RSS
By David O. Williams
Headline RSS FeedMiller, Vonn defined by disaster at Torino, redemption at Vancouver
March 5, 2010 —
WHISTLER, British Columbia – It’s impossible for me to separate the alpine ski racing events of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics from those of the 2006 Torino (Italy) Winter Olympics.
I attended both and worked at the alpine skiing venues for the Olympic News Service, documenting the story lines and interviewing the athletes. But beyond my personal experiences, two of the biggest American ski-racing stars in more than a generation were defined by what happened at the two dramatically different Olympic Games.
Lindsey Vonn (Kildow at the time) went into Torino among the favorites but by no means the over-hyped, runaway face of the Games that she was in Vancouver. More than a few Canadians told me they were irked by the Vonn-couver moniker, and Vonn herself said five-medal, Michael Phelps-like expectations were over the top.
But Vonn, a Ski and Snowboard Club Vail product who was just 21 at the time, famously crashed in training at San Sicario (site of the women’s races) and had to be airlifted to a Torino hospital, where her childhood idol, Picabo Street, stayed by her side. A couple of days later, a badly banged-up Vonn managed to race but finished off the podium in her top events, failing to win even one medal.
It was New Hampshire’s Bode Miller, 28 at the time, who went into Torino as the over-hyped lock to win five medals. A simultaneous media creation and antagonist, Miller went into Sestriere (site of the men’s alpine events) bent on winning his way or not at all. Close in some but blanked in all of his events, Miller laughed it off by telling the Associated Press he “got to party and socialize at an Olympic level.”
Miller, 32, improbably went into the Vancouver Games with little expected of him. He had just one win on the World Cup circuit this season, an injured ankle and a disgusted mainstream media machine focusing virtually all of its white-hot intensity on Vonn.
Both athletes delivered big-time in Whistler last month. The gloom of the Pacific Northwest weather, which postponed five of 10 men’s and women’s alpine races, couldn’t dampen the brilliance of the American-record haul of eight alpine ski-racing medals for the U.S. Ski Team – five of them by Miller and Vonn.
In Torino, the gloom had much more to do with the U.S. coming up so woefully short of its stated goal of eight alpine medals. At those Games, only surprise golds from Ted Ligety and Julia Mancuso kept it from being a complete disaster. Ligety, unfortunately, couldn’t recapture the magic in Whistler, but Mancuso came from nowhere to win two silvers (in downhill and super combined).
Vonn, now 25, came into Vancouver limping on a badly bruised right shin she got in a training run in Austria earlier in the month. Weather delays for training runs and three of the first four alpine events allowed her to heal to the point that she nailed a Franz’s Run downhill course at Whistler that had gone from soft and slushy to frozen-over and deadly virtually overnight.
She won her downhill gold Feb. 17, the first American woman to ever accomplish the feat, and looked more relieved than anything at the ensuing press conference.
“I got exactly what I came here to get, a gold medal,” Vonn said. “Everyone expected me to get it, but it’s not just as easy as saying you can do it. There’s a lot more work that goes behind it. At least I know that I’ve got a gold medal and I will go home happy no matter what happens in the next few days.”
That proved a telling statement the next day, as Vonn crashed with a lead in the slalom portion of the super combined (one run of downhill, one run of slalom) and watched her good friend and rival Maria Riesch take home her first of two gold medals.
Given Vonn has never won a World Cup giant slalom and only twice won a slalom (both last season), her hopes now boiled down to the super-G on Saturday, Feb. 20. She later admitted to skiing the top, technical section well but letting up on the gas toward the bottom – a decision that left her with a bronze medal and some inexplicable criticism for underachieving at the Vancouver Games.
Before Miller won a gold, a silver and a bronze at Whistler to go with two silvers from the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics and Mancuso added two silvers to her gold from Torino, no American alpine skier had ever won more then two career Winter Olympic medals, including Vonn’s idol Street or even the great Phil Mahre.
Before the start of the Vancouver Games I asked Mahre, who won slalom gold at the 1984 Sarajevo Games (part of the previous U.S. record of five alpine medals) and silver at the 1980 Lake Placid Games, what he thought of Vonn’s chances.
“She has the potential of winning three medals with possibly a fourth – downhill, super-G, combined and slalom,” Mahre said before he even knew about her case of shin bang. “Giant slalom will be the one event that holds her back from a five-medal Olympics.
“She started the season off well in the tech events [slalom and GS], but has lost the confidence in her tech skiing over the last several months. She's going to have tremendous pressure in Vancouver, but her confidence going in should be strong enough to override any doubts that enter her thought process.”
Mahre made like Nostradamus on that one. A gold and a bronze in hand and a near-miss in the super-combined, Vonn was having a good first giant slalom run in awful weather Feb. 24 when she crashed and broke the pinkie finger on her right hand.
A lot of athletes would have called it a Games at that point, but Vonn gutted it out and raced in the slalom Feb. 26. She skied out early in her first run, but was then a good enough sport to hang out in the finish area to watch Riesch win her second gold medal.
“I’m so happy for her. She did an amazing job,” Vonn said of Riesch. “To come down after the first run and really ski as well as she did under these conditions was really cool to watch.”
So is seeing an elite athlete with the class and grace to celebrate the accomplishments of a friend. And, surprisingly, class and grace could also be used to describe Miller in Whistler.
There were flashes of the “I ski drunk” Bode who both infuriated and intrigued racing fans in 2006, but mostly he was low-key and reflective. Just don’t say he was under the radar. I asked Mahre about Miller heading into the Vancouver Games and here’s what he had to say:
“Bode will always be known as one of the greatest skiers to come from the USA. He will forever be popular, especially in Europe. I was talking with someone the other day about the 2006 Torino Games, and they said they couldn't remember a name of a winner of an alpine ski event there but remembered Bode. And it wasn't a good memory, either.
“Winning a medal won't change people’s perception of him. His image is what it is. You don't hear much of him these days - no hype, more or less flying under the radar.”
I don’t know if he was directly responding to Mahre, but at his opening press conference in the Whistler Media Center, Miller had this amusing mini-rant:
“People think coming in under the radar is like being a fighter pilot and actually coming in under the radar when that actually means something,” Miller said. “It’s a completely ridiculous idea to come in under the radar at the Olympics. Everyone’s on the radar here. If one of you guys [in the media] were to come up and race, that might be under the radar.
“I’m ready to race. I was ready to race in Torino. I didn’t have a great Olympics, but I’ve had lots of series of races that went much worse than that. I come in here prepared and fired up. Hopefully it pops up on the radar here and there.”
Miller more than popped up. He started with a bronze in the downhill Feb. 15, followed that up with a silver in the super-G Feb. 19 and wrapped things up with his first-ever Olympic gold medal, in the Feb. 21 super combined.
Afterwards, he sounded like a kid again, reveling in the moment and leaving the door open to more racing for the American with the most World Cup wins ever: “I feel good, and when I race like I have been here, it really is amazing, it’s just awesome. It’s so fun to do and it’s so challenging at a level that you just can’t find anywhere else. I’d feel pretty stupid to give that up if I could continue.”
Miller won’t be in Kvitfjell, Norway, this weekend for a World Cup downhill and super-G. He’s reportedly still resting up stateside but will rejoin the team for the World Cup Finals in Garmisch the following weekend.
Injuries and all, however, Vonn turned in the third-fastest downhill training run Thursday at Crans Montana, Switzerland. She’ll compete in a super-combined race today and downhill and super-G races over the weekend in hopes of distancing herself from Riesch in the hunt for Vonn’s third straight World Cup overall title, something no other American has ever accomplished – except for Phil Mahre.
1 Comment on "Miller, Vonn defined by disaster at Torino, redemption at Vancouver"
Lee — March 5, 2010
Please, e-mail me if you can the date's ,place's and so on thAt I would be able to watch Bode Miller ski. I live outside of New Orleans, La. Any help you can send to me would make me so happy Thank you Lee
Vail's Schleper, Vonn inspire in Olympic giant slalom, slalom
February 26, 2010 —
WHISTLER, British Columbia - Vail's Sarah Schleper summed up the spirit of the Olympics Thursday at Whistler Creekside, improbably making the team after a year off for injuries and another year off to have a son, then finishing a respectable 14th on a tough course in terrible weather in the women's giant slalom.
Sarah goes again in the slalom today, the final women's alpine skiing race of these Games. It would be nice to see her improve on her Olympic-best 10th at the Torino Games, but no matter how she does, she's been a huge winner, a great teammate, and an inspiration to working parents (like my wife and me) around the world. Good on you, Sarah, as the Aussies say.
Julia Mancuso wound up eighth in the GS Thursday, turning in the third-fastest second-run time and proving her point that it was a seriously bad break that she had to re-start her first run Wednesday when Vail's Lindsey Vonn crashed in front of her.
But that's ski racing, and Mancuso seemed to realize that Thursday when she toned down the disappointment and appeared genuinely happy with her two silver medals at these Games. But I bet after her great slalom run in women's super combined here that she's maybe regretting her decision to not race in today's slalom.
Vonn, meanwhile, continues to show what a gamer she is. She'll race in today's slalom despite a broken finger sustained in her crash Wednesday. Add that injury to her famous case of shin bang and an arm injury from earlier in the season, and you can appreciate what she's going through.
Of course, same with a lot of the racers. Anja Paerson of Sweden won a bronze medal in the super combined here after a horrific crash in the downhill. All of these women have courage beyond description, and it's an inspiration to see them in action up close.
Vonn has had a wildly successful Games no matter how she does in today's slalom. She wanted one medal of any color and got the gold in downhill, something no other American woman has ever accomplished. Her bronze in super-G was icing on the cake.
Anyone who thought she had a realistic shot at five medals doesn't understand ski racing and just how hard it is to win one medal, let alone gold in the signature event of the Olympic Games.
Submit a comment on "Vail's Schleper, Vonn inspire in Olympic giant slalom, slalom"
Vail's Vonn goes for second gold after Miller, Weibrecht keep U.S. on a roll
February 20, 2010 —
WHISTLER, British Columbia - And the beat goes on.
Just four alpine skiing events (out of 10) into the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and the United States has already set a new record for most American medals at one Games at six.
The previous mark was five in Sarajevo in 1984, when the Mahre brothers and Bill Johnson were doing their thing. If you're thinking about the all-time record, forget about it. That mark of 14 alpine skiing medals (out of a total of 30) was set by the Austrians at Torino in 2006 (eight men, six women).
Friday it was the men's turn again, with Bode Miller and Andrew Weibrecht getting silver and bronze in a tough Super-G won by the Norwegian great Aksel Lund Svindal (the guy who was injured so badly a couple of years ago on Beaver Creek's Birds of Prey and spent a month in the Vail Valley Medical Center). He's a great guy and a great quote and likely not done at these Games.
Weibrecht's previous best result was on the Birds of Prey in 2007 when he came from way down the start list to finish 10th in a downhill. Now he's an Olympic medalist.
Vail's Lindsey Vonn has her best shot at another gold today in Super-G, and the way things have been going, Julia Mancuso will probably climb on the podium with her.
Then Sunday, Ted Ligety of Park City will try to defend his combined gold from Torino, and the current World Cup giant slalom leader also has a shot in that event Tuesday (after everyone gets a much-needed day off Monday).
Should be good. Be sure to check it out after skiing all the powder dumping on Vail over the last week.
Submit a comment on "Vail's Vonn goes for second gold after Miller, Weibrecht keep U.S. on a roll"
Bode goes for another medal in Whistler; Vonn just misses in super combined
February 19, 2010 —
WHISTLER, British Columbia - It's another sunny day in the normally Great Wet North, which means we'll get in our fourth (of 10) alpine-skiing medal events of the Vancouver Winter Games.
Today the men get back after it in speed events with the super-G. Look for Bode Miller to try and build off his bronze in Monday's downhill.
Vail's (and Minnesota's) Lindsey Vonn looked like she was headed for another medal Thursday in the super combined to go with her downhill gold from Wednesday. She was leading after the downhill leg but hooked a gate and crashed in the slalom to give the win to her friend and top rival, Germany's Maria Riesch.
The story of the day (besides a second silver medal for American Julia Mancuso) was Swedish mega-star Anja Paerson coming back from a nasty crash the day before in the downhill to collect the bronze in super combined. Internal bleeding in her calf, massive butt bruise, no problsm. Takes some heat off Lindsey's "Shin-gate" story.
Anyway, Vonn hasn't been too good in slalom all season, and she's never won anything in giant slalom, so her next (and perhaps last) medal hope comes Saturday in super-G, when she should get her second gold. Look for Riesch, the World Cup slalom leader, to get another gold in that event Feb. 26.
And the way Mancuso is skiing (somewhat out of the blue), she could defend her giant slalom gold from Torino in 2006. She already the winningest American female ski racer in Olympic history.
Miller, the winningest American male ski racer in Olympic history, is the best U.S. hope in today's super-G, but I'm looking for Norwegian great Aksel Lund Svindal to upgrade his silver he won in Monday's downhill.
I also have Canadian Erik Guay avenging his bitter defeat at the Torino Games when he finished just off the podium by .01 seconds when the legendary Hermann Maier skied last and claimed silver.
After Saturday's women's super-G, we get the postponed (from Tuesday) men's combined on Sunday, and then we're done with speed events. That means weather rolling in Tuesday won't have too much effect on next week's tech events (GS and slalom) except to make it miserable for fans and journalists trying to cover the races.
My next day off looks like Monday, so I'm hoping to celebrate a U.S. win over Canada in hockey Sunday by getting up on the mountain for a little more skiing.
I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, enjoy all the new snow in Vail.
Submit a comment on "Bode goes for another medal in Whistler; Vonn just misses in super combined"
Next
