The U.S. women will try to find strong performances from someone other that Kirsten Clark at Semmering, Austria this weekend. Clark will be on hand, and has skied extremely well this season with multiple top-10 finishes, but her strength is the speed events, while technical races will be conducted at Semmering with a Giant Slalom on Saturday and Slalom on Sunday.

Sarah Schleper and Kristina Koznick are coming off top-10 finishes in the Slalom at Lenzerheide last Sunday, where the big story was an amazing run by 16 year-old Resi Stiegler. Starting in 61st position, Stiegler fought her way down a well-worn course to finish a surprising 11th, by far the best performance of her young Cup career. After the race, she was clearly psyched by the day's events.

"I made a big mistake in the first run and I thought that was it, that I wouldn't get a second run," said Stiegler. "But when I got to the bottom and I saw I was 20th, I was so psyched. Second run I had nothing to lose, so I just went out and skied my best."

Janica Kostelic won the race, further extending her lead in the overall points race. The 20 year-old Croatian star has amassed 775 points thus far this season and has a commanding lead over Austria's Michaela Dorfmeister, who is second with 438 points.

"I made a big mistake in the first run and I thought that was it, that I wouldn't get a second run. But when I got to the bottom and I saw I was 20th, I was so psyched." — Resi Stiegler

For the U.S., Clark is currently 6th overall, with 355 points. Other Americans in the rankings are Caroline Lalive (17th), Sarah Schleper (19th) and Jonna Mendes (26th). Complete Points Standings.

— MountainZone.com Staff, with additional material courtesy U.S. Ski Team