BEAVER CREEK — Bode Miller is here to race. The question is which races he will get to enter, and the decisions won’t be entirely his.
Miller has not raced this season because of back surgery in November. This month he went to World Cup venues in Wengen, Switzerland, and Kitzbuehel, Austria, where he participated in official downhill training runs.
“The preparation has gone about as well as it could have,” said Miller, 37. “Even though I didn’t race, I had some pretty aggressive skiing in Wengen and Kitzbuehel on the race hill. I’m ready to race.”
Miller is the most accomplished male in U.S. ski racing history with six Olympic medals (one gold) and five world championships medals (four gold). Sasha Rearick, head U.S. men’s coach, will decide which races Miller enters.
“I don’t have sole decision-making power, but I’m comfortable racing the downhill and the super-G,” Miller said. “I skied a little slalom the other day. It wasn’t real pretty but my back held up fine, so potentially the super combined (downhill and slalom) would also be in there.”
Tough decisions. Teams usually get only four entries per race, but Rearick gets to enter five in the Wednesday men’s super-G because Ted Ligety is the defending world champion. That gives the U.S. an extra spot. Still, Rearick has some tough decisions to make.
“You’ve got great guys, experienced guys, proven winners and also young guys coming up that have been making the steps, day in and day out,” Rearick said. “I know whatever team we name for race day will be our best team.”
Andrew Weibrecht and Miller took silver and bronze medals in super-G, respectively, at the Sochi Olympics last year.
Big expectations. Tiger Shaw, chief executive of the U.S. Ski Team, is hoping a strong U.S. team and unprecedented television coverage of the world championships will spur young kids to enter the alpine development pipeline.
“To have a world championships on home turf in a sport that is generally contested in Europe is enormous for us,” Shaw said. “We come into the world championships with one of the strongest (U.S.) teams ever, certainly much stronger than the last two world championships held here (in 1989 and 1999). We hope it makes a difference in terms of our pipeline.”
Six U.S. racers here have won Olympic or world championships medals.
“The expectations are high,” said Shaw, who raced here in the 1989 world championships. “We come into these world championships more prepared than almost any other time in history. I’d like to say I hope we do better than I expect and nearly as well as I hope. We have lots of superstars.”
FIS has high hopes. Gian Franco Kasper, president of the International Ski Federation, believes these world championships can promote alpine racing in Europe as well as the U.S.
“It’s an ideal moment for Europe and the rest of the world,” Kasper said. “In Europe, all races will be in prime time. This is a really good promotion for our sport, and I really hope with the chances that the U.S. Ski Team has, it will have a similar promotion here in the States.”
