U.S. Skier Shines In GS
All that's missing for Erik Schlopy and the U.S. ski team is first place.
Schlopy finished .19 seconds behind Christoph Gruber of Austria in Thursday's World Cup giant slalom, the highest finish for a U.S. skier in the event since 1983 and the best result overall in what is becoming a standout season for the American men.
"I was carried by the wave of the team's success," said Schlopy, who came in fourth in a giant slalom in his hometown of Park City, Utah, last month. "Soon that wave is going to push one of us to a win."
Teammate Bode Miller, who was tripped up in the first run in Bormio, came in third in Val d'Isere's giant slalom last weekend.
Schlopy had to recover from a near-spill in the middle of the second run to come in with the best American giant slalom result since Phil Mahre won the final race of the 1983 season in Furano, Japan, when Schlopy was 10 years old.
Daron Rahlves was the last American man to win a World Cup race, taking the downhill at Kvitfjell, Norway, last season. U.S. men failed to win a single Alpine medal at the last Winter Olympics.
Gruber notched his first World Cup victory with a combined time of 2 minutes, 12.33 seconds.
Sweden's Frederik Nyberg, who led after the first run, finished third at 2:12.76. Switzerland's Michael Von Gruenigen maintained his lead in the giant slalom standings with a fourth-place finish.
Gruber, who finished the first run in seventh place, moved up with the fourth-best time in the second run. It was only his second giant slalom race after dropping out at Soelden, Austria.
"I would have been happy with a place among the first 10, but the second run went extremely well," Gruber said. "Now I need some time in order to realize this victory."
The former world junior giant slalom champion had a previous best of 11th, last year in Saalbach, Austria.
Herman Maier, the defending overall and giant slalom champion, finished 10th after an error-filled second run, falling 40 points back of Von Gruenigen in the standings.
Maier still leads the overall standings by more than 200 points.
The International Ski Federation originally banned Maier from this race for breaking the time limit on his inspection run at Val 'Isere last Sunday. But the ban was lifted on appeal and Maier hoped to recapture the giant slalom lead,
Thursday's race, which was delayed 30 minutes for fog, was originally scheduled for Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, but was moved because of warm temperatures there.
©2000 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed