Petra Kurkova Dominates Alpine Skiing

The Davos sunshine has gotten to the snow. A large crowd gathered to watch the alpine skiing competition in the balmy weather that has characterized Davos in the past few days.   As fans struggled not to slide down the hill on the sidelines, Petra Kurkova of the Czech Republic gracefully glided past the posts and won the Women's Slalom gold with a time of 1:19.71. She defeated all Slalom athletes, including the gold medalist of the Men's Slalom, Martin Legutky, Slovak Republic, who finished with a time of 1:23.29. She is now a four-time gold medal winner of the 1999 Games, a feat unparalleled by anyone in the history of the Winter Games.

The silver and bronze winners of the Women's Slalom event are Keiko Fiushimi  (JPN), 1:36.59 and Nancy Bonura (USA) 1:38.77, respectively. The silver medalist of the Men's Slalom event is Josef Schaupper of Austria who finished with a time of 1:24.54, and the bronze went to David Pelletier of France with a time of 1:24.62.

It is interesting to note that Kurkova alone has more gold medals than any other country.  The Alpine Skiing competition of the Games will always be remembered as the year Kurkova dominated.

By Jennifer Herbold