High Hopes on the Slopes

Playing eager host to some 10 million skiers and snowboarders annually, the American ski resort industry is booming. Skiers spend hundreds of millions of dollars a year on everything from boot warmers to lift tickets. Yet, this country is a perennial also-ran on the international alpine ski racing circuit. That may be changing with the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, starting Feb. 8 at Salt Lake City.

Americans are emerging as more than occasional winners on the mostly European World Cup circuit, where the best compete from November through March. Much of the credit goes to the chief executive of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Assn., Bill Marolt, who is building a stronger training program for the chronically underfunded U.S. ski team.

Marolt and company have focused their efforts on the Olympics. European fans follow every twist on the World Cup, but Americans don’t think much about ski racing except during the Olympics. Then they expect the Americans to win and are puzzled when they don’t.

This year the U.S. skiers have the incentive, if not the advantage, of home turf. U.S. skiers won only three silver medals at Squaw Valley in 1960 and just one silver at Lake Placid in 1980. Americans did better at Lillehammer, Norway, in 1994 and Nagano, Japan, in 1998. In 2002, Austria has long been expected to dominate the men’s events even though Hermann “The Herminator” Maier is not expected to compete because of severe injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. European skiers are also favored in the women’s events.

But the editors of International Ski Racing, published in Vermont, caution, “When it comes to the Olympics, expect the unexpected.” Just now, 24-year-old Bode Miller of Franconia, N.H., is the hottest skier on the World Cup circuit. Miller won back-to-back races in France and Italy in mid-December, the first slalom or giant slalom races won by an American since 1984. Daron Rahlves, 28, of Truckee, Calif., scored a breakthrough with back-to-back World Cup downhill wins last year, plus the world championship in the super giant slalom. Erik Schlopy and Chad Fleischer also are U.S. medal hopefuls.

The women’s team is the strongest in years, including Picabo Street, the comeback kid, the reigning Olympic Super G champion who is returning from a catastrophic leg injury two years ago. “It’s really fun to have a big, strong team,” she says. Her medal-chasing mates include Kirsten Clark, Caroline Lalive, Sarah Schleper and Jonna Mendes.

This is certain to be a dramatic and emotional Olympics for Americans, both participants and audience. The U.S. ski team’s improved prospects could make it a real edge-of-the-chair experience.