Another Day, Another Fall for Kildow
She Walks Away, but Cannot Finish Combined Event
After zipping through 20 of the course's 49 gates on her second slalom run, Kildow loses her balance and falls. She lay motionless for several seconds, but was able to walk away.
(By Shaun Botterill -- Getty Images)
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Saturday, February 18, 2006
SESTRIERE, Italy, Feb. 17 -- Already battered from a vicious crash earlier this week, American medal hopeful Lindsey Kildow took another tumble Friday during the second slalom run of the women's combined event. Unlike Monday, when she was placed on a stretcher and airlifted by helicopter to a Turin hospital, Kildow walked away, albeit stiff-legged and with a grimace.
"My back," she said when asked how she felt. "I'm in a lot of pain."
Asked whether she would race again at the Olympics, Kildow mustered a smile and said: "I hope so. I just need to go rest."
Kildow's second crash in five days will provide that time to re-knit. Having failed to finish her slalom run, she's ineligible to complete the combined, which consists of one downhill run and two slalom runs. The downhill is traditionally held first, on the same day, but was postponed until Saturday because of gusting winds atop the course at San Sicario, where more than four inches of snow had fallen overnight.
Olympic officials went ahead with the two slalom runs, held on the Colle run of the ski resort here during the late afternoon and early evening.
Austria's Marlies Schild, who won silver in Monday's downhill, set the pace, completing both runs in 1 minute 22.22 seconds to take the lead in the three-legged event entering Saturday's downhill.
Defending Olympic champion Janica Kostelic was impressive in her debut in the 2006 Games, taking second (1:21.68). But the Croatian, who won four Alpine medals at the 2002 Olympics, raised doubt about whether she'll complete the event, either, citing her own health concerns. Kostelic, 24, sits atop the overall World Cup standings but withdrew from the downhill because of an abnormally high pulse rate.
"I feel really bad," Kostelic told reporters afterward, looking wan and weary. "There's no reason to compete while I'm feeling like this. I'm very tired, and I'm not 100 percent sure I'll start tomorrow."
Three Americans remain in the event but lag well behind, making a podium finish improbable.
Resi Stiegler, 21, sits in ninth and was all smiles as she shimmied for TV cameras after completing the first run of her Olympic debut. Stiegler, whose father, Pepi, won three Olympic medals for Austria, has a knack for drawing attention to herself with her bubbly personality and unconventional accessories. She sported three strands of pearls on Friday, partly to get over her disappointment over being informed she couldn't compete with her signature tiger ears attached to her helmet.
"The Olympics-something wouldn't let me wear them," Stiegler said, unclear which governing body put the kibosh on her fun.
A slalom specialist, Stiegler faces long odds of making up a two-second deficit against the world's top downhill skiers in order to win a medal. Still, U.S. teammate Ted Ligety pulled off a performance nearly as implausible in the men's combined, vaulting from 32nd after the downhill leg event to win gold.
