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Resi reigns in Italy

Slalom sensation leads U.S. women with sixth-place finish at World Championships.

By Michael Pearlman

In just two seasons on the World Cup circuit, Resi Stiegler has proven she has a knack for skiing her best under pressure.

Battling illness and fatigue, the 19-year-old Jackson native posted the second-fastest second run to finish sixth in the women's slalom at the FIS World Championships in Santa Caterina, Italy, Friday.

"I'm happy with how it came out; I do better when there's a ton of pressure on me," Stiegler said. "During the first run, I had no energy to get down the hill. In the second run, I thought less and figured I had nothing to lose. I can't believe how much I moved up."

Stiegler's best-ever World Cup finish came just days after she came down with a bad cold while taking a three-day break from the circus-like atmosphere at the World Championships. Stiegler had already competed in the combined event on Feb. 4, which features an abbreviated downhill and two slalom runs. In that event she straddled a gate on her final slalom run, finishing 21st after being forced to hike back uphill for the missed gate.

"I got drug tested after that hike," she said. "They must have thought I was on something because of how fast I climbed back up to the gate."

In hopes of avoiding an illness that had been sweeping through the athletes' village, Stiegler left the World Championships between the combined event and the slalom, traveling to her godmother's house in Lago di Garda, Italy. She returned to the team's hotel in Santa Caterina only to get sick three days before the women's slalom.

"It didn't get too bad but it totally zapped my energy. I had no energy for three days, even during training runs," Stiegler said. "It didn't affect my technique, but I didn't attack the course as much on my first run."

After her first slalom run, Stiegler sat in 15th place, 1.78 seconds behind the leader. She regrouped for the late afternoon finale, however, and her second-run time of 56.30 seconds was nine one-hundredths of a second faster than winner Janica Kostelic of Croatia. The top six finishers at the World Championships are awarded trophies, and she was recognized in the postrace ceremonies.

"All year I've been getting in the top three or top five in one of my runs," Stiegler said. "That's my goal ­ to put down two fast runs and then I'd definitely be in the top five."

It was Stiegler's second top-10 finish at the Super Bowl of ski racing. At the 2003 World Championships, she finished 10th in the combined event and was 19th in the slalom. Though pleased with her improvement, the daughter of Olympic gold medalist Pepi Stiegler admits to being impatient in her quest to win.

"I expect a lot from myself. I come down and I want to be on the podium so badly," she said. "Sometimes I have to step back and say, 'Whoa, you're 19 and you've got a long career ahead of you.' I'm learning that now."

Midway through her second season as a World Cup racer, Stiegler says she's pleased with her progress in slalom, but admits she has more work to do in giant slalom. Entering the World Championships she was ranked 14th in slalom after finishing 21st overall in the standings last year. But a preseason goal to improve her giant slalom skiing has gone largely unfulfilled as she's struggled with the grippy snow and flatter courses prevalent in women's World Cup races.

"If you put me on anything that's icy and steep I dominate," she said. "I grew up on Snow King, that's what I can ski. I need to work on my skiing in the flats."

Stiegler will race next in the World Junior Championships Feb. 21, but she's most excited about a break in her schedule that will allow her to return to Jackson from Feb. 28 to March 3. After a relentless skiing and training schedule last season led to shin problems, Stiegler's coaches have urged her to take more time off from racing this season, an adjustment she admits has been difficult to make.

"I've never had so many days off from racing in my life until this season and it's weird for me," Stiegler said. "It helps your energy level and it's a whole new way of thinking. It slows things down and helps you focus on the next race and not the next 10 races."
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