Word: stenmark
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...carves the slope with a surgeon's precision, hugging the fall line, darting through slalom gates with eyeblink speed. Down below they call him "the silent Swede," but up here Ingemar Stenmark is eloquent, communicating easily with the mountain. He knows what it will give him and what he must give in return. In his powdery wake, he leaves competitors a curt challenge: "I set the pace, and now you guys beat...
Unless fate or a dark horse intervenes, Stenmark should leave Lake Placid with one gold medal, and possibly two. In his specialty, the giant slalom (a zigzag race through 30 or more gates), he is virtually unbeatable. In 1978-79, he won this race all ten times it was staged in World Cup competition; this season he is three for three. In the slalom (a shorter, steeper course with more gates and sharper turns), his win rate approaches 50%. Says Phil Mahre, his friend and rival: "He is really a fantastic skier, especially on a steep course. He changes edges...
...ahead, Phil Mahre (pronounced mare) is already the finest American male skier in history, a solid gold-medal prospect for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games in Lake Placid, N.Y. As the World Cup competition ends this week in Arosa, Switzerland, Mahre is second only to Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark, 22, who has won the overall championship three years...
...first year that all three alpine events were held, only two skiers, Austria's Toni Sailer and Jean-Claude Killy of France, have been good enough to manage a complete sweep. Innsbruck will probably not turn up such a man or woman. Sweden's Ingemar Stenmark could win two medals. The son of a farmer, Stenmark, 19, finished first or second in eleven of 15 slalom events last season and is leading the combined standings for this year's World Cup. He has the nerves that are as necessary as goggles to this competition. "A good thing...