Originally Posted by
sbbeckett
NY Times
December 21, 2006
Americans Abroad Are Taming the Mountains and the Critics
By NATHANIEL VINTON
Within a span of 90 minutes yesterday, on opposite sides of the European Alps, the American skiers Bode Miller and Lindsey Kildow each won World Cup races, extending an extraordinary streak for the United States team.
Miller’s victory, his third of the season, catapulted him into the No. 1 world ranking, which he has not held since Dec. 21, 2005, while Kildow’s decisive downhill victory — her second of the season — solidified her lead in that discipline’s standings.
With the Olympic giant-slalom champion Julia Mancuso finishing as the runner-up to Kildow, the American team has streaked to nine podium placings during the last six days, by five skiers.
“It’s just snowballing, bringing so much positive energy,” Kildow said in a postrace teleconference. “It’s that fire and enthusiasm when your whole team is doing well. It’s just inspiring.”
While four Americans have won races this season, the powerful Austrian team has suffered, particularly its men’s squad, which has not claimed a victory in the 12 races since the season opener in mid-November — something of a national calamity.
The American skiers were almost this strong going into the Winter Games early this year in Turin, Italy, but saw a rare opportunity for mainstream recognition dashed when its biggest stars walked away empty-handed.
For Kildow, the reason for that was a vicious rag-doll crash. This season she is a on a mission: She said she hoped the team’s streak will draw some attention away from the N.B.A.
“We don’t get in fistfights or anything, but it’s pretty cool that we’re going 80 miles per hour,” Kildow said. “I hope that with the success we’re having, with so many more athletes doing well, it snowballs even bigger.”
Miller won his super-G race, in 1 minute 9.76 seconds, 0.79 seconds ahead of Peter Fill of Italy and 0.94 ahead of the Austrian Hermann Maier, who dislocated his shoulder, according to his coach.
“Skiing in Austria is the most important sport and everybody is used to seeing a really successful men’s team,” said Toni Giger, the head coach of Austrian men’s team. “This year we see that Bode Miller is in really good form. You can see this when he skis down, he is going easy and smooth.”
Increased financing and strong coaches explain the team’s renaissance, and Miller’s path-breaking assertiveness has helped. His stubborn independence has clearly rubbed off on a generation of younger teammates who were coming onto the team five years ago when Miller was breaking through.
Steven Nyman, 24, who won his first World Cup race at a tough Italian downhill on Saturday, pointed out that Miller had lobbied European ski factories to supply him with the best service technicians to tune his skis.
“We never really had factory service before Bode, and now we all do,” Nyman said.
The American team’s roster of technicians includes those who tuned skis for Alberto Tomba, Pernilla Wiberg, Patrick Ortlieb and Kristian Ghedina — some of the biggest World Cup and Olympic skiing stars of the 1990’s.
The members of the men’s team seemed to collectively mimic Miller’s willfulness last summer when they resisted new policies introduced by the team’s chief executive, Bill Marolt. While that clash continues to be painful for administrators, Nyman said, it has brought coaches and athletes closer together.
“With all the trouble that’s been going on with the team, a lot of it has fallen back on the staff, and I’ve seen a lot of strength from them,” Nyman said in a telephone interview yesterday. “It’s brought out a lot of good in the team, all the junk that’s been going on. That’s kind of what made my victory special, just to have all those guys going wild.”
Tommy Moe, the 1994 Olympic downhill champion, said he was having trouble keeping track of the team’s victories this week from his home in Jackson, Wyo.
“It’s kind of turning into a dynasty,” Moe said. “I have trouble keeping up with it all, but it sounds like they have good camaraderie and they’re just fueling off each other.”
Moe said that Turin was simply about bad luck.
“It’s kind of roll the dice with so many variables in ski racing,” he said. “This sport is so close now. One little mistake and you’re in fourth place.”
But yesterday, Kildow could have made a lot of mistakes and still have been the winner. The last of the high-ranked racers to descend, she padded her lead at every timing interval and finished in 1:38.06, eclipsing Mancuso, who won the previous day’s downhill, by 1.24 seconds. Anja Paerson of Sweden was third.
Earlier this month, Kildow won another downhill race, in Canada, by 1.33 seconds, an enormous margin in Alpine skiing.
Her race yesterday took place at Val d’Isère, France, while Miller’s was in Hinterstoder, Austria. Both resorts play host to another race today, as officials pack the schedule with events that they postponed earlier this month because of meager snow.
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