SKIING / BOB LOCHNER : French Making Run as Games Approach

Poor France, or so it seemed.

For a while, it appeared there would be no national skiing hero to ignite the home crowd during the Winter Olympics starting Feb. 8 at Albertville. No Jean-Claude Killy, who swept the men’s gold medals at Grenoble in 1968. No French equivalent of Franz Klammer, who gave Austria its one moment of glory by careening to a downhill victory on Tyrolean snow at Innsbruck in 1976.

But that was before this week.

In quick succession, a Frenchman, Patrice Bianchi, won the World Cup slalom last Monday at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, and a Frenchwoman, Carole Merle, won the World Cup giant slalom Wednesday at Hinterstoder, Austria.

Now, from Paris to Lyon, from Bordeaux to Marseille, they’re crying, “Allez, France!” Or words to that effect.

Bianchi, who finished more than half-a-second ahead of third-place Alberto Tomba of Italy, the probable Olympic favorite, is 22 and hails from Val d’Isere, Killy’s hometown.

Merle, who turns 28 next Friday, has been around awhile. Currently seventh in the women’s overall standings, she is also capable of scoring points in the super-G and downhill.

Of more interest to Americans, Diann Roffe of Potsdam, N.Y., placed fourth behind Merle for her best showing of the season. She is a virtual cinch to be named to the U.S. Olympic Alpine team, which will be announced on Feb. 2.

The selection process is being delayed as long as possible by Alpine Director Dennis Agee to take into account as many World Cup results as possible.

Still to come before the Games:

MEN--Today and Sunday, Hahnenkamm downhill, slalom and combined at Kitzbuhel, Austria; Tuesday, giant slalom at Adelboden, Switzerland; Jan. 25-26, Lauberhorn downhill, slalom and combined at Wengen, Switzerland; Feb. 1-2, giant slalom and super-G at Megeve and Chamonix, France.

WOMEN--Today, slalom at Maribor, Slovenia; Monday, giant slalom at Piancavallo, Italy; Jan. 25-27, downhill, super-G and giant slalom at Morzine, France; Feb. 1-2, downhill, slalom and combined at Grindelwald, Switzerland.

In Friday’s World Cup men’s downhill at Kitzbuhel, a makeup race for the one postponed last month at St. Anton, Austria, Franz Heinzer of Switzerland led a Swiss sweep of the first three places.

With the victory, Heinzer widened his lead in the downhill standings over runner-up AJ Kitt of Rochester, N.Y. Heinzer has 311 points to 217 for Kitt, who finished 15th Friday.

Paul Accola of Switzerland, with 938 points, holds a 78-point lead over Tomba in the overall standings; Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg is a distant third with 477.

The U.S. Olympic cross-country ski team, chosen last weekend, includes 1976 bronze medalist Bill Koch, 36, of Underwood, Wash. Koch benefited from the reversal of a disqualification in the 30-kilometer classic race at the trials in Giants Ridge, Minn., earlier this month.

John Aalberg of Salt Lake City, a Norwegian who is due to become an American citizen next Thursday, swept all four men’s races, and Nancy Fiddler of Crowley Lake and Leslie Thompson of Stowe, Vt., split the four women’s events.

The U.S. team in Nordic combined--jumping and cross-country--is partially set, with Joe Holland and Tim Tetreault, both of Norwich, Vt., qualifying on the basis of their top-25 World Cup finishes this season. The rest of the squad will be announced Wednesday in Lake Placid, N.Y.

The regular U.S. ski jumping team will be selected on the basis of trials this weekend at Steamboat Springs, Colo., and Wednesday and Thursday at Lake Placid, with the announcement set for Thursday afternoon.

Sure to be named is Jim Holland of Norwich, Vt., who is Joe’s brother and a consistent scorer on the World Cup circuit this season.

Donna Weinbrecht of West Milford, N.J., continued her domination of women’s moguls competition in the World Cup freestyle meet last weekend at Blackcomb, Canada, winning for the fourth time in five tries this season.

The freestylers have three more stops before Albertville--this weekend at Breckenridge, Colo.; next weekend at Lake Placid, and Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at Oberjoch, Germany.

Weinbrecht, of course, is a shoo-in for the U.S. Olympic freestyle team, which will be announced next Saturday in Lake Placid.

Skiing Notes

Vreni Schneider of Switzerland leads the Alpine World Cup women’s overall standings with 520 points, just 15 ahead of runner-up Petra Kronberger of Austria. . . . Kristi Terzian of Salt Lake City, racing for the first time since injuring her knee last November, finished 58th in the first run of Wednesday’s World Cup giant slalom and did not qualify--place among the top 30--for the second run. . . . Bernhard Knauss of Austria won the giant slalom, and his countryman, Mathias Berthoud, took the slalom at last weekend’s U.S. Pro Tour stop in Telluride, Colo. Going into this weekend’s action at Steamboat, Colo., Knauss, who has earned $55,093, tops the standings with 260 points, 30 more than runner-up Torjus Berge of Norway. The pros will race at Heavenly next weekend as part of the Chrysler/Plymouth Western Championships and Celebrity Ski Classic.

Bear Mountain will play host to the Coca-Cola Jr. NASTAR Open today, making it one of 40 ski areas in the nation to participate in this joint venture with the U.S. ski team. According to NASTAR Commissioner Bob Beattie, “Kids with outstanding results may be asked to take part in U.S. Ski Assn.-sanctioned events.” . . . Monday, Bear Mountain will be the site of Western Regional qualifying for the Absolut National Skiing Bartenders’ Championships on March 18-22 at Telluride. The finals will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Last year, more than 1,000 bartenders, food-and-beverage managers and bar-restaurant owners competed at the regional level. . . . Last Sunday, the second annual Ski-A-Thon at Bear Mountain raised more than $18,000 for the California Handicap Ski School.

About 175 snowboarders from 15 states and Canada competed in the first event of the Nissan Snow Tour last weekend at Snow Summit. Shannon Melhuse of Bend, Ore., and Michele Taggart of Salem, Ore., won the giant slalom races; Jeff Brushie of Hinesburg, Vt., and Tina Basich of Hermosa Beach were the halfpipe winners. The troupe is at Squaw Valley this weekend. . . . Alpine Meadows, the North Lake Tahoe resort that has long resisted snowboarding, will open its Kangaroo hill exclusively for the shredding set on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from 4:30 to 10 p.m., with lift tickets priced at $10. And yes, the lights will be on. Daylight hours are still strictly for skiers.

Snow Valley is offering $25 adult lift tickets through Ticketmaster. . . . Homewood, six miles south of Tahoe City on California 89, has reopened under a new manager, Steve Wyler, for both skiing and snowboarding. . . . The National Brotherhood of Skiers, a predominantly black organization founded in 1973, will hold its 1992 “Mini-Summit” Feb. 22-29 at Copper Mountain, Colo., with more than 2,500 expected to attend. . . . Nonstop jet service from LAX to the Purgatory-Durango ski resort in Colorado will start next Wednesday and continue on Wednesdays and Sundays through March 8. Round-trip air fares are from $239, with packages also available. Details: (800) 660-2754.