Beaver Creek – The billboards and posters for this year’s Birds of Prey World Cup races feature a picture of Ted Ligety with the words, “Where legends are born.” Ligety captured his first World Cup podium here last year, and two months later he was an Olympic champion.
Maybe another legend was born here Friday, just when the U.S. Ski Team really needed one.
The team’s controversial anti-hero, Bode Miller, won a scintillating downhill in a snowstorm and three teammates joined him in the top 10, which was believed to be an unprecedented feat for the team. One of them, Steve Nyman, finished third for his first World Cup podium, a major breakthrough..
It was the third year in a row the U.S. placed two on the podium here in downhill, the marquee event in four days of racing. Switzerland’s Didier Cuche was second.
Miller’s victory was an important development for the team, which watched him struggle last season after winning the World Cup overall title in 2005. Miller won only two races last season.
“I’ve won here before,” Miller said. “It’s a hill I really like. I just enjoy running it. It’s just an awesome course. It pushes you, and the jumps are some of the best jumps in the World Cup. It has all different elements. To be on the top is great, but just to be able to run this course when it’s in that kind of condition is awesome for me.”
But it’s never a surprise when Miller wins, so Nyman’s performance was even more significant for the team. With Daron Rahlves having left World Cup racing, the team needs its younger racers to step up. Nyman’s breakthrough was a huge step.
“The kid’s the real deal,” said U.S. downhill coach Chris Brigham. “The sky’s the limit. He was close last year.”
Veteran Scott Macartney was eighth and Marco Sullivan was 10th.
“Blown away,” was head coach Phil McNichol’s reaction to his team’s performance. “This is what we’ve been waiting for. It’s really important for the guys to see with Daron gone that there’s replacement players who are maybe not as good as he was – yet – but are coming. It’s huge.”
Nyman took advantage of an early start position (eighth) and couldn’t relax until all of the top 30 raced. Italian Peter Fill came within .05 of a second of knocking him off the podium and finished fourth. Austrian superstar Michael Walchhofer also gave Nyman a scare before finishing fifth.
“I knew it was a top 10 run for sure,” Nyman said. ” I was excited, I was stoked, but it was nerve-racking having Walchhofer close and Peter Fill. It’s great, carrying on the tradition of two (American) guys on the podium, three years in a row.”
Last season was Nyman’s first full campaign on the World Cup. He narrowly missed the podium in Garmisch, Germany, finishing fourth. As he watched Fill and Walchhofer flirt with his time, Nyman kept thinking: Please, not fourth again.
“I want to be a consistent threat on the World Cup,” Nyman said. “I want to get into people’s minds. I want to get in the starting gate and have people know, ‘This kid can knock me off the podium.’ I feel like I accomplished that today.”
