TORINO: Alpine: Combined halfway over, Paerson and Kostelic poised for duel

TORINO: Alpine: Combined halfway over, Paerson and Kostelic poised for duelSESTRIERE, Italy – Under Friday night lights at Sestriere, 32 racers completed the slalom portion of the Olympic women’s combined. As usual, Janica Kostelic and Anja Paerson are poised for a duel. They will meet again at 2 p.m. Saturday to finish the race with a downhill, provided the weather improves.

The two skiers finished the two runs in second and fourth, respectively, surrounded by a number of racers who will probably drop back when the downhill portion finally takes place.

Each racer had her separate difficulties on Friday. Kostelic struggled with the flu and Paerson’s serviceman, Ales Sopotnik, was refused entry to the start area.

The downhill segment of the combined was scheduled to start at noon Friday, but high winds in Sestriere forced a postponement until Saturday at 2 p.m. Torino time.

Resi Stiegler, competing in her first Olympics, is the top American so far, sitting in ninth. Stiegler’s father, Pepi Stiegler, entered the day without an Olympic credential despite having won the slalom at the 1964 Games, and planning to watch the downhill from the main square in Sestriere.

Julia Mancuso is 11th and Kaylin Richardson 15th. Lindsey Kildow did not finish her second run, catching a tip on a gate and going down hard on the water-injected slope.

“I’m in a lot of pain,” said Kildow as she hobbled slowly out of the finish area. “I just need to go rest.”

Going into Saturday’s downhill, Austrian Marlies Schild leads the field with a time of 1 minute, 21.22 seconds for her two slalom runs at the Colle venue. Kostelic is second in 1:21.68 and Austrian Kathrin Zettel is third with a time of 1:21.75.

Kostelic has never in her career downplayed an injury. She doubled over with exhaustion or discomfort in the finish of both runs. She has been suffering from a flu virus all this week, according to her coaches.

“I definitely don’t feel well,” she said. “I feel really bad. 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.”

Stiegler’s combined time of 1:23.44 is 1.53 seconds behind Schild. Mancuso recorded a 1:24.60 and Richardson finished in 1:25.00.

“I don’t mind having it the way it is,” said Stiegler, asked about having the slalom before the downhill. “I’m ready to rip it.”

“The slalom’s where you can actually take risks,” said Stiegler. “It’s a little difficult going into the downhill after, because there’s nowhere you can really cut the line off.”

In Wednesday’s Olympic downhill, Mancuso was the top U.S. finisher, in seventh, while Kildow was just behind in eighth.

While the morning’s downhill portion was canceled, hundreds of course workers were fanned out across the slalom hill, 11 miles away. Torino’s organizers split the Olympic combined between two venues, putting the downhill at San Sicario and the slaloms at Sestriere.

The two venues are pretty different. San Sicario is a bit isolated, more a ski-area base village than a town, and home to the biathlon and ice-sliding sports; Sestriere is an Olympic hub, with an athletes’ village and a major press center, restaurants and thousands of aging condos.

Sestriere hosts the men’s and women’s tech events next week. Looming over the town is the rock-hard, glazed ice on the slalom hill, where all eyes will be on Giorgio Rocca on Feb. 25.

The women have raced only one combined this season, which was a super combi Jan. 22 at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Kostelic won, with Paerson second and Kildow third.

Kostelic was the winner of the 2002 Olympic women’s combined. Kildow was sixth in that race.

The last five Olympic women’s combined champions before Kostelic were Anita Wachter of Austria (Calgary 1988), Petra Kronberger of Austria (Albertville 1992), Perilla Wiberg of Sweden (Lillehammer 1994) and Katja Seizinger of Germany (Nagano 1998).

While the combined was taking place, Kristina Koznick was spending time on the mountain too, freeskiing to get used to the brace on her knee. Koznick’s first day back on snow since her knee injury was Thursday.

Two alpine races are scheduled for Saturday — the conclusion of the women’s combined and the men’s super G race.

Hermann Maier is a leading contender in the men’s super G. He has been at his home near Flachau, Austria, with his coach Andreas Evers, who will be the course-setter Saturday.

“It was very important for me to get away from this altitude,” Maier told reporters on Friday. “I lost a lot of power in my legs.”

Asked what he thought of the Torino 2006 medals, which have been described as compact discs and donuts, Maier said he had no opinion.

“I never saw a medal,” he said.