Beaver Creek: U.S. showing fires up the boss

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — U.S. Ski Team CEO Bill Marolt said his team needed to show some “guts and character” Friday in the Birds of Prey downhill

BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — U.S. Ski Team CEO Bill Marolt said his team needed to show some “guts and character” Friday in the Birds of Prey downhill.     
    Bode Miller and the rest of the team’s speed demons certainly heeded the call, crowding the top 10 with four U.S. finishers, led by Miller’s second victory in the Beaver Creek downhill event.
    “We needed a big bang to get our season started. Now this sort of shifts us into high gear and gets us going,” Marolt said.
    Steven Nyman also raced onto the podium in third place, Scott Macartney was eighth and Marco Sullivan 10th.
    “Obviously it was a great team day, we had four guys in the top 10,” Marolt said. “It’s clear when you have two guys on the podium that it’s a great day, but it’s also a great day when you have other guys finish in the top 10.
    “Obviously Bode had a great race. He loves this mountain and conditions don’t bother him. I think Steve Nyman’s performance was just awesome. He skied hard, had this thing under control, just nailed it. This is what we train and prepare for, and [the results] tell the story.”
    Friday’s win was sweet redemption for Miller, who led Thursday’s super combined after the morning downhill run but failed to finish the afternoon slalom portion. As always, Marolt said, Miller was laying it all on the line, not holding anything back. That strategy may have failed Thursday, but a day later it paid big dividends.   
    “The thing you’re always going to get with [Bode] is his best effort,” Marolt said. “He’s got his way of doing it, and he’s going to try and go out and win every single run, every single race. Sometimes strategically, that may not be the way to try to do it, but that’s his way. We’re not going to change that. But you know you’re going to get his best shot regardless.”
    Nyman backed up a 13th-place finish in the super combined with the first World Cup podium finish of his career Friday.
    “Nyman is one of those special kids,” Marolt said. “He’s a kid that has a lot of talent. He went through a period where he had a lot of setbacks, and he’s rebounded and responded to that and has just gotten better and better. Big, strong, tough-minded, a humble kid. I really, really like seeing that a lot.”
    Sullivan punched in his best result in the Birds of Prey downhill since finishing sixth in 2002. Macartney’s finish was the highest of his World Cup downhill career. His previous best was 11th last season at Val Gardena, Italy.
    “You’ve gotta step up on race day. We talked about that last night,” Macartney said midway through the race. “Nyman stepped up, I think ‘Sulli’ and I will stay pretty solid, I think. Barring any weather conditions … I mean, if it stops snowing, we’re going to get killed from the back. We’ll be probably eight-tenths of a second out on the top. Hopefully it stays consistent so it stays fair for everyone.”
    Marolt was elated with the depth his team showed Friday in front of the home fans.  
    “I think there’s a lot of pride,” he said. “We love racing at home, and we love racing at Beaver Creek.. As you can see, it’s a great racing community, and the Vail Valley Foundation and Vail [Resorts] take tremendous pride in putting this thing on. We’re just excited to do our part.”

McNichol pumped
    U.S. men's head coach Phil McNichol, frustrated earlier this week by a lack of results and by FIS scheduling snafus, was upbeat, for good reason, after Friday's showing.
    “It’s always good to have some validation to what we are doing," McNichol said. "And we have been looking for some validation for the whole beginning of the season. We know what the guys can do. We have been watching them all summer. This year we had some of the best training and made some of the most growth that we’ve had in years past and then we come to the races and its just one mistake after the next. To really come through, have the guys pull through in the magnitude that they did today, validates the training, validates what they have accomplished and where they are currently. And there’s a lot more to go.
    “There is a void — we miss Daron [Rahlves]. Daron brought so much to the team more than I even realize until he was actually gone. His professionalism, his attitude, his intensity. But we have great skiers. And we’ve been saying that for a while, as the guys have been slowly stepping forward. It’s really nice to see Bode on top of the steps again. We’ve been saying that Stephen’s coming, we’ve been saying that Scotty’s coming, we’ve been saying that Sully’s on his way back. And here they are.”

— SR's Hilary Lund contributed to this report