For Austrian Skier, a Fitting End Run

Weeks away from retirement, Austrian Michaela Dorfmeister capped a remarkable career with her first Olympic gold medal, in the Torino Games women's downhill at San Sicario Fraiteve on Wednesday.

"This is my last season and maybe that is the secret of why I was so calm," said Dorfmeister, who turns 33 next month. "I trained all summer for this event and I am really very proud to overcome the pressure. It would be too arrogant for me to say that I thought it would be my day, but I felt good this morning. The last few races, I had doubts. Today, I had no doubts."

After training in bright sunshine, the skiers were confronted by flat light and gusting winds. Dorfmeister won in one minute 56.49 seconds, 0.37 seconds clear of silver medalist Martina Schild of Switzerland. Anja Paerson of Sweden took the bronze.

Dorfmeister wasn't the only feel-good story of the event. After crashing in the second day of training on Monday and going to the hospital, American Lindsey Kildow made an admirable effort, placing eighth. By skipping Tuesday's session, Kildow was relegated to an unfavorable No. 31 start position. "I was OK in the warmup but I have a lot of pain in my back," she said.

The No. 2-ranked World Cup downhill skier, Kildow felt some trepidation midway down the run near the crash point, but gained speed on the bottom portion to crack the top 10. "I just wanted to know that I could have done it," she said. "I guess I thought that the result would have been a lot better, but I'm just happy to have raced."

Dorfmeister won a silver medal in the Super Giant Slalom at the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, but got shut out in Salt Lake City in four events. She's won two world championships, a World Cup overall title, two World Cup discipline titles, and this year leads standings in both downhill and Super-G.Starting 23rd, Dorfmeister skied the tricky top aggressively and established a lead of 1.18 seconds. "Wow, that's what I wanted," Dorfmeister said, recalling her reaction. "I tried not to get caught in the wind because you lose time and it is very difficult to regain that time."