McKinney Sweeps Slalom in World Alpine Meet; Girardelli Reinjured

CRANS-MONTANA, Switzerland —  Tamara McKinney swept both slalom runs in the women’s combined Thursday, while World Cup overall champion Marc Girardelli of Luxembourg reinjured his left shoulder in downhill training at the Alpine Ski World Championships.

With many skiers complaining about conditions on the men’s downhill course, organizers switched the men’s combined downhill from today to Sunday.

The host nation suffered a setback with the disqualification of Maria Walliser, who hooked a gate in the first run, but Vreni Schneider and Erika Hess, the defending combined champion, were on the heels of McKinney.

By taking third place in the slalom, Hess secured the role of favorite going into today’s downhill portion of the combined. Hess has posted remarkably fast times in downhill training.

McKinney mastered the fog-shrouded Chetzeron course with two blistering runs for an aggregate time of one minute 25.18 seconds, nearly a second ahead of Schneider.

The 24-year-old from Olympic Valley, Calif., negotiated the 51-gate first run in 42.56 seconds and was also fastest in the second run, skiing through 53 gates in 42.62.