Are: U.S. coach sees great potential in super G

ARE, Sweden — U.S. women’s head coach Patrick Riml said Monday night that he can’t recall a time when two American racers came into a World Championships as not only serious medal contenders but medal favorites.
    The way Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso are racing these days, Riml may be celebrating well into the night after today’s super G. Start time is 12:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. ET).
ARE, Sweden — U.S. women’s head coach Patrick Riml said Monday night that he can’t recall a time when two American racers came into a World Championships as not only serious medal contenders but medal favorites.
    The way Lindsey Kildow and Julia Mancuso are racing these days, Riml may be celebrating well into the night after today’s super G. Start time is 12:30 p.m. (6:30 a.m. ET).
    “That was way before my time,” said the Austria native Riml about such dominance by U.S. racers. “We also have 15, 16 podiums before World Championships and we’ve won six [World Cup] races. It’s a great situation to be in.”
    Two of those six wins by U.S. racers this season have come in super G, one each by Kildow and Mancuso. Mancuso’s came a few weeks back at Cortina, Italy, while Kildow won at San Sicario, Italy, a few days before the official start of the World Championships.
    “Going into a big event and knowing you have some hotshots at the start and they both can win — and not just those two but the other girls are skiing well too — is great,” Riml said. “But it’s still a big event and you never know what’s happening.
    “I hope the weather is the same for everybody and the snow conditions are good and then we’ll see. The girls are doing a good job, they’re ready to race and you have to have a little luck with those kinds of things and they should be OK.”
    The first two U.S. racers out of the start today will be Libby Ludlow (10th position) and Kirsten Clark (14th). Ludlow and Clark both finished in the points in the super G at San Sicario, and Clark has a World Championships silver medal in super G from 2003 in St. Moritz, Switzerland, hanging on her wall.  
    “ ‘Clarky’ showed the last super G in San Sicario that she’s back on track,” Riml said. “She’s got lots of experience, so if she can put it together, everything is possible.”
    Riml said his racers have taken the delayed start to the super G in stride, staying busy while playing volleyball, working out in the gym and freeskiing on Monday. That freeskiing time got them “back in race mode,” according to Riml, and they’re raring to go. He added that the team also was prepared for Are’s ever-changing weather.
    “I’ve been here seven or eight times, and last year was the first time I saw the top of the mountain,” Riml said. “We came up here and were expecting that, so it’s nothing you can get bummed out about because you can’t do anything about it. Just take it.”
    The super G course is in pretty good shape, Riml said, and he expects a hard track with decreasing winds through the race. The coach said he also expects his two stars to forget about their quests for World Cup crystal globes — both Kildow and Mancuso are in the hunt for discipline titles and the overall — for a few weeks to focus on winning worlds medals. Mancuso has two bronzes from ’05; Kildow is seeking her first.
    “I guess it’s easy for us coaches to say go race-by-race, focus on tomorrow because everybody’s asking about [the World Cup chase],” Riml said. “It’s not easy for them to forget about it. But being world champion or having a shot at being world champion, that’s the focus now. I don’t think they think any minute about the World Cup right now.”