Individual, Women

The last three women’s world records had all been set at Les Arcs, and all three skiiers were present in 1992. The record holder was the Finn Tarja Mulari, who had recorded 214.413 km/h in 1988, bettering the mark set by Frenchwoman Jacqueline Blanc with 201.005 km/h in 1987. That bettered the 1984 mark of American Melissa Dimano, who was the first woman to surpass 200 km/h with her world record of 200.780 km/h. In the end Mulari dominated the competition, leading after the preliminary round and semi-final, and bettering her own world record with 219.245 km/h to win over Norway’s Liss Pettersen, with Switzerland’s Renata Kolarova third. Dimano, now Dimano-Simons, made the final but placed fifth, while Blanc was only sixth in the semi-final and did not advance to the final. Kolarova elected to compete in the semi-final despite the death that morning of her teammate, Nicolas Bochatay, who was killed while warming up for the men’s semis when he jumped over a mogul and crashed into a parked Sno-Cat.