River Radamus hopes to ‘earn his stripes’ as an American downhiller

River Radamus training run Beaver Creek, GEPA pictures/Mario Buehner-Weinrauch

BEAVER CREEK, Colo. – With both downhill races canceled at Beaver Creek due to the weekend’s inclement weather, River Radamus’ World Cup downhill debut will have to wait.

It’s a serious step to add downhill to one’s repertoire. Still, for Radamus, who lives in nearby Edwards and grew up racing with Ski and Snowboard Club Vail, it seemed only appropriate for the World Cup’s one-stop at his home hill to be the place for his inaugural downhill race.

Experience at Beaver Creek

“I’ve slipped it. I’ve inspected it. I’ve volunteered here. I’ve done the whole thing. It feels like home to me. I’ve been around this hill a lot,” the 25-year-old said.

Beyond his childhood skiing at Vail and Beaver Creek and involvement in the Birds of Prey races, including forerunning, Radamus hasn’t actually experienced the course much competitively. Following this weekend’s World Cup races, the NorAm circuit lands at Beaver Creek, which Radamus feels will bring significant benefits to the future of American speed skiing.

“I think the organizing committee has taken a huge step in having NorAms here after these races,” he says. “It happens in Europe all the time after Kitzbühel and Wengen — all of the classic downhills — so the younger skiers get time to develop on those hills and you get a real home field advantage. The fact that they’re starting to dip their toes into that is awesome for the next generation.”

Proven success in Super-G

Radamus made his World Cup super-G debut on the Birds of Prey track in 2018. Winning the Junior World SG Championship in 2019, Radamus’ best World Cup SG result came with last year’s 16^th place at Beaver Creek.

As downhill courses go, Radamus views the Birds of Prey course as the crème de la crème.

“To me, it’s the most pure, fun speed track,” he says. “The steepness, the technicality, the difference between the top and the bottom — it’s the same things I like about Alta Badia (where he has consistently landed his top World Cup results in GS with three top 10s). If you want to be successful there, you have to be good at all facets of the sport. If you want to be fast at Birds of Prey, you have to be fast on flats, you have to be a strong technical skier through the middle pitch, and then the last 30 seconds is a terrain park. You’re in the air the whole time. It really tests you on all facets as a skier. The conditions are always so good; it really shows the best of what speed skiing is.”

Radamus put ample time into training with the U.S. speed team this summer. Ultimately, his goal as an alpine skier is to race as much as possible.

Adding disciplines to the mix

“The downhill is a long-term dream of mine, for sure. I’m trying to build up to it. I want to prove my worth. I want to prove that I belong here. I don’t want to just race them to race them; I want to race to compete, to be among those top guys. I’m trying to add events slowly and methodically and not push myself, as I did earlier in my career.

I’m trying to be a mainstay on Super-G and GS and dip my toes into the slalom and downhill when it makes sense. I’m a racer; I want to be skiing all the time. I’m a natural competitor; if I’m going to try something, I want to try it all the way. I’ve had some good experience training with the speed guys over the summer. They’ve been encouraging me a ton. I’ve gained some momentum and confidence. The more races I have on the calendar, the better off I am.”

Following footsteps

While inspecting the BOP course during the stormy conditions before the downhill was canceled, Radamus reflected on Andrew Weibrecht’s wild inaugural World Cup downhill race here back in 2007, when he started No. 53 and skied through a blinding snowfall to 10th place.

“I thought about that a lot going in, something I wanted to channel,” Radamus said. “We can learn a lot from the guys who have been in our shoes. Obviously, we want to write our own chapter in the book.”

Radamus is aware that such chapters don’t write themselves

“If you’re crazy enough to do downhill, you sort of enter the brotherhood, but you have to earn your stripes,” he said. “I’m hoping to earn my stripes. I haven’t decided that I belong or that I’m ready for it. The skiing speaks for itself. I’m going to try to do our team proud and honor the commitment it takes to be a downhill skier and put something on for the crowd. Hopefully, over time, I’ll earn that respect and add to that downhill legacy.”

Radamus competes in the GS in Val d’Isere this weekend on Saturday, December 9th.