TORINO: Alpine: Weather should be a factor in women's super G

TORINO: Alpine: Weather should be a factor in women’s super G{mosimage}SAN SICARIO, Italy – The women’s Olympic super G most likely will be won in the waxroom as new, wet snow that fell most of the day Saturday has covered an already slow and straightforward course.

Given her convincing gold-medal performance in the downhill, World Cup super G leader Michaela Dorfmeister has to leave the start house as the odds-on favorite.

The San Sicario piste came under fire from competitors after the test event for being far too tame. While TOROC did a good job in adding terrain to the downhill, the women’s combined downhill which ran from Sunday’s super G start was tame and dull. Given the terrain available, the course setter will have a difficult time making the test challenging.

Weather will definitely play a factor in the super G. While racers sat huddled in tents near the stands much of Saturday, it poured at the finish of the Fraiteve Olympic venue for part of the afternoon prior to the race.

Overnight temperatures are expected to freeze the track.

Lindsey Kildow is the U.S. team’s ranking super G skier, though it was Julia Mancuso who surprised fans in last year’s Bormio World Championships super G when she laid down a bronze-medal performance. Veteran Kirsten Clark and Olympic rookie Libby Ludlow round out the U.S. squad.

The big gun, Janica Kostelic, who has been fighting the flu much of the week, crushed the downhill and took gold in the combined. She will be a factor in the race, flu and all.

Fellow Austrians Alexandra Meissnitzer and Andrea Fischbacher are a threat, while Switzerland’s Nadia Styger are challengers for the podium as well. Rounding out the field of favorites will be Sweden’s Anja Paerson, the bronze medalist in the downhill.