Obviously, there is no home-court advantage in skiing. At last week's American International ski meet at Vail, Colo., competing on a mountain they had never seen before, the Austrians and French proved once again that they are more than a match for the best skiers the U.S. can produce.
It wasn't supposed to work out that way. At the 1964 Winter Olympics, the U.S. scored a major breakthrough when Billy Kidd and Jimmy Heuga placed two-three in the special slalom and Jean Saubert won two medals by herself.
This winter, instead of competing in Europe, the Americans stayed home to acclimate...