SKIING : On Slope Meter, U.S. Women Stay Way Ahead of the Men

Hilary Lindh’s recent downhill victory in the World Alpine Ski Championships at Sestriere, Italy, continued a long trend of excellence by American women ski racers, especially in the big events.

Once again, the men were nowhere to be found on the podium.

Since Alpine racing began on a major international scale, 23 U.S. women have won medals in the Winter Olympics or world championships, only eight U.S. men.

Lindh, who will be at Mammoth Mountain for World Cup races Thursday and Friday, also has a silver medal from the 1992 Winter Games, one of 17 Olympic medals

won by American women since 1936. By contrast, American men have eight--and brothers Phil and Steve Mahre and Tommy Moe accounted for five of those.

The usual explanation for this disparity over the last 60 years is that male athletes in this country have more opportunities to gain fame and riches in the big-time professional sports, whereas ski racing has been one of the few sports where women might distinguish themselves. Of course, all that is changing now.

STANDARD OF GREATNESS

An Olympic medal, more than any other achievement, has provided the main standard for greatness with the public, and in addition to current competitors, Lindh and Picabo Street, downhill silver medalist in the 1994 Games at Lillehammer, Norway, 11 women are on this honor roll.

It all began with Gretchen Fraser, who stunned the smug European skiing establishment by winning the slalom in the 1948 Winter Games at St, Moritz, Switzerland.

Fraser’s accomplishment is described in a new book, “Gretchen’s Gold,” by award-winning ski journalist Luanne Pfeifer of Malibu, who tells the story of this remarkable and courageous woman’s life while re-creating those early, vintage years of the sport.

All of the characters and locales are there--especially Averell Harriman and Sun Valley, Idaho, where Gretchen and Don, her husband of 53 years, spent much of their lives before they died in early 1994, only 36 days apart.

Despite ongoing battles with cancer and heart trouble, Gretchen Fraser continued skiing virtually until her death, at 75. She was active in the Special Olympics, among other causes, and perhaps the late Bill Janss, Sun Valley’s owner from 1964 to ‘77, provided the most appropriate epitaph: “I think she spent three-quarters of her time helping others.”

“Gretchen’s Gold” is available from Pictorial Histories Publishing Company, Inc., 713 South Third Street West, Missoula, Mont., 59801, and selected bookstores.

OLYMPIC HONOR ROLL

After Fraser showed the way, American women kept the Olympic medals coming:

--Andrea Mead (Lawrence), who later became a prominent citizen of Mammoth Lakes, golds in slalom and giant slalom, Oslo, 1952.

--Penny Pitou, silvers in downhill and giant slalom, and Betsy Snite (Riley), silver in slalom, Squaw Valley, 1960.

--Jean Saubert, silver in giant slalom and bronze in slalom, Innsbruck, 1964.

--Barbara Ann Cochran, gold in slalom, and Susie Corrock, bronze in downhill, Sapporo, 1972.

--Cindy Nelson, bronze in downhill, Innsbruck, 1976.

--Debbie Armstrong and Christin Cooper (Tache), gold and silver in giant slalom, Sarajevo, 1984.

--Lindh, silver in downhill, and Diann Roffe-Steinrotter, silver in giant slalom, Albertville, 1992.

--Roffe-Steinrotter, gold in super-G, and Street, silver in downhill, Lillehammer, 1994.

And this list doesn’t include perhaps the most talented U.S. female ski racer, who won the overall World Cup in 1983 but never got an Olympic medal: Tamara McKinney.

QUICK TURNS

Another recommendation for ski-nostalgia buffs, and anyone else, for that matter: “Fire on the Mountain,” a recently released documentary film about the U.S. 10th Mountain Division’s exploits in World War II. . . . The men on the Alpine World Cup circuit will race in a slalom and giant slalom this weekend at Shigakogen, Japan, with Luc Alphand of France holding a 1,072-879 lead over runner-up Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway. . . . American Eric Bergoust won the Freestyle World Cup aerials competition Sunday at Meiringen-Hasliberg, Switzerland. . . . Host Norway topped the final medal count in the World Nordic Ski Championships at Trondheim with 11, including four golds, but Russia, with 10 total, had six golds.