The U.S. Ski Team’s four-year run of victories in the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill ended today, but the team still had plenty to celebrate.
Steve Nyman of Provo, Utah, finished second to Austria’s Michael Walchhofer, reaching the podium at Beaver Creek for the second straight year. Nyman was third in the Beaver Creek downhill last year, a race won by Bode Miller.
“I skied where I wanted to ski and I hit the line the whole way down the course,” said Nyman, who finished only .05 of a second behind Walchhofer. “I’m pleased with my run. There’s so many little things you can look at that could have brought you the win. I don’t ponder on it. You just move on to the next race.”
The surprise of the day came from 21-year-old Andrew Weibrecht of Lake Placid, N.Y., who stormed from the 53rd start position and finished 10th. It was only the seventh World Cup start for Weibrecht, who won the NorAm overall title last season. He also won a bronze medal in super-G at the world juniors championships in 2006.
“We charge,” Nyman said. “There’s a good crew of Americans coming up now. We have lots of youth and lots of talent. Kudos to Andrew for punching it in there. He did an amazing, amazing job from the back of the pack.”
Walchhofer was impressed.
“I saw his run,” Walchhofer said. “He takes a lot of risks in the first part and then he skied very well. He’s a very young racer, and I think he is a man for the future.”
It took a while for Weibrecht to grasp what he had accomplished.
“It’s unbelievable,” Weibrecht said. “People say unbelievable, but I really don”t believe it.”
Walchhofer had an advantage with the weather. Starting eighth, Nyman fought his way through a snowstorm that limited visibility considerably, but when Walchhofer went at No. 16, visibility was much better and the track was cleaner. Another snow squal moved through later, forcing Weibrecht to deal with limited visibility as well.
“It was a little bit tough,” Weibrecht said. “About halfway down, all this wet snow was getting stuck on my goggles, but I knew I had to keep charging because otherwise I was probably going up in the trees.”
Nyman charged hard and might have won if not for a small bobble when he got one leg up in the air landing a jump in an area called The Abyss.
“The conditions were hard,” said Bill Marolt, chief executive of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association and a former coach. “It’s snowing, the light’s difficult and he skied great. He attacked. Right now he’s very confident and he’s a big, powerful guy. He just did a great job. We’re really excited about him and excited about this whole men’s team.”
Miller finished sixth after scraping his hip on the snow early in his run.
World Cup racing continues Saturday with a super-G..
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com.
