Sestriere, Italy – His primary adversaries might have taken a more leisurely approach to the first Olympic downhill training run on Thursday, but Californian Daron Rahlves chose to make a statement. With an exclamation point.
Dominating on a course where he won a World Cup downhill two years ago, Rahlves posted the fastest time by a huge margin. Austrian Michael Walchhofer, like Rahlves a threat to win Sunday, was 1.21 seconds behind to finish second. Walchhofer’s teammate Hermann Maier was third.
“Obviously if I’m leading by 1.2 seconds, I like this hill,” Rahlves said. “It’s a really active downhill. I like how it starts off with two challenging jumps. It’s a deceptive course because your speed’s not that fast, but it feels like you’re going fast.”
The top racers often use training runs to feel out the course – when they are fast, they sometimes intentionally slow down near the finish – so it can be a mistake to read too much into training results. But training runs also can be used to send messages, and Rahlves sent one loud and clear.
“This race comes down to me,” Rahlves said. “I’m my biggest challenger. If I allow myself to ski well and relax, I have a great chance to win. This is a great hill for me.”
Liechtenstein’s Marco Buechel got it.
“You mark your mountain like it’s already yours,” Buechel said. “Like a dog marks its territory.”
For the other U.S. racers, and much of the Austrian team, the time for taking it easy is over. Both teams will be using the next two training runs to determine their lineup on Sunday. Unlike World Cup races, teams are limited to four entries in the Olympics.
Walchhofer, Maier and defending Olympic champion Fritz Strobl are guaranteed three of the Austrian spots. The rest of the team will fight over the last spot.
Rahlves and Bode Miller (16th Thursday) are guaranteed two U.S. spots, leaving Steve Nyman, Scott Macartney and Marco Sullivan to fight for the others. The top man today gets one. The remaining two race each other Saturday.
“I think it’s completely fair,” Nyman, 23, said. “We’ve all proven ourselves throughout the season and it’s really cool we’re able to do this. Initially the format was to take the best two on Saturday. I thought that was completely unfair and I brought that up. We changed it to one guy tomorrow, then the next two shoot it out the next day.”
Nyman and Macartney are guaranteed spots in the super-G Feb. 18, but if Sullivan doesn’t earn a spot in the downhill, he becomes a spectator.
“I kind of feel like I have the most to gain, actually,” Sullivan said. “I’ve got nothing to lose. If I don’t get the spot, I’m here to hang out. If I do get the spot, then I’m an Olympian.”
Rahlves is almost certain to retire after this season, and no one would be shocked if Miller called it quits, too. Nyman, Macartney and Sullivan represent the next generation of U.S. downhillers.
Macartney, 28, scored his first World Cup podium in super-G two weeks ago in Garmisch, Germany. Nyman, who is in his first World Cup season, was fourth there in downhill, an outstanding result for a World Cup rookie.
All three admire Rahlves for his ability, work ethic and willingness to help them.
“Daron is ready,” Nyman said. “It’s so cool to see, he just laid it down on these guys today. I hope he keeps it up. The guy wants it bad, and he can do it. He knows this course and this is his focus. … This is what he can end his season on and show everybody he’s the best, because in my mind, he is the best downhiller in the world right now.”
