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Beavercreek, CO — December 5, 2003
Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA), battling the remnants of a cold but skiing with double motivation on what he described as "a scrapper run," tore
through Birds of Prey and its icy speed run Friday to win his fifth World Cup downhill, the first DH victory by a U.S. man in the U.S. since 1984.
"It was one of those runs you pull everything," Rahlves said. "I hammered as hard as I could." Rahlves, whose winning time was 1:39.59, was hit by the cold last week at Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies and has battled it since arriving in Beaver Creek. However, he said he was skiing with Thursday's injury to teammate Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA), a close friend from the Lake Tahoe area, weighing heavily on his mind. "I've wanted to win in the United States and I just skied with my heart today, and I wanted to do well for Marco," Rahlves said. "That [the two goals] was a lot of motivation there." He spoke with Sullivan, who was at the Steadman-Hawkins Clinic in nearby Vail, facing knee surgery after a training run crash, but Rahlves didn't get to see him because of pre-race preparations, he said.
Rahlves didn't hold back "It was definitely a good run," Rahlves said. "I took maximum risks all the way. I still wasn't feeling like I had all the energy I wanted. "I've been sick - it's been a battle all week to get back, and I wasn't as close as I wanted, but I love this hill and I told myself, 'It's one run and I can make it happen.'" And the 30-year-old Rahlves did. He was.22 ahead at the first interval,.43 up at the second,.53 ahead by the third interval as he barreled down what he said is one of his favorite courses. "Conditions were really good. It got a little bumpy, definitely tough - I got bumped around through the middle and at the bottom. It was a scrapper run," he said.
He wanted to top last year's podium "I've wanted this so bad. Last year felt good, finishing in third place, and ever since it's been all about coming back to Beaver Creek and being top dog. This is a special feeling," he said. High praise for a race, with its steep pitches and gnarly fallaways in several spots, from the winner of the 2003 Hahnenkamm – ski racing's centerpiece event - in Kitzbuehel, Austria. Calling the Birds of Prey speed run "one of the rock 'n' roll downhills I love – great challenge and it brings out the best in me," he lauded wax technician Willi Wiltz for honing his Atomics. He said it was "great teamwork - he got 'em ready, I drove 'em. "I had good skis at the top, good skis in the middle. I made a couple of little mistakes, but they kept running. In downhill, every second counts." Miller warned him about tough visibility in the shaded transition area where he crashed, but according to Rahlves when he got there, it wasn't shady at all and he could keep barreling.
Rahlves likened the victory, the first DH triumph by a U.S. man on U.S. soil since Bill Johnson won at Aspen, Colo., after the Sarajevo Olympics in March 1984, to his win in Kitzbuehel. "This is one of the best places to win for me; Austria is for me and there's the same feeling here. I always thought this was a good downhill for me, and I was excited to come out and have a chance to lay one down." Coach sensed Rahlves was ready to win Said U.S. Men's Head Coach Phil McNichol, "It was real impressive. I guess today we let the other boys know whose house they're in. We'll take this one, for sure. It was just gorgeous. I could see in talking to him 'D' was ready. He came ready and he skied ready to go. It was great, and Bode was ripping, too. He was heading to the podium, no question. "He skied the upper part so well, the kind of skiing when Hermann [Maier of Austria, who won his 43rd race last Sunday in Lake Louise, Alberta] won his first couple of years, when he was so powerful and so clean, so far ahead of everyone else. Bode was too aggressive, he cut the line a little too late in that compression and it blew his ski in half – but he was sailing," McNichol said. "And Friedman getting World Cup points, his first, was terrific. He skied well; it's always good to have another new guy come in and scoreÉand Scotty Mac [Macartney] was close - he'll get there." Miller, who saw Austrian Michael Walchhofer finish fourth and take over his World Cup points lead, said he cut too straight a line in a compression and as he tried to pull up, his ski let go. He crashed but said he would be ready to roll Saturday in the second downhill of the weekend. Joining Miller and Rahlves in the super G, which concludes the Chevy Truck races Sunday before everyone returns to Europe, will be Friedman, Macartney, Dane Spencer (Boise, ID), Jake Fiala (Frisco, CO) and Thomas Vonn (Newburgh, NY). Meanwhile, Sullivan is under observation at the clinic and facing surgery for torn ligaments in his right knee. Doctors are continuing tests on the leg, which was injured when he flew off a jump "without direction" during the lone training run Thursday. An earlier training run had to be canceled Wednesday because of a series of mixups in getting all racers' skis from Lake Louise to Beaver Creek.
FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP
Other U.S. skiers
23. Bryon Friedman, Park City, Utah, 1:41.85 DNF: Bode Miller, Franconia, N.H.; Kevin Francis, Bend, Ore. WORLD CUP STANDINGS (6 races)
Other U.S. skiers
11. Rahlves, 139
— Courtesy of US Ski Team |
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