Street Wins, Wraps Up First Downhill Crown By An American Woman

Picabo Street broke into tears and kissed the crystal globe symbolizing her World Cup downhill title - the first for an American woman.

“I didn’t know what my reaction would be, but as soon as I held it I started crying immediately,” Street said after winning Wednesday’s final World Cup downhill in Bormio, Italy. “I’ve been waiting for a week now because I knew it was mine.”

Street, a 23-yearold from Sun Valley, Idaho, dominated the women’s downhill circuit this season, capturing six of the nine downhill races. She accumulated so many points, the title was hers even before the start of the World Cup finals on Wednesday.

Street and teammate Hilary Lindh of Juneau, Alaska, combined to win eight of the nine downhills this season. Street finished with 709 points, followed by Lindh with 493 and Olympic champion Katja Seizinger of Germany with 445.

Lindh finished fourth Wednesday behind Italy’s Barbara Merlin.

“It’s the first time in the history of U.S. skiing that a woman has won the downhill title and it’s been 11 years since an American has won the cup. It’s so emotional,” Street said.

Tamara McKinney won the World Cup title in slalom in 1984.

“My immediate dream is to go home, give my folks a hug and see my dog. My dream for the future is to hold the bigger cup,” said Street referring to the overall World Cup title.

Street started off the downhill season with a crash in the first race at Vail, but made an immediate comeback with a win in Lake Louise. She then went on to finish second in Cortina, Italy, followed by a string of five consecutive wins.

The spirited American actually credits the fall in Vail for her later successes.

“When you take a big digger and walk away from it, it can give you more confidence than anything else in the world,” said Street, who raced Wednesday with a fractured finger.

After winning almost every race she competed in, Street says she’s now ready to look past only the downhill cup.

“Next year, I’m going to branch out, I’m going to broaden my horizons and branch over into the technical events and try and shoot for a top three in the overall,” she said.

Switzerland’s Vreni Schneider, the defending World Cup champion and Olympic slalom champion, placed ninth in a race which is not her favorite and leads Seizinger by 19 points in the overall standings.

The American men didn’t match Street’s success, but AJ Kitt had a terrific day, finishing second in the downhill run several hours after the women’s race.

Alberto Tomba, sitting in an easy chair at his home near Bologna, clinched his first men’s overall World Cup title. He watched on TV as Marc Girardelli, the only skier who could catch him, finished 17th in the men’s downhill.

Luc Alphand won the men’s downhill in 1 minute, 53.50 seconds to claim the season downhill title.