BEAVER CREEK — When Andrew Weibrecht is told he reminds teammates of Daron Rahlves, he is flattered — and a little awed by the comparison.
Rahlves, who retired from alpine racing after the 2006 Olympics, became the winningest male downhiller in U.S. Ski Team history despite a body type far from ideal for the discipline. Good downhillers typically are big and burly, because extra weight is beneficial on gliding sections. Rahlves is only 5-feet-9, 175 pounds.
Weibrecht is only 5-6 and 190 pounds, but like Rahlves he makes up for his lack of body mass with an exceptional ability to make high-speed turns with precision.
“That’s what Daron had,” teammate Steve Nyman said. “He just has to figure out when to turn and when not to turn. He’s got to figure out how to glide.”
Weibrecht, 23, is one of the team’s best hopes for the future. It hardly comes as a surprise Rahlves was his hero growing up.
“Daron’s above and beyond where I ever hoped to be,” Weibrecht said after Friday’s World Cup super-combined, in which he was the only American to finish. “I watched Daron a lot growing up, and I’ve looked at his video of years past because we had some of the same physical constraints.”
Weibrecht finished 19th Friday in a race won by Switzerland’s Carlo Janka. Wei-brecht was fifth in the downhill leg but struggled through the slalom, having had only four days of slalom training this year.
“It’s pretty much all I could have expected with the amount of (slalom) training I’ve had,” said Weibrecht, who is from Lake Placid, N.Y.
Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety straddled a gate in the slalom. Bode Miller appeared to hook a tip in the slalom and toppled over the front of his skis.
Weibrecht marked himself as one of the youngsters to watch in the Beaver Creek downhill two years ago, when he stormed out of the No. 53 start position to finish 10th in his first World Cup downhill. He was the top American in this season’s first downhill last Saturday, finishing 12th at Lake Louise, Alberta.
“I’m really happy with my downhill run,” Weibrecht said of Friday’s effort. “I definitely take that confidence into (today).”
Weibrecht likes to watch video of his daring run here two years ago, but he’s also been keen to watch footage of a crash he had here last year in a section of the course called Pete’s Arena.
“The more times you can see what you’re doing and figure it out, you can sort of learn where you can take speed,” Weibrecht said. “I really like to watch my crash from last year because that’s a tough part of the course.”
That’s another thing Weibrecht’s teammates like about him.
“He wants to know,” Nyman said, “and he wants to learn.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
