PARK CITY, Utah — The race is on.
Despite appearances to the contrary, the results from the World Cup skicross race Feb. 2 at Deer Valley Resort actually were just the beginning. And the clock is ticking.
“Finding a cohesive unit, that’s a good way to put it,” said Tyler Shepherd, recently named head skicross coach for the U.S. Ski Team. “The way I look at it, we’ve got a ton of national-team experience, and guys like Daron Rahlves, Jake Fiala and Casey Puckett are very familiar with how it operates and have had good (alpine) careers on the U.S. team.
“For me, the challenge is to figure out how we’re going to put a (skicross) team together, how we’re going to qualify a full team medal contingency for the 2010 Olympics and have it be those guys. . . . If we can keep them healthy, I’m excited about what the next year and a half will bring.”
Shepherd’s comments came just after Canadian Davey Barr beat America’s top gun, Casey Puckett of Aspen, in the first Cup skicross race in North America. And they are significant for a couple of reasons.
In November 2006, the International Olympic Committee announced skicross would be included among freestyle skiing disciplines awarded medals at the 2010 Vancouver Games.
After years of existence as an individual sport, the event described as “motocross on skis” suddenly became a team game. And, last year, Canada became the first nation to form a team.
“That’s a big step for sure,” Barr said. “We have six men and four women, so it’s quite large. We’ve been working together really well.”
While the sport has yet to see any Ricky Bobby-style “shake ‘n’ bake” team tactics put to use on course, the advantage of using teammates to train appears, for the moment, to be paying off.
Barr and fellow Canadian Stan Hayer said the dynamics of any skicross course change when a field of four racers is introduced, and the chance to run that course in a friendly pack helps them better see passing zones and trouble spots. Ergo, Barr’s come-from-behind win at Deer Valley, his first on the World Cup tour.
In a sport where motivation to finish first has been almost exclusively driven by a cash carrot, the introduction of Olympic medals brings with it a new sense of nationalism. And for Shepherd, who plans to name the U.S. national team this spring, it also brings a new sense of urgency.
World Cup points vital
During the next 18 months, Shepherd faces the challenge of establishing the men’s and women’s teams that not only will represent the U.S. but will determine how many skicross athletes are allowed to compete in Vancouver through quotas established via World Cup rankings. With no development program in place, a trio of “retired” ski racers looming as front-runners on the men’s team and almost no competitive Americans on the women’s side since the loss of Steamboat Springs racer Brett Buckles to an injury this winter, the Denver-based Shepherd has his work cut out for him.
Rahlves, who retired from the U.S. alpine team in 2006 and won the Winter X Games skicross event last month, has stated his disinterest in returning to Europe for future World Cup races. Puckett and Fiala, meanwhile, will head to Europe next month for the second time this season.
“The way I see it is that World Cup point rankings are the top priority, so I have to figure out how these guys can capitalize on the very few North American starts we have in the next year and a half,” Shepherd said. “I certainly don’t want to be in a position where we have to send these guys to Europe two months before the Olympics to secure another position. That’s why I want to get at least one more World Cup stop in North America.”
“You can get hurt”
Whether additional North American races occur or not, consensus among the current crop of skicross competitors is the U.S. men’s talent pool is deep enough to earn at least two Olympic medals in 2010. The women’s team, however, is another story.
Shepherd has had discussions with several women who raced alpine for the U.S. team, eventually putting out the call to anyone who thinks she may have what it takes to compete in the discipline. Aside from Buckles and newcomer Lang- ley McNeil, few have shown interest in the newest Olympic discipline.
“Why would you? It’s a grind. You can get hurt,” former U.S. national slalom champion Carrie Sheinberg said. “Most of the girls have already been to the Olympics. I don’t know if a skicross medal would mean as much to them. It’s just not what you dreamed of coming up.”
Outside of America, though, the dream is alive and well. With an 8-year-old daughter, top-ranked skicross specialist Ophelie David, 31, of France, is as eager as ever to make her Olympic debut alongside teammate Meryl Boulangeat. Just don’t expect to see a lot of love once the race gates open.
“The team spirit is before the race,” said David, the women’s winner at Deer Valley. “When we do the training runs and the inspection, we talk a lot between us. But for the race there is just one team: moi.”
Scott Willoughby: 303-954-1993 or swilloughby@denverpost.com
