US alpine skiers: why they are rocking the Vancouver Olympics
| Whistler, British Columbia
US alpine skier Ted Ligety already laid down the fastest slalom run at an Olympic race.
The gold medalist from 2006 didn鈥檛 get to stand on the podium for that effort, since it wasn鈥檛 enough to make up for his slow downhill run in the combined event. But as a guy who has captured four of his five wins in giant slalom when it was hot enough to wear a T-shirt under his suit, Ligety may well find himself on the podium today if Whistler鈥檚 springlike weather keeps up.
That would give the US its ninth medal in alpine skiing 鈥� adding momentum to the team鈥檚 most successful Olympics ever. Coming into the Games, the record for medals won in a single Olympics by US alpine skiers was five; with four events remaining, they have 鈥� dwarfing ski giants Switzerland and Austria, which have won a pair each. But perhaps more surprising is that more than half of those medals came from Bode Miller, who didn鈥檛 start training until just weeks before the season鈥檚 first race, and Julia Mancuso, who hadn鈥檛 won an international event in three years.
Why Americans rise to the occasion
What is it about the American team that has made them so dominant here, while many of the Europeans and Canadian favorites have crumbled under the pressure? They鈥檙e focused on doing their best skiing, not necessarily beating people.
鈥淥ur expectations are only on 100 percent effort every day. Just have fun executing,鈥� says men鈥檚 head coach Sasha Rearick, adding that he never explicitly said he wanted a certain number of medals here.
Four years ago, Rearick took his young team into Utah鈥檚 Uitna mountains to think about this Olympiad. What kind of team did they want to be? What kind of environment did they want to create?
They wrote down their vision on a rock and carried it up to the top of the mountain. And now, they are kings of the mountain here, having created the challenging but supportive role they envisioned. And they all know that while European teams catch the eye of sponsors and fans every weekend on the World Cup circuit, they get one chance every four years 鈥� and they鈥檙e here to make the most of it.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot more motivation,鈥� says Ligety, noting that the team doesn鈥檛 get much press at World Cup events. 鈥淪o it gives us that extra little intensity to ski offensively, whereas the Austrians maybe ski more defensively.鈥�
For Miller, . Austrian kids grow up inspired by World Cup performances; American kids grow up being inspired by the Olympics 鈥� and when they're grownups, they want to inspire others in turn, he says.
鈥淎mericans more so than other nations are inspiration-driven,鈥� he said after winning silver in last week's Super-G, with teammate Andrew Weibrecht taking bronze.
Comforts of home
Rookie Will Brandenburg, who came out of nowhere with the second-fastest slalom run in Sunday鈥檚 combined 鈥� only 0.02 seconds behind Ligety 鈥� chalks it up to feeling a little more comfortable in North America. The food, accommodations, and weather are all familiar 鈥� and he鈥檚 close enough to his hometown of Spokane, Wash., that his friends were able to drive up to watch him race not once, but twice, because the event was rescheduled due to bad weather.
But just as Swiss veterans like Didier Cuche have helped young skiers like Carlo Janka become stars, so Brandenburg credits Miller, Ligety, and other senior members of the team with paving the way for him.
鈥淪kiing is all mental,鈥� he says, clearly riding the team鈥檚 growing momentum and euphoria. 鈥淚 feel like I can be one of the elite skiers in the world now.鈥�
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