Aamodt Proves a Wiz in Super-G

By CHRIS DUFRESNE

Feb. 17, 2002 12 AM PT

TIMES STAFF WRITER

SNOWBASIN, Utah — Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway has always been on top of the list--you can’t beat that last name in rankings of alphabetical order--yet he somehow continues his vertical ascent up his sport’s all-time chair lift.

After collecting his second gold medal in Salt Lake City by winning Saturday’s super-giant slalom at Snowbasin, a discipline he hasn’t won in six years, Aamodt has schussed from one of the best skiers of all time to maybe the best.

It is as tough to quantify these things in ski racing as it is in American football--Unitas or Montana? Still, Aamodt is presenting a strong enough case to take before Judge Mills Lane.

Aamodt or Jean-Claude Killy?

Aamodt or Toni Sailer?

Aamodt or Alberto Tomba?

Saturday, Aamodt joined these legends when he became the fourth man to win three Olympic gold Alpine medals.

“To win all those medals, it’s something you don’t plan to do,” Aamodt said. “Just happens.”

It says something when a guy can enter an Olympic event on the relative sly and win the thing, and that’s what Aamodt did under a brilliant blue Utah sky.

Not only did he beat a blue-ribbon field with his winning time of 1 minute 21.58 seconds, he did it on maybe the most treacherous Olympic super-G ever designed and did it against the Austrians, who finished second, third, fourth and seventh.

Stephan Eberharter, the favorite, will be kicking himself all the way back to his hometown of Stumm after making a mistake near the end and finishing a tenth of a second behind at 1:21.68. Andreas Schifferer won the bronze with a time of 1:21.83.

Aamodt also did it against American hopeful Daron Rahlves, the reigning super-G world champion, who should have carved ice circles around the Norwegian.

Rahlves instead ended up a distant eighth, .90 behind the winner and only one spot higher than unsung teammate Thomas Vonn, who skied his bib off and finished ninth from the 33rd start position.

How disappointed was Rahlves?

“You could say, ‘very,’” the 28-year-old said.

Aamodt said Wednesday’s win in combined meant more to him because it was his first Olympic gold since the 1992 Albertville Games and his sixth medal overall, more than any racer in Olympic Alpine skiing.

However, the really big Austrian guns, Eberharter and Fritz Strobl, don’t ski the combined, which some could argue diminishes Aamodt’s combined effort.

In the super-G, though, Aamodt tamed the very best. Eberharter has won three of the four World Cup super-Gs raced this year.

Aamodt’s victory earned him his seventh Olympic medal, adding to his record, and his 17th medal in Olympic or world championship competition.

Aamodt, 30, took Saturday’s race with a clever mix of brain and brawn. The course, set by Team Switzerland, was brutal, especially down the final pitch. Unlike the downhill, racers don’t get practice runs in super-G. They are allowed only to inspect the course visually.

Aamodt obviously did his homework, as four of the first 12 racers were disqualified after failing to make the gate right after a blind, final descent over Buffalo Jump.

Aamodt, skiing third, took the appropriate line and put up a time no one could match.

Eberharter, skiing seventh, made the critical gate, but carried too much speed and had to hit the brakes on the next two gates.

“I lost the gold with that stupid mistake,” said Eberharter, who adds silver to the bronze he won in the downhill.

Eberharter also offered an earful about not getting the proper course report from his coaches, saying “I should have gotten more information about what would happen to me on the last, steep slope.”

Aamodt said it’s all about knowing the course.

“I feel like I have a lot of experience,” Aamodt said. “I normally inspect the course quite well. I had no problem with the last pitch. That’s part of the game.”

Afterward, it seemed the man most uncomfortable with assessing his place in history was ... Aamodt.

He says he does not yet belong in the same class with such skiers as Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark and Italy’s Tomba.

“I still feel I have a lot to prove,” Aamodt said. “Stenmark, he won 86 World Cup victories, Tomba won 50, and so far I’ve won 20 victories. That’s where you see where the best skiers are, when you constantly ski well on the World Cup tour.”

Aamodt failed to note that Stenmark and Tomba were strictly slalom racers, and that Aamodt would no doubt have far more World Cup victories had he concentrated on one or two events instead of four.

Aamodt also noted that he has had the rare chance to compete in four Olympics dating to Albertville.

“It’s not always that great to compare with Olympics before because it always changed,” he said. “It was three events before [super-G was added]. It’s not fair to all champions.”

No Americans were left assessing their place in history.

Rahlves was crushed by his performance, in which he skied tentatively and had to live with the result.

“To walk away from Salt Lake with no medals,” he said, “that’s definitely not what I ... “

Rahlves stopped to collect himself.

“I worked hard this summer,” he continued. “I thought I was on the right plan, the right track, coming in right where I wanted to be. I didn’t make it happen today.”

Rahlves wasn’t even the fastest American in the downhill, finishing 16th to teammate Marco Sullivan’s ninth.

Saturday, Rahlves nearly was passed by another young American, Vonn, nicknamed “the Vonnerator.”

“It’s not a medal, but it feels like it for me,” said the 26-year-old from Newburgh, N.Y.

Vonn said he felt for Rahlves.

“Daron’s been under a tremendous amount of pressure,” Vonn said. “He’s the poster boy. He’s the guy marked to do it all, it’s a lot of weight to carry. I know he’s skiing well, he’s just probably trying too hard. He’s a good enough skier to be getting gold medals.”

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Aamodt’s Place in History

Most medals, Alpine skiing

7 Kjetil Andre Aamodt

Norway

(3 gold, 2 silver, 2 bronze)

5 Alberto Tomba

Italy

(3 gold, 2 silver)

Multiple Alpine skiing gold medal winners in one Olympics

3 Anton Sailer

Austria