Beaver Creek – With Daron Rahlves expected to retire after the Turin Olympics and Bode Miller sounding as if his career has become a day-to-day proposition, pressure is growing on the next generation of U.S. downhillers to emerge.
Steve Nyman, 23, and roommate Marco Sullivan, 25, have gotten the message.
“I’ve talked about it with Marco,” Nyman said. “We’re the next generation. We’re going to be leading these guys, so we’ve got to step it up. Everybody is fast, everybody is capable of it. All they have to do is do it, because they can.”
Nyman got off to a nice start Saturday in his first World Cup downhill, finishing 14th at Lake Louise. With Rahlves and Miller suffering subpar days, Nyman’s finish was the best for the U.S.
Nyman was sixth the day before in training. Even though the Utahn knew some racers sandbag in the final training run, he took confidence – and a great start position, 25th – into the race. He also knew the hill well, having raced there often on the Nor-Am circuit.
“I’ve probably skied that hill more than any hill,” Nyman said. “I knew what I needed to do, and I did it the day before, so all I had to do was do that again.”
Nyman was the 2002 world juniors slalom champion and says he’s “a slalom skier at heart,” but he’s hoping his progress in downhill (he’s a two-time U.S. champion) will make him a threat in the combined. Rahlves, who finished second behind Miller in the Beaver Creek downhill and the world championships downhill last season, said Nyman is a hard worker.
“He’s a good thinker about what he needs to do, and he’s a good athlete,” said Rahlves, 32. “He’s strong. He just needs to work a little more on balance. There’s a few times when he catches some edges and has some problems. It’s good to have a guy who comes in for his first (downhill) race and has the best result for the team.”
Nyman has made impressive debuts before, finishing 15th in his first World Cup slalom in the 2002 World Cup Finals. A month later he broke his left leg in a skateboarding mishap. He broke the right one in a January 2004 Europa Cup downhill in Altenmarkt, Austria, one day after winning there.
His training that summer was limited to cycling.
“I was really good at biking,” Nyman quipped. “Then I was thrown into the racing season, and I raced with no training. It taught me a lot, actually. It taught me how to charge. It was a blessing in disguise. I feel a lot more solid on my skis this year than I did last year, due to a solid fall of training.”
Nyman spent most of last season on the Europa Cup, racing in severe pain, but he got one World Cup start in super-G in Kitzbuehel, Austria. He will get his third World Cup super-G start here today, weather permitting.
“He’s got a lot of speed, a lot of potential,” said John McBride of Snowmass, the U.S. men’s speed coach. “I would say he’s still a little raw, a little unrefined, but he’s got a nose for the fall line. I think for sure, he’s going to be a future leader on the speed side.”
