Beaver Creek: Marco is mighty on home soil

For athletes, ski races on American soil are poles apart from racing in Europe. Differences range from jet lag and cuisine, to wondering what the traffic signs say. Besides the challenges of extended travel, crowd support can be a big boost. The Europeans deify ski racing, and Kitzbühel might see 50,000 spectators yelling their support. And over there, most racers get home for a night or two between competitions and spend time with family.
BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — For athletes, ski races on American soil are poles apart from racing in Europe. Differences range from jet lag and cuisine, to wondering what the traffic signs say. Besides the challenges of extended travel, crowd support can be a big boost. The Europeans deify ski racing, and Kitzbühel might see 50,000 spectators yelling their support. And over there, most racers get home for a night or two between competitions and spend time with family.
    “People simply do well with their home crowd,“ American Marco Sullivan said after placing 10th in Friday’s downhill. “It’s always a big motivator to get to the finish and hear all the fans screaming for you. And it’s nice to be able to point to friends in the finish and give them a thumbs up. It doesn‘t happen very often.”
    Friday at Birds of Prey was one of the best days in World Cup history for the U.S. team, and Sullivan raced in front of his recently formed fan club, based near his home on the north shore of Lake Tahoe, California. Traveling from states all over the West, and sporting official Marco Sullivan Fan Club sweatshirts, his sister, father, and longtime friends made up the gang of about 35 fans — half of whom had never been to a World Cup before.
    Chelsea Sullivan came from her home in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, ready to cheer for her brother, but respectful of his schedule. She said, “These past few days, with training and meetings and the combined, he’s been really busy and he needed his space — he needed to focus, so we’ve tried to stay away. After the downhill, he’ll have more time and we’re all staying through Sunday to hang out with him.”
    “I’m having a frickin’ blast,” added Chris “Pork” Porcarelli, Marco’s former roommate, now living in Seattle. “But it’s hard to create as vibrant a scene as they do in Europe with only one race here.”
    Having only the Beaver Creek men’s tour stop to cheer at, Porcarelli and company made some definite noise in the finish area. And after sitting out a couple seasons with injuries, Sullivan was happy to get back at it with a biased audience.
    “Maybe there is some extra pressure having family around, but most athletes thrive under pressure,” Sullivan said. “But it’s just great to have a ton of people cheering you on. If you look at my results, my best World Cup performances were 10th here this year, ninth in the Salt Lake Olympics and sixth at Beaver Creek in 2003. All at races in the U.S. … There is definitely something to be said for the motivation of having friends and family here.”