BEAVER CREEK — Marco Sullivan loves everything about downhill: the ear-popping descents at speeds exceeding 70 mph, the big jumps that hurl racers 50 yards down the course, the test of courage that decides king of the mountain.
He loves it so much, he’s paying for the privilege.
In recent years the U.S. Ski Team has been requiring its second- and third-team racers to pay some of their expenses on the World Cup tour. Racers on the A team such as Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn are exempt, but a B team racer such as Sullivan has to pay up.
“You have to have belief that you’re going to recoup that money through your fast skiing,” Sullivan said after a training run for Friday’s World Cup downhill.
The charge for a B team racer typically is $20,000, but particulars vary from racer to racer. In Sullivan’s case, he’s on the B team because he dropped out of the world’s top 25 last season. But because he’s in the top 30, the FIS picks up about $1,000 a week of his race-week expenses, which it remits to the U.S. Ski Team. That means Sullivan’s $20,000 bill from the ski team was effectively reduced to $7,000, and Sullivan covered that with his winnings last week after finishing fifth in the season’s first downhill at Lake Louise, Alberta.
“I made enough where it kind of covers what I have had to put out for this year,” said Sullivan, who is from Squaw Valley, Calif. “The pressure’s on for me to have good results. That’s the only way I’m going to make money. Now my debts are paid.”
Sullivan, 34, is a three-time Olympian who first made the team in 1999. In 139 World Cup starts, he has one win (in 2008 at Chamonix, France) and four podium appearances. At the Sochi Olympics he finished 30th.
“I’m definitely one of the elder statesmen of the U.S. Ski Team,” Sullivan said. “What keeps me going is I love racing downhill. It’s something I’ve dreamed about since I was a little kid. I get to go back to all these great venues every year. It’s a lifestyle at this point. I love it.”
He knows what it’s like to have it taken away. In 2003 he decided to throw a hot-dog move off the final jump here during a training run. He crashed and blew out his right knee, costing him the better part of two seasons. In his time away from the tour he tuned skis and drove a snowcat during the night shift at Homewood (Calif.) Mountain Resort. He thought about that when he went off that jump Tuesday.
Sullivan also remembers watching the world championships when they were here in 1999, and he cannot wait for February, when they come to Beaver Creek again.
“I was this kid who was on the cusp of being a racer,” Sullivan said. “I’d just made the U.S. Ski Team that year. I was like, ‘This could be me.’ Now it’s come back around, I’ve got 15 years in the bank of racing World Cup, having highs and lows. It’s just been a cool ride, and to have this coming at this time of my career is great.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or
