When the International Olympic Committee decided to include skicross in the Vancouver Games, it was an obvious ploy to attract a younger demographic with an edgy event first introduced at the Winter X Games.
But America’s best medal hopes when skicross makes its Olympic debut next month just might be a couple of old guys who found a niche in a new sport after long careers as alpine racers. In fact, they’re almost as old as Brett Favre.
Californian Daron Rahlves, 36, is the most accomplished male downhiller America has produced and Aspen’s Casey Puckett, 37, made his alpine World Cup debut in 1991, the year Favre was drafted into the NFL.
The IOC approved skicross in 2006 for inclusion in the Vancouver Olympics as a freestyle event at a time when Puckett was dominating the event on the U.S. circuit.
“I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m at the top of this sport, what an opportunity,’ ” said Puckett, a two-time Winter X Games gold medalist. “When they announced it, I was in the middle of like a year-long winning streak.”
Rahlves, in an alpine career from 1995 through 2006, had 20 podium finishes in downhill and nine wins. He was a super-G world champion in 2001, and three years later became the second American to win the famous Hahnenkamm downhill in Kitzbuehel, Austria.
Puckett managed only one top-10 World Cup result before retiring in 2002, but he did make four Olympic teams.
Speeds are far faster in alpine downhill, but racers don’t have to ski in traffic the way they do in skicross.
“Jump in a car and go down the highway with no one on it, going 80 mph, all you’ve got to do is look ahead and do your thing,” said Rahlves, comparing downhill to skicross. “Now, think about going 40 to 45 and having a deer jumping across the highway, other cars out there, people walking across the road. You’ve got to have your eyes moving the whole time.”
Rahlves will compete in Aspen next weekend in the Winter X Games, which begin Thursday. Puckett separated a shoulder crashing in France two weeks ago and underwent surgery two days later in Vail, but he vows to be back in time for the Vancouver Games, which start Feb. 12.
“What they’re going to see is a very exciting spectator sport, because you have big air, you have speed and you have crashes almost all the time,” Puckett said.
In his third season racing skicross, Rahlves earned his first World Cup podium three weeks ago with a second-place finish.
“Daron came straight from being a favorite to win gold in Torino to racing skicross,” Puckett said. “If he comes off of vying for gold in Torino, in the biggest event of the Games (downhill), and he comes to skicross and he can’t win, that legitimizes the sport in my eyes.”
In hindsight, Puckett concedes he underachieved as an alpine racer.
“I totally look back with regret,” Puckett said. “I do believe I had the talent to win a lot of World Cups as an alpine racer. I had a lot of talent, and maybe I didn’t really realize what I had until I was done. I never got to where I wanted to get to.”
But Puckett has thrived in the mayhem of skicross, where a racer strives to get ahead at the start, ahead of the other three in his or her heat, and then makes it difficult for the trailers to pass, even if it takes a sharp elbow or a well-placed hip.
“Some guys are made for certain events.” Rahlves said. “Puckett is a great skier. He runs skicross really well. He’s tactically really smart, he’s got a lot of power in his skiing, he’s a good competitor and I’m trying to learn a lot from him.”
Rahlves has some unfinished business as well. Despite his list of impressive accomplishments on the World Cup and at the world championships as an alpine racer, Rahlves never won an Olympic medal. He will always question his decision to change skis the night before the 2006 Olympic downhill when he was one of the favorites. Rahlves won the first training run there but finished 10th in the race.
He and Puckett will have no shortage of motivation in Vancouver.
“Ultimately I want to be in the final with him,” Rahlves said, “then look at each other and say, ‘OK, let the best man win,’ and go 1-2.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616 or jmeyer@denverpost.com
What is skicross?
Skicross, making its Olympic debut in Vancouver, was first introduced at the 1998 Winter X Games in Crested Butte. Skicross puts four racers on the course at the same time, forcing them to race in tight traffic. Courses incorporate a variety of terrain features, including flats, traverses, rolls and jumps.
A succession of single-elimination heats takes place with four racers per heat. The top two move on to the next round until the final heat determines a winner. The Olympic skicross events will take place at Cypress Mountain, a seaside resort on the outskirts of Vancouver. The finish area is only 3,200 feet above sea level and has received rain recently, threatening the viability of the venue.
