BEHIND THE GOLD: The Real Beginning of Birds of Prey

By Published On: December 5th, 2019Comments Off on BEHIND THE GOLD: The Real Beginning of Birds of Prey

Daron Rahlves stood in front of his teammates at the Inn at Beaver Creek. It was a new day for American ski racing. Rahlves was the veteran ski racer turned team leader who just 10 months earlier won his sport’s biggest prize – becoming a Hahnenkamm champion. Around him was a team of talented men, ready to race on home snow down what was arguably one of the most technically demanding downhill courses in the world. But since it debuted five years earlier, it was anything but a home snow advantage.

“Beaver Creek was frustrating,” said Rahlves. “It was the only race each year in the USA. But it was a course owned by the Italians, Austrians and Norwegians, not us. I told the team, ‘Hey, this is our home turf. This is our time to shine!’ We literally willed ourselves to be competitive on that hill.”

It had been nearly two decades since an American man won a downhill on U.S. snow – Bill Johnson who launched off Aztec and carved his way to a win at Aspen in 1984. Rahlves’ pep talk would lead to an extraordinary period of dominance there for the U.S. Ski Team.

Who wouldn’t love to win on that race course? It blended a long flat section to test your patience and glide with elevator shaft drops like the Brink and perilous jumps including Screech Owl, Harrier and Golden Eagle. It was a minute, forty seconds of sheer mental anguish to reach the thousands of screaming fans in the Red Tail Camp finish.

Rahlves in 2005 after the Downhill Race in Beaver Creek. Rahlves rallied a team and built it on a sheer will to win. GEPA photo.

“I liked everything about Birds of Prey except the top,” laughed Rahlves, whose small physical stature caused him fits on the flat Flyway. “You had to be relaxed and let the skis go. You just wanted to get to the Brink. Then it was game on.”

Rahlves and teammate Bode Miller had been ushering in a new era for the U.S. Ski Team. Rahlves’ super-G gold at the 2001 World Championships in St. Anton, Austria stunned the nation of Austria. How could that happen? But it also began to endear the Americans to European fans. 

Miller’s technical wins in Val d’Isere and Schladming in the 2002 Olympic season jumped it up yet another notch. And Rahlves’ January, 2003 victory in the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel made it very real.

“After winning at Kitz, I came into the next season with a lot of confidence,” said Rahlves. “Austria is the center of our sport. I was at the top of my game in Austria and I wanted to be at my best level in the USA as well. 

“I had a really good feeling the entire week. I was more committed than ever.”

Rahlves drew start number 28 that Friday. Miller, who a week earlier had won the giant slalom at the final America’s Opening World Cup in Park City, Utah, would run 19. Austrian superstar Hermann Maier went 14th. But all eyes were on the Austrian duo including Michael Walchoffer and defending World Cup downhill champion Stefan Eberharter, would come successively after Rahlves.

Eberharter was the quiet veteran of the Austrian team, calmy racking up victories in the shadow of the media craze around Maier.

The deck was stacked early as fourth-starting Norwegian journeyman Bjarne Solbakken put down a 1:40.28 – an impressive time by Birds of Prey standards – to take the lead. And it held. Lasse Kjus, Kristian Ghedina, Maier – no one could match the 26-year-old Norwegian who had only one top-10 World Cup downhill to his credit.

Then, it was Rahlves’ turn. The intensity of the crowd was like nothing ever felt before in Beaver Creek. All eyes gazed to the big screen as “D” slid calmly into the start. There he was – the American champion from Kitzbühel. He punched it out onto the course.

Rahlves and Miller recount race details after the Giant Slalom in 2005. GEPA photo.

“I was just searching for that feeling – looking for aerodynamics,” recalled Rahlves of that painful 24 seconds down the flat stretch of the Flyway. “Flyway was my nemesis. I just knew that from the Brink down, it was MY race!”

While Flyway held the power to make or break the race, how you managed the remaining one minute, 16 seconds would determine the champion. Solbakken had not been strong on the Flyway. As he reached the pitch, Rahlves held a .22 margin over the Norwegian. And the fans ignited.

“I just wanted to get to that first right-footed turn over the Brink,” he said. 

Rahlves threw his Atomics on edge, carving smoothly through the sweeping turns around Pump House. In true ‘Heriminator’ style, he took a shoulder to a gate panel and ripped it from the snow. 

“Daron skied a very extreme, risky line,” said Head Coach Phil McNichol. 

He rocketed off Harrier into Golden Eagle, sliding through the Abyss and launching off Red Tail into the stadium.

“I came across the finish line knowing I had had a great run,” said Rahlves. “I didn’t make any major mistakes. But I didn’t know where I stood.

“Once I saw I was on top of the leaderboard, it was just electrifying!”

But he knew the race was far from over. Two of the very best in the world were yet to come. First it was Walchofer, who aced it on the Flyway to take the lead over Rahlves. But he lost it through the Brink and dropped to third. Then it was the defending champion Eberharter’s turn, coming in with four straight downhill podium finishes on Birds of Prey.

The veteran took the lead over Rahlves through Flyway and held his own through the Brink into the Pump House. Then it was a horse race. On any other day, Eberharter’s race down through the technically challenging jumps would have won. But Rahlves had skied literally the perfect run down Birds of Prey – his 1:39.59 still standing today as the fastest run ever down Birds of Prey.

“What we established during that time was confidence – not as individuals, but as a team,” said Rahlves. “We were establishing ourselves as contenders. You just wanted to feel like you belonged there. And we did.”

“Those two weekends – with Bode’s win in Park City and Daron in Beaver Creek – created a monumental elevation in the belief of the group,” said McNichol. “After winning a few events in the USA and then going back to Europe, it was a whole different world. Suddenly we were the team to beat.”

At the celebration that evening, the team’s black podium shirts introduced a year earlier were replaced with the first of the flame shirts – proudly worn by every athlete and coach on podium days. “It was a ritual we developed to recognize performance within our team,” said McNichol. It was a source of great team pride.”

Over the next few years at Beaver Creek, the U.S. Ski Team with Rahlves, Miller, Steven  Nyman, Bryon Friedman and Erik Schlopy in giant slalom would hit on all cylinders for one of the greatest eras in team history.

Rahlves had the entire package for a ski racing star. He raced on the flagship brand of the sport’s leading nation – Atomic. And he had just become the first skier to land a sponsorship from the giant Austrian global brand, Red Bull. 

“I felt like I had to perform – I had something to prove. I wanted to be the fastest guy on Atomics and the top guy on my team.”

Today, at 46, Rahlves hasn’t lost a step. He’s out skiing every chance he gets and has remained a powerful ambassador for his sponsor brands. He’ll be on the sidelines this year at Birds of Prey.

But on a snowy Thanksgiving weekend day, his greatest thrill was being out in the snow with his 12-year-old twins.

“For me today, I just relish going back to the roots of why I love skiing – just enjoying day-to-day on the hill,” he said. “Today I got Drayson into the backcountry with some friends. It was such a thrill to watch him skin up a mountain for the first time.”

For over a decade, Daron Rahlves was one of the world’s best ski racers. But at his core, well, he’s just a skier still doing what he loves in the snow.

Share This Article

About the Author: Tom Kelly

Longtime U.S. Ski Team spokesperson Tom Kelly is a noted skisport and Olympic historian who has worked 10 Olympic Games and been in the finish area for 75 U.S. Olympic medals.