Regine Cavagnoud [ca-vah-NYOO] - (June 27, 1970)...5 World Cup victories...coming back after blowing out her right knee during the ’99 World Championships in Vail, Cavagnoud had a spectacular ’00 season - she was third overall in points even though she doesn’t ski slalom...Cavagnoud, who credits patience in her rehab and then training just GS in the 10 weeks before the season opened, won the Chevy Truck Women’s World Classic GS at Copper Mountain, bagged DH wins at Cortina and Bormio, and had 15 other top-10s...her father was a ski lift attendant in LaClusaz, so she would spend each day skiing instead of inside in a day care center...she also had knee injuries in 1987 (left knee) and 1989 (right knee)...

Christel Saioni - (Oct. 6, 1973)...1 World Cup win...Slalom Specialist with a double capital-S...Saioni (or Pascal-Saioni) is looking to follow a breakthrough season...going into last winter, her top result had been seventh - and then she tied Spela Pretnar for first place at the Chevy Truck slalom at Copper Mountain, kick-starting her season...she had four other slalom podiums (second in Berchtesgaden, Santa Caterina’s makeup from Snowbasin and Sestriere’s makeup from Zwiesel plus third in Sestriere’s first SL)...she says the internal competition among a band of talented French women helps all of them to ski well...she’s married to French DHer Christophe Saioni...Saioni broke two vertebrae in her back in October ’96 when the car being driven by her husband collided with another in a rainstorm...

Melanie Suchet - (Sept. 1, 1976)...1 World Cup win (SG in Cortina ’98)...mental toughness defines Suchet...she tore the ACL in her right knee in November ’94 in Vail, ripped it again in St. Anton in January ’96, and broke her left ankle in a preseason camp before the ’97 season...she was 11th in the Nagano Olympic downhill, just .11 behind teammate Florence Masnada...

Vanessa Vidal - (Dec. 21, 1974)...going into last winter, Vidal’s best result in five years of World Cup racing had been 13th (three times); so all she did was finished seventh overall in slalom with eight World Cup top-10s...highlight: her fourth-place finish in Bormio...with that kind of consistency, she can’t be overlooked because - as coaches and athletes concede - if you get that close, anything can happen...