Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, February 14, 1992 TAG: 9202140164
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: ALBERTVILLE, FRANCE LENGTH: Medium
AMERICAN SPIRITS PICK UP
AUSTRIA PULLED ahead of Germany 12-10 in the medals race with Petra Kronberger's gold and Anita Wachter's silver in women's combined skiing Thursday. Germany came up empty on a grand day for host France and 1994 Winter Games host Norway.\ A waltz by figure skater Paul Wylie, a golden oldie by the U.S. hockey team and a hot new tune by Donna Weinbrecht on the slopes brought the Americans out of a deep funk at the Winter Games.
Wylie leaped out of the shadow of teammates Christopher Bowman and Todd Eldredge to place third behind Ukrainian Viktor Petrenko and Czechoslovakian Petr Barna going into Saturday's final program.
"Ouch!" Bowman said, staring at his scores for required elements.
"Whoops!" he said, shaking his head at the second row of numbers for presentation.
With those two words, the U.S. men's figure skating champion, who came here hoping to win a gold, summed up his disappointment at placing seventh after the short program. His only chance of winning an Olympic medal now appears to be in Lillehammer in 1994.
Wylie, 10th in 1988 and the self-described "old man" of the U.S. team at 27, leaped in the air when he finished his program featuring the most intricate step sequences of the night to the music of Ravel's "La Valse (The Waltz)."
He sprinted off the ice into the arms of coaches Mary and Evy Scotvold to await marks as high as 5.8.
"I'm psyched," Wylie said. "I felt I had to prove myself. Everyone has said from here is just the frosting on the cake. I decided I really like frosting."
Bowman's lackluster performance put Bowman seventh. Eldredge, the two-time U.S. champion attempting to overcome back problems that sidelined him for the U.S. championships, struggled to wind up ninth.
The undefeated U.S. hockey team is in better position, reaching the medal round for the first time since the golden days of 1980 with a 4-1 romp over 1988 silver medalist Finland.
On the slopes, the acrobatic, whimsical and wild took over as Weinbrecht won the first Olympic gold medal in moguls freestyle skiing.
"It's delirium. It's the start of two weeks of partying," said Edgar Grospiron, whose gold medal in men's moguls skiing helped France, with six medals, match its medals total for the past four Winter Olympics combined.
France's Olivier Allamand won the silver, and American Nelson Carmichael won the bronze.
Norway won its second and third golds and a bronze. Speed skater Geir Karlstad slushed through a hard rain to take the men's 5,000 meters, cross-country skier Vegard Ulvang won the men's 10-kilometer race and women's moguls skier Stine Hattestad won a bronze.
Karlstad made up for his disappointing seventh place in 1988, when he was heavily favored. But that didn't stop him from joining in a chorus of complaints about the race conditions.
"It wasn't equal competition for everyone and that is not good for the Olympics," said Karlstad, who benefited from a freshly smoothed surface.
Petra Kronberger, 22, the queen of Alpine skiing, slalomed flawlessly through fresh, fluffy snow to complete her victory in the combined event after skiing the fastest combined downhill Wednesday.
Anita Wachter, who won the combined gold in 1988, was far behind in second, with France's Florence Masnada taking the bronze.
American Krista Schmidinger, second in the downhill, her specialty, was 11th overall.