U.S. Faces Extremely Bad Odds

X, as in extreme or unknown, will mark spots at Big Bear Lake and Sestriere, Italy, this weekend.

Close to home, Snow Summit plays host to the inaugural Winter X Games starting Thursday, and in Europe, the World Alpine Ski Championships open Sunday with a U.S. ski team bereft of many of its biggest names.

To carry this theme a bit further, it could be said the Americans’ strange season is beginning to resemble an episode of “The X-Files.”

Already missing two-time World Cup downhill champion Picabo Street, the United States will begin competition in Monday’s men’s super-giant slalom without Tommy Moe, the 1994 Olympic downhill gold medalist and super-G silver medalist, and Kyle Rasmussen, winner of two World Cup races in 1995.

After finishing 30th in the Hahnenkamm downhill at Kitzbuehel, Austria, Moe cut his hand on broken glass at a party, severing a tendon.

“The injury required immediate surgery,” U.S. Skiing Vice President Tom Kelly said from Park City, Utah, “and an American doctor, David Kiefer, oversaw the operation. Tommy is en route home and will be out for three to six weeks.”

Moe, who has been struggling to recover from a knee injury suffered nearly two years ago, is not expected to race again before the season ends with the World Cup finals March 12-16 at Vail, Colo.

Rasmussen, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Jan. 18 during the Lauberhorn downhill at Wengen, Switzerland, is scheduled to undergo surgery by Dr. Richard Steadman at Vail this week, then return to his ranch near Angels Camp, Calif.

“He’s definitely through for the winter,” Kelly said.

This leaves AJ Kitt, who skipped the Wengen and Kitzbuehel downhills, and Chad Fleischer as the longshot U.S. entrants in the men’s speed events. Matt Grosjean has a slightly better shot at a medal in the slalom.

Among the women, Hilary Lindh tends to psych herself up for big races and is physically ready to do so again in the downhill and super-G. Megan Gerety, Moe’s longtime girlfriend, also could get back in the groove that took her to a fifth place in a World Cup downhill last month.

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The Winter X Games, to be televised by ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC, will attract about 150 “alternative” athletes competing for more than $200,000 in five sports--snowboarding, ice climbing, snow bicycling, super-modified shovel racing and cross-over.

Most of Snow Summit’s runs will remain open for recreational skiing and boarding.

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American chances for medals are somewhat brighter in the World Freestyle Ski Championships beginning Sunday at Nagano, Japan, site of the 1998 Olympics.

Jonny Moseley, Donna Weinbrecht and Liz McIntyre are solid contenders in moguls; Joe Pack and Nikki Stone have looked sharp in aerials and Ian Edmondson might break through in acro-skiing.

At Breckenridge, Colo., last weekend, Weinbrecht scored her 45th World Cup victory as McIntyre rested a sore shoulder; Moseley led after morning qualifications but fell on his top jump in the finals. Pack, 18, won his first World Cup aerials event, and Stone placed second. Edmondson finished third in his specialty.

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Another American, Thomas Jensen of Walnut, will be trying his skill in the moguls, but under the flag of Denmark.

Jensen, 29, who trains at Snow Summit, has dual citizenship because his mother is Danish, and he hopes to place high enough at Nagano to return next year for the Winter Olympics.

Denmark’s two-athlete freestyle team--Anja Bolbjerg is the other competitor--is coached by a Frenchman, Kim Truong.

Skiing Notes

Before taking a break for the world championships, the Alpine World Cup men’s troupe will stop at Laax, Switzerland, for a super-G today and at Schladming, Austria, for a parallel slalom Thursday; the women will be at Laax for a downhill and slalom with combined scoring Saturday and Sunday. . . . Kjetil-Andre Aamodt of Norway has taken the overall men’s lead with 701 points, 64 more than Luc Alphand of France. . . . Pernilla Wiberg of Sweden still tops the women’s standings with 1,239 points, a solid 294 ahead of Katja Seizinger of Germany.

The United States won five medals in last week’s World Snowboard Championships at San Candido, Italy. Two were gold--by Sondra Van Ert in the women’s giant slalom and by Mike Jacoby in the men’s parallel slalom. Jacoby also won a silver in the giant slalom.