He's not even thinking about bringing home a matching set of silvers.

He's thinking only about winning one medal - and not just because that was his successful strategy four years ago.

Cook is merely being realistic, during a season when a lingering virus has cut into his training.

The Paralympics begin with tonight's opening ceremony in Turin, Italy, and continue through March 19, with competition in Nordic and Alpine skiing, wheelchair curling, sled hockey and biathlon at the same venues used in the recent Olympic Games. Cook is among four Utah residents, plus a Salt Lake City native, competing for the U.S. team in skiing events in the Games for athletes with physical or visual disabilities.

"I'm sure everybody's thinking I'm going to have a repeat of '02 - or even better," Cook said this week. "I don't think that's going to be possible. That was kind of the perfect Games for me, being at home."

Following that 2002 performance at Soldier Hollow, Cook was on track for another strong Paralympics as of last season, when he won three medals (two golds) in the World Championship. But a virus, with symptoms similar to those of mononucleosis, struck him in mid-December.

"I could sleep all day, some days," he said.

Cook is gradually catching up, having finished third in a recent World Cup 15-kilometer race in Lillehammer, Norway, and has avoided the flu that has swept through the Athletes Village in Italy this week. He also may compete in the biathlon, mostly for the sake of ski training.

Having lost his lower right leg in a 1988 farm accident, the 37-year-old Cook competed in cycling in the '96 Paralympics before being encouraged to try cross country skiing. He soon became a world-class skier and remains inspired by other Paralympians. He's well acquainted with other Nordic skiers, but this event brings him into contact with Alpine skiers and others.

"It's just an amazing group of athletes here," Cook said. "You get to see a whole other side of disabled sports, which is pretty impressive."

That includes four other U.S. athletes with Utah ties:

l Stephani Victor. A bronze medalist in the downhill in 2002, Victor has steadily improved since taking up the sport and moving to Park City in 1999. She won three medals in the 2004 World Championship as a sitting skier, a double-leg amputee as the result of an auto-pedestrian accident when she was an actress and film student living in California.

This is the first Paralympics to use only three classes of skiers - standing, sitting and visually impaired - in a streamlining of the competition, greatly reducing the number of medals awarded. Victor, 36, still could be a multi-medal winner. She recently married Marcel Kuonen, a former Swiss National Team skier, who gave her first ski lesson in Park City.

Lacey Heward of Boise, Idaho, a former member of the Park City Disabled Ski Team, is another medal contender.

l Monte Meier. A standing skier, Meier had planned to retire after the 2002 Paralympics, in which he won a silver medal. But he's back for his fourth and final Games, then intends to marry Tracy Riddleberger, the assistant ski program manager for the National Ability Center in Park City.

Meier, 34, is a slalom star who has medaled in each of his previous three Paralympics and was ranked No. 2 in World Cup slalom points in 2005. Employed by The Home Depot, he appeared with able-bodied athletes in commercials that aired during the recent Olympic Games. Tomas del Villar, a sitting skier who's competing for Chile, also trains with the National Ability Center, based at Park City Mountain Resort.

l Chris Klebl. Having moved to Heber City for training purposes in advance of the 2005 season, Klebl is a cross country sitting skier. Born in Germany, Klebl was paralyzed in a snowboarding accident.

l Mike Crenshaw. Born in Salt Lake City, Crenshaw is the only Utah native on the 55-member U.S. roster for the Paralympics. He's among the team's veterans as a cross country skier in his fourth Paralympics at age 41.

Schedule

Competition schedule (potential events for skiers with Utah ties)

l Steve Cook, cross country skiing - 5K, Sunday; 10K, Wednesday; 1x3.75K + 2x5K Relay, March 17; 20K, March 19.

l Mike Crenshaw, cross country skiing - 5K, Sunday; 10K, Wednesday; 1x3.75K + 2x5K Relay, March 17; 20K, March 19.

l Chris Klebl, cross country skiing - 5K, Sunday; 10K, Wednesday; 1x3.75K + 2x5K Relay, March 17; 15K, March 18.

l Monte Meier, Alpine skiing - Downhill, Saturday; super-G, Monday; Giant slalom, Thursday; Slalom, March 18.

l Stephani Victor, Alpine skiing - Downhill, Sunday; super-G, Tuesday; Giant slalom, March 17; Slalom, March 19.