BEAVER CREEK — In the wee hours of a champagne-fueled U.S. Ski Team celebration in St. Anton, Austria, after Daron Rahlves won a gold medal at the 2001 world championships, a well-wisher told him he would always be remembered as a great ski racer for what he achieved that day.
“That’s all I’ve ever wanted,” Rahlves said as tears welled up in his eyes.
Rahlves would accomplish more great things, but his triumph that day in super-G marked a watershed moment for U.S skiing. When he beat favored Austrians Hermann Maier and Stephan Eberharter, much to their consternation on the very slopes where their predecessors invented downhill skiing, it marked the end of a slump for the U.S. and the beginning of a 14-year ascension that could culminate with a historic U.S. medal haul here at the world alpine ski championships.
“It’s exciting,” Rahlves said Wednesday after the men’s super-G was postponed for weather. “This week is going to be awesome.”
The late 1990s were bleak for U.S. men’s skiing, but Rahlves and Bode Miller led a renaissance that began with Rahlves in 2001.
Ten days before the St. Anton championships, Rahlves was on the podium in the famous Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuehel, Austria, the toughest and most prestigious downhill in the world. Maier and Hannes Trinkl of Austria went 1-2, and Rahlves tied Eberharter for third. An Austrian newspaper ran a podium photo of the three Austrians but cropped Rahlves out of the shot.
“You can see my shoulder,” Rahlves recalled.
When Rahlves won in St. Anton, it was the first world championships gold for a U.S. man since Phil Mahre in 1982, but Maier said some insulting things in the post-race media conference, and Rahlves called him out.
“I had a little extra fire in me,” said Rahlves , 41. “Hermann was like, ‘That was a fluke.’ I was like, ‘Whoa, bud, time doesn’t lie. We’re not getting judged here.’ “
Earlier that day, Maier played a cruel joke on Rahlves when their race suits were tested after the race. A man came into the room where the medal winners were waiting and said something in German that Rahlves didn’t catch.
“Hermann was like, ‘Rahlves’ suit didn’t pass?’ I’m like, ‘What?!?’ He was like, ‘Your downhill suit is illegal.’ My heart stopped beating.”
Rahlves was no fluke. Two years later, he became the second American to win the Hahnenkamm, the only other being Buddy Werner of Steamboat Springs in 1959. At the 2005 worlds in Bormio, Italy, Miller and Rahlves went 1-2 in downhill. Rahlves also took a bronze in giant slalom.
“I was fired up that we were 1-2. I just wanted it to be the other way around,” Rahlves said. “It was a big statement for the U.S. to be 1-2. I was happy for Bode. He put down a better run than me, and he earned it. He was on fire. He won the super-G, too. It was a pretty good run for us, and it’s something that we can expect here.”
On paper this is the strongest U.S. team ever. Six racers hold a total of 39 medals from world championships or Olympics.
“The only weak point with our men’s team is the slalom,” Rahlves said. “Every other discipline, we have contenders that can and will be pulling some medals. With past success, the depth and the talent we have, it could be a good haul.”
John Meyer: 303-954-1616, jmeyer@denverpost.com or
