THE OLYMPICS : WINTER GAMES AT ALBERTVILLE : NOTES : Kitt 13th Fastest on ‘Better’ Downhill Run

VAL D'ISERE, France — AJ Kitt cruised down the new and improved Olympic men’s downhill course Thursday and liked what he saw.

America’s main hope for a medal in Alpine skiing had the 13th-fastest time in the first training run for Sunday’s race: 1 minute 54.62 seconds. Four training runs are scheduled today and Saturday.

Kitt, who had criticized the course earlier this winter, calling it “real slow, more characteristic of a super-G,” said: “It’s better now than it was last year--more consistent and not quite as tight. The line is straighter, and some of the bumps have been shaved.”

Markus Weismeier of Germany was fastest, 1:52.64, and Guenther Mader of Austria was second, in 1:52.87. Both are considered more proficient in the giant slalom and super-G than in the downhill.

Kitt said the winning time Sunday would be “somewhere in the range of 1:47 to 1:48.”

Herschel Walker isn’t the only football player turned bobsledder. Greg Harrell of the Raiders is part of the U.S. bobsled team, too.

And the tight end is looking for all the help he can get.

“(Raider Coach) Art Shell couldn’t make it (to France), but (owner) Al Davis said he might,” Harrell said.

Equally excited at the prospect was figure skater Christopher Bowman of Van Nuys, a die-hard Raider fan who recently changed his skating costume to all black. “Maybe I’ll spray my hair silver and black,” Bowman said. “These guys are like my idols. I heard Al Davis might be coming to the Olympics, and just the thought of him walking toward me made me go jump in the shower.” Luger Bonny Warner of Palo Alto and Mt. Baldy, a three-time Olympian, said she will retire from competition after the Games here.

Warner, 29, began sliding after watching the Winter Games at Lake Placid in 1980. She finished sixth at Calgary in 1988, her best Olympic ride.