Two-time Olympian Lindsey Kildow, 22, of Vail, Colo. likes the Olympic downhill run at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada and it showed last weekend.
And the question remaining is, will Kildow be the world's best downhiller this winter? Only time will tell, but she's got a heckuva start on it.
Kildow, the 5-10, 150-pounder who grew up in Burnsville, Minn. climbed the podium three times in three days at Lake Louise as the women's World Cup staged its first speed races of the 2006-07 season.
Saturday, Kildow gained time at every split and charged to her fifth career World Cup victory by an astounding 1.33 seconds over former World Cup DH queen Renate Goetschl of Austria.
Kildow was second in Friday's season-opening DH won by her good friend Maria Riesch of Germany, and she added a second in Sunday's super giant slalom taken by Goetschl, her 39th career win.
"Lindsey was just outstanding," U.S. Ski Team head coach Patrick Riml said at Lake Louiise. "She was charging...she's really just about the #1 downhiller—and she can do that on any mountain."
All-rounder Kildow finished sixth and fifth overall in the World Cup standings the past two seasons, the best U.S. women's effort since the heyday of Sun Valley's Picabo Street during the 1990s.
Second in the DH standings last winter, Kildow now leads the DH points race 180-129 over Riesch and is second to Nicole Hosp of Austria in the overall standings. Hosp has 291 points and Kildow stands at 275. Next best Yank is Julia Mancuso, 18th place with 71 points.
Meanwhile, the American men made some history.
In men's action at Beaver Creek, Colo., reigning downhill world champion Bode Miller, 29, ignored a steady snowfall and won Friday's World Cup downhill—leading three other U.S. skiers into the top 10.
Steven Nyman placed third for the first podium of his career, Scott Macartney was eighth and Marco Sullivan 10th for the best-ever U.S. men's finish in a World Cup downhill.
It was Miller's 22nd World Cup victory, third in downhill.
With the North American races behind them, World Cup organizers are trying to figure out what to do about Europe.
The warm weather is killing European ski resorts.
The International Ski Federation is working hard this week on rescheduling World Cup races in snow-starved Europe. Men's races at Val d'Isere and women's races at St. Moritz, Switz. this coming weekend have been scrubbed because of poor snow.
And, of course, the next six weeks provide the marquee events of the World Cup tour.
