Isolde Kostner - (March 20, 1975)...’97 World Championships SG champion; ’96 Worlds SG champion; ’94 Olympic DH bronze medalist, SG bronze medalist; 9 World Cup wins...going into last season, if you put Kostner in Cortina. she was almost bulletproof - four of her five triumphs had come on Cortina’s steep and usually icy course...so last winter, she won four more times - and none of them came in Cortina (DHs in Lake Louise, St. Moritz and Santa Caterina plus the super G in Val d’Isere)...she hated going over bumps early in her career, but working with a gymnastics coach before the ’98 Olympic season helped conquer that fear...’93 World Juniors giant slalom champ...she credits her dad with her tenacity and philosophy of giving everything...her first win was the race Garmisch downhill in January ’94 in which world champion Uli Maier was killed in a mid-race crash...

Alessandra Merlin - (Sept. 22, 1975)...Merlin, the younger sister of Barbara Merlin, posted her best result last season, finishing second in the St. Moritz super G...born in Turin, she got interested in skiing when her mother took the two girls to Sestriere each winter; her parents eventually bought a hotel near the hilltop village which hosted the ’97 alpine World Championships...she concedes there’s not as much pressure on her as on Barbara because she’s the younger sister...

Karen Putzer - (Sept. 29, 1978)...2 World Cup wins (both SGs - St. Moritz ’00, Cortina ’98)...Putzer continues picking up experience and making a run to the front although inconsistency has plagued her, as it does many young DHers (and older ones, too)...triple gold medalist (SG/GS/CO) at the ’97 World Junior Championships and GS champion from ’96...started skiing at 3 and her dad, a ski instructor, coached her until she was 15...