Picabo Sees The Way To A Downhill Victory After Coming So Close

It didn’t take Picabo Street very long to live up to her own high expectations. She won Sunday’s World Cup downhill race at Cortina D’Ampezzo, Italy.

“I promised Friday, after a big disappointment, that my second victory would come soon, and I kept my word,” Street said after winning by nearly a halfsecond over Italian Barbara Merlin.

On Friday, the 23-year-old skier from Sun Valley, Idaho, was close to tears when German Michaela GergLeitner beat her by two-hundredths of a second.

This time, Street, a silver medalist in the downhill at the Lillehammer Olympics, was not to be denied. She completed her run down the Olimpia Tofane course in 1 minute, 24.75 seconds. Merlin, placing for the first time in a World Cup race, was .46 seconds behind.

Hilary Lindh, from Juneau, Alaska, leads the downhill standings with 340 points, 31 more than Street.

Third Sunday - for the second time in three days - was Katja Seizinger of Germany. Seizinger, the Olympic gold medalist in the downhill at Lillehammer, added to her lead in the overall World Cup standings.

She picked up 60 points to stand at 763, 64 ahead of Heidi Zeller-Baehler of Switzerland.

Alberto Tomba is unbeatable.

He extended his winning streak to seven straight World Cup slalom races at Wengen, Switzerland.

Michael von Gruenigen of Switzerland was second, followed by Jure Kosir of Slovenia.

With 700 points in the slalom standings, Tomba is virtually assured of that title. Michael Tritscher of Austria is second with 377.

Over halfway into the season, Tomba is well on course for the overall title - a target almost unreachable for a skier who does not compete in the two fastest disciplines, the downhill and the super-G. Tomba has 950 points in the overall, 400 more than five-time champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg.