Beaver Creek – The world’s best ski racers are here – including the great Austrian triumvirate of Benjamin Raich, Hermann Maier and Michael Walchhofer – but when they gathered for Wednesday’s downhill training run on the Birds of Prey something didn’t seem right.
Someone was missing: Daron Rahlves.
Rahlves has left the World Cup and the U.S. Ski Team. It’s not really a retirement, for he will dabble in skier cross on a four-event domestic circuit called The Ski Tour this winter, but his days of standing up defiantly in the face of Austrian arrogance and conquering the world’s greatest downhills are over.
He will be missed by the Beaver Creek spectators who admired his courage and by the teammates who learned what it means to be a professional.
“I feel fortunate to have raced alongside Daron,” said Steve Nyman, perhaps the most promising of the young U.S. downhillers. “Daron was awesome to me. I could go to him with any question. I could inspect (a downhill course) by his side and ask, ‘What do you think about this?’ ‘What do you think about that?’ He was great.”
Rahlves is the winningest downhiller in U.S. history, and there’s a reason his teammates called him “Money,” especially on the technical Birds of Prey track. In the past three seasons he won two downhills here, along with two other podium finishes in downhill and one in giant slalom.
“He was very successful here in Beaver Creek,” Nyman said. “I witnessed his passion. I witnessed the way he approached this race. He was just so into it. This and Kitzbuehel (Austria), it was his love. He wanted to win here so bad, and he did it. I hope I can take that intensity into this hill as well.”
The U.S. Ski Team will not be without podium contenders the next four days. Bode Miller has the talent to win today’s super combined (a downhill followed by one run of slalom) and Friday’s downhill (he won two years ago and was second last year). Miller, Ted Ligety and Erik Schlopy should be competitive in Saturday’s giant slalom. On Sunday, Ligety will be looking to make the podium for the second year in a row.
But Miller has won only two races since he claimed the World Cup overall title in March 2005: the giant slalom here last year and a super-G at the World Cup finals last season. Coaches and ski technicians for his new company, Head, are working feverishly to get his equipment adjusted to his demanding specifications, especially in slalom. If they succeed, Miller’s chances today improve dramatically, but the pressure is on.
The old Miller – the one who won the World Cup overall two seasons ago – would have been a lock for the podium today.
“With set-ups and equipment, with maybe a centimeter of different mounting position, you can’t buy a turn, and with the right adjustment all of a sudden you find you can win a run,” coach John McBride said of Miller’s slalom. “We’re not there yet, but we’re working hard at it.”
Miller has something to offer his teammates, but he’s not the kind of leader Rahlves was.
“Daron was a quiet and confident leader,” Marco Sullivan said. “Bode is opinionated, and he’s not afraid to tell us what he thinks we need to do. I have to take that with a grain of salt, because I ski a lot differently than Bode. Everybody on this team skis a lot different than Bode.”
With Miller’s competitiveness in question and Rahlves in semi-retirement, ski team coaches are eager for someone to step up. Sullivan knows it.
“With Daron, especially at this race, we knew one of our guys was going to be on the podium,” Sullivan said. “He was so ‘Money’ at this race. It’s almost more inspiring for us younger guys to have him not here. All the guys from Tahoe who came to support Daron, they’re here to support me this year. I like to step up in big pressure situations, so to have a little more pressure on me is a good thing.”
