in the second run and snared the gold by half a second. Still, Mahre's silver made him only the third American man ever to win an Olympic alpine skiing medal of any kind. (Billy Kidd took a silver and Jimmy Heuga a bronze in the slalom at Innsbruck in 1964, the only other medalists.) Mahre went over and congratulated Stenmark, and then the two super skiers, who used to train together, sat side by side in the sun like old friends and watched the rest of the competition...