Moving Up in the Downhill : Moe and Kitt Give U.S. Two Excellent Shots at a Medal Next Year in Lillehammer

As he cruises the downhill trails of the world, AJ Kitt sees a familiar object in his rear-view mirror. At first, it was only a tiny speck; then a human form emerged, and now Tommy Moe fills the entire frame.

Objects in the mirror, of course, are closer than they appear. But Kitt, America’s first world-class male skier since Bill Johnson and the Mahre brothers retired, merely yells over his shoulder, “Catch me if you can.”

He welcomes this added starter in the race to an Olympic gold medal next February at Lillehammer, Norway.

“For me, everyone that’s racing is my competitor,” Kitt said the other day. “So, there’s nothing new. I don’t race to be the best American; I race to be the best in the world.

“I think Tommy’s second place (in the World Cup downhill at Whistler Mountain in Canada) means two really good things. One is that I have a training partner now that I’ll be training with a lot, that I can compare myself with, who has been in the top three. The other thing is that now the chance of having two Americans on the (medal) podium is more realistic, and that’s another big goal in my career.

“So, there’s no rivalry between Tommy and me for best American as far as I’m concerned. We’ve been competitors forever, and we’re still going to be competitors. In fact, it’s better for me.”

Kitt, who said he has fully recovered after tearing two ligaments in his left ankle last November, climbed onto the podium in mid-February when he took the downhill bronze medal in the biennial World Alpine Ski Championships at Morioka, Japan. Moe barely missed joining him, placing a surprising fifth.

Although Kitt dismissed the Morioka course as being “for gliders only--there was nothing technical about it,” he said at the time: “Twenty years from now, I can hang this bronze around my neck and no one will know anything else than that.”

What many do know, however, is that 13 months ago, Kitt went into the 1992 Olympic downhill at Val d’Isere, France, as a prime U.S. medal hope but finished ninth, a performance he still refuses to call a disappointment.

“Everything I said last year in regard to that holds true today,” he said. “I was satisfied with my skiing, satisfied with my race, because I gave it a good effort. And going in, I didn’t expect to get into the top 10 because the course was not a (true) downhill course, and it wasn’t suited to my style of skiing. So, ninth was satisfactory for me.”

What then, does he think about Lillehammer’s Kvitfjell Olympic course, which has recently been given its shakedown tests?

Going into the two days of downhill racing, Kitt said: “It’s a technical course, and I think that’s the kind of course that’s good for me. It brings out the best in me, and (because) it’s difficult, it gives us all a challenge. That’s what makes me ski fast.”

Then, after placing 29th in the first race and being disqualified for missing a gate the next day, Kitt told the Associated Press: “I was out of whack all the way down. It wasn’t my day, it wasn’t my week, it wasn’t my year.”

Anyway, Kitt believes the Olympics are overrated--a feeling expressed by many ski racers who, it should be noted, have also been known to recant if they happen to win a medal.

“The press, and the American public in general,” Kitt said, “seem to think that skiers race only once every four years, and that’s not true. It’s every week. We have the World Cup, and that’s the most important thing for me. When the week comes around that there’s an Olympic event, then that’s the most important event at that time.”

Kitt, 24, acknowledges that his chosen career is outside the mainstream of American professional sports, although he has earned enough money to buy a house in one of the better sections of his hometown, Rochester, N.Y., and to enjoy a comfortable lifestyle both on and off the ski-racing circuit.

“The United States isn’t really a competitive skiing country,” he said. “It’s a skiing country in the sense that a lot of the population likes to ski recreationally. But very few, maybe 1% of the skiers in America, actually know what ski racing is.

“Probably 100% of the kids growing up in high school know what a baseball game or a football game is, and the same with car racing and all that, but ski racing is kind of left off to the side.”

Still, according to one estimate, Kitt’s bronze medal in Japan was worth an extra $80,000 from his sponsors and equipment suppliers, and his agent, Jon Franklin of International Marketing Group, told Ski Racing magazine: “In a very good year, AJ can make between $500,000 and $1 million.”

Although Kitt will probably never have Ryne Sandberg as a neighbor, he should be able to join the same country club some day if he wants.

Tommy Moe, on the other hand, figuratively just opened his first checking account.

He earned $4,000 prize money with his second place at Whistler--in a race that Kitt failed to finish because of equipment problems--and probably tripled that figure with bonuses from suppliers.

Kitt himself picked up a check for $30,000 when he was declared the “winner” of the controversial and incomplete World Cup downhill the next week at Aspen, Colo., but he called the money in current ski-racing purses far from sufficient, adding:

“It’s got to grow each year, but it’s a start. And I absolutely favor (awarding prize money), because it’s just going to help each athlete’s career and increase the visibility of the sport of ski racing. As there’s more money awarded, TV is going to get involved, and then it’s just going to snowball into more money and support and popularity.”

Prize money is a relatively recent World Cup development, forced upon a reluctant International Ski Federation (FIS) by Howard Peterson, chief executive officer of U.S. Skiing.

Peterson said last month that he intends to resign from this post after the 1994 Winter Olympics, a move that Kitt believes will be “refreshing.”

While applauding Peterson’s success in persuading race organizers to begin awarding purses, Kitt said: “I look forward to a change in the upper levels of the administration. . . . But I hope that whoever (succeeds Peterson) looks at the success the ski team has had since Dennis Agee has been around (as U.S. Alpine director).

“I didn’t win my first World Cup until Dennis came on board . . . and the general attitude, the general running, of the ski team has been better by far. (It has contributed) not only to my success, but to Tommy’s success. . . . I think Dennis should be here for a long time.”

Moe, 23, who was 14th in the first downhill at Lillehammer but failed to finish the second race, was on the U.S. B team at the start of this season. With Agee’s approval, he took a couple of weeks off downhill competition in January after posting several fast training times but mediocre World Cup race results.

His father, Tom Moe, Sr., said at Whistler: “Tommy just went back to basics. He didn’t train downhill. He went over on the technical side to work and race. He said, ‘I’ve got to learn to ski again.’ Last year was a bottom fall for him. He didn’t ski well and the Olympics were terrible, so he started over. He told me this winter, ‘I’m not a downhiller, I’m a skier,’ and that was it.”

Tommy raced in his native Montana as a junior, staying with his grandmother after his father moved to Palmer, Alaska, to open a construction business, then heading north himself in 1983.

“The past few years have been rough for me. I’ve paid my dues in the World Cup for many years, and now things are going great. I’ve been close before, but this season is definitely a new start to my career.

“I feel that if I keep the confidence I have now, I can start next season on a good note.”

Then it will be time to think about catching AJ Kitt in the Olympics, if he can.