Winter '04: Greater Success, Depth for U.S. Ski Teams

Park City, UT (Wednesday, April 7, 2004) - The 2004 season was marked by new successes for the U.S. Ski Teams.

ALPINE SKI

The 2004 alpine season for U.S. ski racers has several notable story lines, from the first men's World Cup title in two-plus decades to 10 World Cup victories, from World Junior Championships record-setting to emergence - or re-emergence - as a World Cup threat by a couple of skiers. And the continued filling-in of greater depth on the men's and women's teams, according to U.S. Alpine Director Jesse Hunt.

World champion Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) and Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) dominated the headlines all season with 10 victories between them, but Hunt said "It wasn't just a one- or two-man show, wasn't just World Cup success.

"We talk about winning at every level and we were doing that this season."

Miller jump-started the season, winning the first two giant slaloms - the first U.S. skier to win the opening race in more than a quarter of a century, since Phil Mahre won a GS in Val d'Isere, France, to open the 1977 season. Miller would go on to win six races and capture the World Cup giant slalom title, the best American showing since Mahre won the overall, GS and combined World Cup championships in 1983.

Miller finished the season fourth overall; he was first in both combined calculations but, as with 2003 when he also was tops in combined points, no World Cup title is awarded because there were only two. His wins give Miller 12 for his career, putting him second alltime in U.S. men's rankings behind Mahre's 27 wins. (Tamara McKinney leads the women's list with 18 victories.)

Rahlves targets overall title, too
Rahlves, already the top men's downhiller in U.S. history, won four times - twice more in downhill plus the first two super G victories of his career for the 2001 super G world champion. He has eight wins overall - the most by a U.S. man in both downhill (six wins) and super G (two) - and is focused on becoming even more of a three-event skier as he strengthens his giant slalom skiing in a bid to challenge for the overall World Cup title.

Rahlves finished the season second in downhill, equaling his USA-best performance from the 2003 season, second in SG (the alltime U.S. best) and fifth overall. That gave the U.S. Ski Team two men in the top five for the first time since 1982 when Phil Mahre won the overall title and twin brother Steve was third.

"The great thing," Hunt said, "is the way we moved up from podiums - and the men had 16 podiums - to wins. Ten wins is huge, a very big step from reaching top-3 to being the winner...but Bode and Daron did it. They showed it can be done, and obviously that was a big contribution to our Nations Cup points."

The USA was third overall in the Nations Cup tally, 20 behind runnerup Italy. There's no way of knowing what would have happened if World Championships GS bronze medalist Erik Schlopy (Park City, UT) and speed skier Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) hadn't been injured in the first month of the season, Hunt said.

On the women's side, Kirsten Clark (Raymond, ME) - the team's top speed skier for the past seven seasons - collected her first podium in GS. She was so strong through the first half of the winter that even though she missed the final six weeks because of injury, Clark still finished ninth in DH points, 13th overall (and was top-20 in both SG and GS standings).

In addition, gate-runner Sarah Schleper (Vail, CO) had her best results in three years, including second in slalom at World Cup Finals and three other top-5s. Kristina Koznick had three top-5s. Lindsey Kildow (Vail, CO) reached her first podium, taking third in a downhill on the rugged course at Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy while Bryna McCarty (Concord, VT) surprised with a fifth and a top-10 in back-to-back downhills at Haus, Austria.

Eleven U.S. skiers qualified (i.e., top 25 in World Cup points in a discipline plus world junior champions) to race at World Cup Finals. Hunt said that's a solid indication of the improving depth on the women's team, highlighted by Kildow's breakout season. She not only had her first World Cup podium and two medals at World Juniors, but earned the WinStar award for outstanding results from starting No. 40 or higher; she was sixth in one super G after starting 45th, 13th after running 47th in a slalom.

Women's depth is growing
"I'm impressed with the growing depth on the women's side, with Lindsey making her breakthrough this season, with McCarty and Libby Ludlow (Bellevue, WA) moving up to Finals, and I like what I see from some of the younger women starting to challenge," Hunt said.

He pointed to the five Europa Cup victories - Steve Nyman (Orem, UT) in a downhill, Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) in a slalom, veteran Dane Spencer (Boise, ID) in a GS, McCarty in a super G and Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN) in a GS. He also was pleased with podiums and top-5s, including Jessica Kelley (Starksboro, VT) and Jesse Marshall (Pittsfield, VT). Kelley and Ligety went on to score their first World Cup points.

"The Europa Cup is such a strain, such an intense circuit," according to Hunt, "and with five wins plus our podiums and top-5s, it was a very good season for us...not just for experience but for proven success."

At the World Junior Championships, Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) earned two more medals to extend her U.S. record to eight; at the same time, U.S. skiers reclaimed the Marc Hodler Trophy given to the top national team at the championships, based on top-10 results. Jeff Harrison (Steilacoom, WA) won the giant slalom, Kildow also had two medals (silver in downhill, bronze in GS), Ligety was silver medalist in slalom.

Ligety was selected as the Sprint/Ski Racing Alpine Junior of the Year and Kildow took the women's honor. "We were missing four of our top skiers [T.J. Lanning - Park City, UT; Nick Baker - Gilford, NH; Keely Kelleher - Big Sky, MT; and Katie Hitchcock - Sugar Bowl, CA] because of injury, but still took the Hodler Trophy, which was a huge achievement," Hunt said.

Cook, Richardson, Ligety take Nor Am titles
U.S. skiers earned automatic World Cup starts next season by finishing in the top two of Nor Am standings; U.S. skiers went 1-2 in three disciplines. Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN) and Lauren Ross (Stowe, VT) were 1-2 in slalom; Ligety and Cochran were 1-2 in men's slalom; Stacey Cook (Truckee, CA) not only won the women's overall Nor Am title but was No. 1 in DH with Lauren Van Ness (Colorado Springs, CO) second; and, among the men, J.J. Johnson (Park City, UT) was runnerup in downhill, Wade Bishop (Winter Park, CO) was second in super G and Jake Zamansky (Aspen, CO) was second in GS points.

"I'm really pleased with what's been taking place in the Nor Ams," Hunt said, "because that's become a strong circuit. We've placed races around World Cups and improved the quality of the racing, improve an athlete's [FIS penalty] points, and now it's a real stepping-stone to the World Cup. The Europa Cup still has more depth but at the high end, Nor Ams compare very favorably with the Europa Cup, and I think we'll continue to see that happen."

During the Chevrolet U.S. Alpine Championships at Alaska's Alyeska Resort, Kildow, Bryon Friedman (Park City, UT) and Jimmy Cochran (Keene, NH) each collected two titles. The rundown of U.S. championships: Downhill - Friedman* and Jonna Mendes (Heavenly, CA); super G - Rahlves and Kildow; slalom - Cochran* and Kildow; combined - Friedman and Mancuso; GS - Cochran and Libby Ludlow* (Bellevue, WA).

* - First-time champion

FREESTYLE

Nine World Cup victories - including three from skiers in their first full season on the tour - and 40 top-3s make the 2004 season a success for U.S. freestylers, according to U.S. Head Coach Jeff Wintersteen.

"You always want more wins, and we do - but we dominated men's moguls with four of the top five, six in the top eight skiers, and we had four in the top seven among the women. We're fortunate - no one has the depth we have in moguls...and in aerials, we showed solid improvement," Wintersteen said.

"I like what I've seen from our athletes and from our coaches. This season was a success by any measure you use."

The men's moguls group had seven wins, including three by World Cup runnerup Toby Dawson (Vail, CO) and one each from Jeremy Bloom (Loveland, CO), defending World Cup champion Travis Cabral (South Lake Tahoe, CA), David Babic (Washington, VT) and newcomer Nate Roberts (Park City, UT). The men had 23 podiums, including the wins. The women's side got a pair of victories from rookie Hannah Kearney (Norwich, VT) and 13 top-3s, including the wins.

Olympic medalist Joe Pack (Park City, UT), Jeret Peterson (Boise, ID) and Kate Reed (Montrose, CO) all produced World Cup podium performances in aerials.

Injuries removed four of the top six men from World Cup Finals plus women's defending World Cup champion Shannon Bahrke (Tahoe City, CA).

"We don't use them as an excuse because injuries are part of the game," Wintersteen said, "but we were hit pretty hard. So, when everyone's healed during the summer, we'll be ready to go again in a World Championships year." Among the more notable injuries involving frontline athletes: Dawson missed World Cup Finals with a broken leg, Bloom and Cabral missed Finals to have aching knees examined, Luke Westerlund (Breckenridge, CO) missed the last three events with a dislocated shoulder while Bahrke broke her jaw and missed the final month of the season.

At the Chevrolet U.S. Freestyle Championships at Lake Tahoe's Heavenly Mountain Resort, Cabral won both moguls titles while Jillian Vogtli (Ellicotville, NY) and Shelly Robertson (Reno, NV) won their first U.S. titles while Peterson and Kelly Hilliman (Tonawanda, NY) were the aerials champions.

CROSS-COUNTRY

Before Christmas, Kris Freeman (Andover, NH) turned-in the best U.S. cross country ski results in World Cup races in two decades. Carl Swenson (Park City, UT) had two top-15s by Christmas and, as the season progressed, a resurgent U.S. cross country squad had six athletes - including two World Cup rookies - score points.

"This was a good season, for sure. We had some major highs early on and, overall, made some tremendous progress...but we also had some big frustrations in the last half of the season," said Trond Nystad, who completed his second season as head coach. "Kris raced so well and then he struggled in the last two months, as did Carl. So, we know we have some training changes to make, and we will go from there.

"The World Championships return next season and we certainly want to do well - it's one big step toward the Olympics a year later," Nystad said.

Freeman's fifth-place finish in a 15K classic race in Ramsau, Austria, after being sixth a week earlier in a 30K freestyle, mass start race Toblach, Italy, were the obvious high points. The results by Freeman, a diabetic, who self-administers up to six insulin shots a day to control his diabetes, were the best since Jim Galanes was fifth in a race in Murmansk, then-Soviet Union, after the 1984 Olympics; that also was the last time a U.S. skier had two top-10s in a season.

Swenson not only equaled the best World Cup results of his career when he was 11th in a 10K freestyle in Ramsau, but he was third in the renowned Dolomitenlauf, a 50K freestyle, non-World Cup race in January in Lienz, Austria.

Torin Koos (Leavenworth, WA), finally focusing fulltime on skiing after graduating from the University of Utah, scored points in a two sprints - a classic technique event in Stockholm and a skate race in Pragelato where he and Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, VT) made a small bit of U.S. racing history when, for the first time, two U.S. sprinters produced top-20 results in the same race. Rebecca Dussault (Gunnison, CO), back in racing after taking time to get married and have a baby, cruised through the $100,000 SuperTour, winning 10 races, and went to Europe at season's end, collecting her first World Cup points in Pragelato, Italy, the '06 Olympic cross country venue.

Veteran Wendy Wagner (Park City, UT) and Justin Freeman (Andover, NH) battled health problems throughout the season. Wagner never had the snap she was looking for and came home early from Europe to undergo some tests in an effort to determine what slowed her. Freeman was sick five times during the winter "and just never had a chance to get going," Nystad said. "You can't do anything if you're not healthy."

The $100,000 SuperTour was new this season. It took all the Nor Am races in the United States and put them in on series, including races from the Chevrolet U.S. championships, and was recognized by the International Ski Federation as the Continental Cup series for North America. The overall and sprint champions were given automatic start rights for the final half-dozen races in Europe, which opened the door for Dussault and Newell to score their points. Dussault won the women's overall and sprint titles; Dave Chamberlain (Bethel, ME) was the men's overall champion with Newell taking the sprint crown.

NORDIC COMBINED

U.S. nordic combined skiers, with a sixth World Cup victory by Todd Lodwick (Steamboat Springs, CO) and two top-5s from a healthy Johnny Spillane (also Steamboat), remain among the sport's contenders. "I think we're farther along the road to 2006 than we were at the start of the season," U.S. Head Coach Bard Elden said.

In ski jumping, Clint Jones (Steamboat Springs, CO) was the one-man U.S. squad and he had two top-30 finishes. Domestically, the SuperTour was created to serve as a development vehicle for skiers who had not progressed to the World Cup level; it spanned preseason and winter jumping events, providing more than 20 competitions for developing skiers.

Lodwick, an 11-year veteran, had one of his best World Cup seasons, capturing not only his sixth nordic combined win but the German Grand Prix championship; the Grand Prix is a series-within-the-series, comprised of three German World Cups in January. He hit the podium in all three competitions - winning in Schonach, placing third in Oberhof and Reit im Winkl (and added a fourth podium, also in Germany - a personal high for the three-time Olympian - when he finished third in the pre-Worlds sprint at Oberstdorf in mid-February).

He also had a string of 13 consecutive top-10 finishes as he placed seventh overall in World Cup points, his seventh consecutive season in the top 10. Lodwick also swept all three titles - combined and both the large and normal hill gold medals - at the Chevrolet U.S. championships in March; he's won an even dozen U.S. titles, seven in combined, five in jumping.

Spillane, the reigning sprint world champion, was hobbled through the first half of the season with a nagging cold, which hit in mid-November and troubled his jumping and lowered his endurance for the cross country races. When he got healthy, Spillane went from nowhere (no top-20s in the first 14 events) to five top-10s in the last seven events during the final month of the season, including fifth (with Lodwick third) in Oberstdorf, Germany, the 2005 World Championships venue, and again at Holmenkollen in Oslo. He finished 20th for the season.

Elsewhere, Bill Demong (Vermontville, NY), who missed the 2003 season with a fractured skull, returned cautiously to competing. He impressed Elden with his improvement through the winter, including the fastest time in a couple of World Cup-B events. "Billy showed me some good progress with his jumping and his skiing," Elden said. "That's good for next season and as we move toward 2006."

Carl Van Loan (Andover, NH) won an early season World Cup-B event in Norway and reclaimed a place on the 2005 World Cup circuit with his results during the last marking period in World Cup-B. Eric Camerota (Park City, UT) gained an automatic World Cup start spot for next season by finishing fifth in the individual combined event at the World Junior Championships in Stryn, Norway - the best U.S. finish since Lodwick won the title in 1996 (Van Loan was ninth in the sprint in 2000).

"We started slowly," Elden said, "but we picked it up as the season went along. We'll make some training changes this summer and keep looking to the World Championships in February."

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