LONDON -- Last year, the Olympics; this winter, the world's top ski racers will have their eyes on world championship medals as the main focus of their gruelling four month-season on the Alpine slopes.
The World Championships will be held Jan. 30-Feb. 10 at Bormio and Santa Caterina Valfurva in northern Italy. Will they confirm some of the Sarajevo surprise winners, or be dominated by the 'old guard' and top stars who failed at or were excluded from the 1984 Olympics?
The World Cup tour starts also in Italy (the women at Courmayeur Dec. 1, the men at Sestriere Dec. 2), and finishes at Heavenly Valley, California, March 21-24.
Many familiar names from a decade or more of ski racing will be missing from the circuit this year due to retirement. They include American Phil Mahre (three-time overall World Cup winner and Olympic slalom champion) and his twin brother, Steve (1982 giant slalom world champion and slalom silver medalist behind Phil at Sarajevo), now running their own clothing company.
The three longest-serving women in World Cup racing have also retired: Hanni Wenzel of Liechtenstein, two-time overall Cupholder and 1980 double Olympic champion; West Germany's Irene Epple and Fabienne Serrat of France.
Canada has lost both its men's and women's team leaders -- Steve Podborski, the last of the original 'Crazy Canucks,' and Gerry Sorensen, 1982 downhill world champion. The Canadians face a season of rebuilding but have their sights on the 1988 Winter Olympics at home in Calgary.
Many veterans will be back, among them Austrian downhill star Franz Klammer. He will be aiming to outsmart eclectic American Bill Johnson, who smashed a gaping hole through European men's downhill domination last year by winning three World Cup races (out of a total of four finishes) and living up to his boast of becoming Olympic champion by taking gold at Sarajevo.
Sweden's incomparable Ingemar Stenmark, now a married man with a one-year-old daughter, will again be seeking a fourth victory in the overall World Cup, a ninth slalom title and eighth giant slalom Cup as well as further world championship crowns.
Even with 79 World Cup victories (37 in slalom and 42 in giant slalom) already under his belt, 29-year-old Stenmark is just as eager as ever to win a few more battles before he retires.
'I have practiced as hard as ever and the feeling for the sport is still there,' said Stenmark, who resumes battle with Austrian-born Marc Girardelli, who races for Luxembourg. They dominated men's slalom racing last year but both were excluded from the Olympics.
Switzerland's Pirmin Zurbriggen and Erika Hess failed to win Olympic medals but had the consolation of taking the men's and women's overall World Cups last winter, while another Sarajevo 'failure,' American Tamara McKinney, will be back to challenge Hess again for the women's crown.
Austria, after its greatest setback as a dominant Alpine nation in the 1984 Olympics, where Anton Steiner's bronze in the men's downhill was its only medal, is confidently looking for revenge this time around.
'We can't be as unlucky this season as we were last winter,' said men's coach Karl (Charlie) Kahr. 'I am very positive about the 1985 Alpine World Championships.'
This winter's World Cup calendar is slightly less hectic than in previous years, when there were many complaints about too many races and too much travelling.
The North American events are at the end of the World Cup schedule this winter, instead of being sandwiched between European legs of the tour, and there are no races in Scandinavia or in Warsaw Pact countries.
As a foretaste of the season, the annual World Series races will be run, on artificial snow, at Sansicario, Italy, Nov. 24-27.
An assessment of the hopes and prospects of the leading Alpine ski teams for the coming season: United States With the loss of Phil and Steve Mahre, backbone of the squad since 1975, new alpine program director Harald Schoenhaar sees the spotlight in the U.S. men's team shifting firmly to the downhill group led by Bill Johnson and Doug Lewis.
'Johnson proved this past winter that he was among the world's best, and Lewis made steady progress. The 1985 season could signal the emergence of the U.S. downhill team as a rival to the Austrians and Swiss,' said Schoenhaar.
As for successors to the Mahres in slalom and giant slalom, Schoenhaar named Tiger Shaw, Mark Tache, John Buxman and Hansi Standteiner as potential forces, after having 'waited their turns for years.'
The women's team also suffered the loss due to retirement of Christin Cooper, Olympic giant slalom silver medalist and winner of three medals at the 1982 World Championships.
But Schoenhaar returns 1983 overall World Cup champion Tamara McKinney, Olympic giant slalom gold medalist Debbie Armstrong, downhill specialist Holly Beth Flanders and the perennial Cindy Nelson as his top women racers.
'The women's program will once again be one of the strongest on the circuit and depth will once again be the trademark of the American ladies,' Schoenhaar said. 'We are encouraged and optimistic.' Canada Although not a member of the original 'Crazy Canucks,' Todd Brooker skis with the same abandon that became their trademark and at 24 he is the veteran of a men's squad that is light on international experience.
Change isn't restricted to the skiers. Glen Wurtele, 33, has come on to replace Joey Lavigne as the head coach and there are nine new members of the 14-member staff, including former Austrian World Cup coach Heinz Stohl.
Brooker, fully recovered from a knee injury last winter, starts this season ranked eighth in the downhill. He is looking forward to taking over from Podborski as team leader.
'Guidance is sort of what the team has been built on over the years,' Brooker said. 'I don't mind (providing guidance) at all. That's what got me to this stage of my career.'
Gary Athans, 23, is Canada's second best downhill bet after Brooker. He improved steadily last season and hopes to crack the top 10 this time out.
In the women's squad, despite the loss of the now-married Sorensen, only three of the eight members are newcomers and all are experienced in at least two disciplines.
'Every girl has at least two areas they do well in,' said women's head coach Currie Chapman. 'It's a well-balanced and well-rounded team.'
Downhiller Laurie Graham heads the list of veterans. Karen Stemmle is hoping to make the top five in downhill by the end of the season, whileall-rounders Liisa Savijarvi and Diana (Dee Dee) Haight are other strong hopefuls. Austria The leadership of the Austrian team was shaken up after the Sarajevo debacle and former star Karl Schranz came in as head of the newly-formed 'racing committee,' supervising the training plans and overall activities of the coaches. Charlie Kahr, however, retained charge of the men's team while Andreas Rauch was appointed as new coach for the women's team.
Downhill racing remains the main strength of the men's team with Franz Klammer, the l976 Olympic downhill champion and five-time Cup titlist, entering his 12th World Cup season.
'I really enjoyed training for this coming season since I am positive I can show many youngsters that I am still on top of my abilities,' 31-year-old Klammer said.
Other main downhill assets are Harti Weirather, the l982 world champion, and Erwin Resch. Weirather said he will aim at the World Cup downhill title rather than defending his world championship crown 'because it is higher rated in our sport than just a world championship title that often depends more on luck than ability.'
Hans Enn and Anton Steiner will be Austria's only candidates for the overall World Cup title, competing in all three disciplines, while Robert Zoller, Franz Gruber and Klaus Heidegger will compete in slalom, Austria's weakest event. France In addition to Fabienne Serrat, its most experienced racer, the French women's team also lost downhiller Marie-Luce Waldmeier to retirement. But veteran slalomist Perrine Pelen, who won two medals in Sarajevo, will be back to lead the team again.
The French are also pinning hopes on 1982 World Cup downhill champion Marie-Cecile Gros-Gaudenier returning to top form after a car crash and racing injuries blighted her career for the past two seasons.
Other strong members of the French team are Carole Merle and Catherine Quittet, downhill specialists who can also do well in giant slalom, and giant slalomist Anne-Flore Rey.
In the men's team, the continuing barren times since Jean-Claude Killy's glorious years in the late 1960s have led to Switzerland's Roland Francey being appointed team coach.
Francey, formerly slalom and giant slalom coach for the Swiss men's team, has a hard task ahead of him. But he hopes to bring the best out of Didier Bouvet, slalom bronze medalist at Sarajevo, and bring to fruition the talents of 19-year-old former world junior champion Franck Piccard, France's best (or only) downhill prospect.
Italy
Despite Paoletta Magoni's surprise gold medal at Sarajevo, Italy's women's hopes rest mainly on a pair of familiar names who join Magoni in the top 15 pre-season slalom rankings -- Maria Rosa Quario and Daniela Zini.
The Italian women spent two weeks last summer on the snows of South America working on their race weaknesses, especially in the downhill and giant slalom where no Italians rank in the top 25.
'We're far behind in the giant slalom,' said coach Daniele Cimini, 'and we tried to correct that. Our objective is to return Zini, Quario and Magoni to positions of honor but above all to prepare the younger racers.'
Italy's aspirations in men's competition look bleak unless veteran Paolo de Chiesa, in his 11th season, can finally succeed in regularly completing two consecutive race runs without a fall.
De Chiesa, along with Alex Giorgi, starts the season in the top-ranked group of slalomists. Giorgi and Robert Erlacher are Italy's best prospects in giant slalom, with big Michael Mair aiming for success in downhill and super-giant slalom.
'Giorgi is recovering from a tremendous calf injury suffered during training, but everyone else is OK,' men's coach Sepp Messner said. 'Now we just have to see how tough the competition will be.' Sweden Ingemar Stenmark, who last season won the giant slalom World Cup for the seventh time but was narrowly beaten for both the overall and slalom trophies, sees his biggest challenge this winter as the World Championships.
In 1978 he took both the slalom and giant slalom titles, a performance he repeated at the 1980 Olympics, and three years ago retained the slalom world championship crown while coming second to American Steve Mahre in the giant slalom.
Stenmark was not eligible for the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, being a professional, and is now determined to win another World Championship title instead.
'Of course I should have liked to participate in the Olympics. But they did not let me. Therefore, the World Championships is important for me,' said Stenmark.
The powerful Swedish slalom team will also include Stig Strand and Bengt Fjallberg (bronze medalist at the 1982 World Championships) who both also come from Stenmark's Arctic hometown of Taernaby, as well as Jonas Nilsson, who placed fourth in the Sarajevo Olympic slalom, and Lars-Goran Halvarsson. Switzerland and Liechtenstein The Swiss, winners of the Nations Cup three times in the last four years, will again be a powerhouse as all big-name competitors continue their careers and some hopefuls are making fast progress.
Two-time overall World Cup winner Erika Hess, in particular, wants to make up for her poor showing at the Olympics where she failed to gain a medal.
'It's getting harder and harder to push myself,' she admits, 'but if I'm having excellent results at the beginning of the season, then I hope to defend my (slalom, giant slalom and combined) world titles at Bormio.
Olympic downhill champion Michela Figini, listed No. 1 in the FIS rankings and who at 18 has just touched her potential, will also be back alongside downhill World Cupholder Maria Walliser.
Ariane Ehrat in downhill, Brigitte Gadient, Monika Hess and Brigiite Oertli in slalom, also belong to the first starting group in their specialties.
In the men's team, the depth is even greater, except in slalom. Five Swiss, led by defending downhill Cup champion Urs Raeber and overall World Cup winner Pirmin Zurbriggen, are among the top 15 downhill starters, and there are four in the giant slalom, where Zurbriggen is ranked No. 1 and Olympic champion Max Julen is No. 4.
In downhill, veteran Peter Mueller, who salvaged a poor season last winter by taking the Olympic silver medal, has high hopes. 'I'm healthy again, and I changed my ski supplier,' Mueller said. 'I expect a lot from this season.'
Liechtenstein has lost not only Hanni Wenzel but also the arrangement whereby the top skiers of the tiny principality practiced alongside the Swiss, under the same coaches, for a fee of 100,000 Swiss francs.
'The Swiss decision to discontinue this was not emotional, I'm sure of that, it was straight business,' opined Wenzel, who has now entered a restaurateurs' school.
Despite the retirements at the end of last season of Hanni and her sister Petra, the Wenzel family still has Andreas as one of the top men's all-rounders.
He will be supported by Ursula Konzett and Paul Frommelt as the flagbearers of the Liechtenstein team.
