McThoughts: Let the season begin

By Published On: November 4th, 2014Comments Off on McThoughts: Let the season begin
Marlies Schild in her last race at the 2014 World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide. GEPA

Marlies Schild in her last race at the 2014 World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide. GEPA

The anticipation is delicious. There’s a lot to love about this time of year. The change of season infuses the very air with energy.

With daily walks I’ve been getting nature all over me.  There’s so much to absorb. The foliage alone was mind boggling. First, the trees are put on their party clothes. Now the woodland animals are busy collecting and stashing. I, myself, have collected and stashed a big supply of firewood.

For ski racers fall is all about the anticipation of the season. There is a moment before any sporting season, when the training is nearly complete and the chance to perform looms so near and large. So far, everybody is in contention. It’s exciting.

Hank McKee

Hank McKee

It’s a big year for the Red White and Blue. The “Worlds” are coming back. What an opportunity (or series of opportunities actually, as the best ski racers in the world will be measuring the Beaver Creek courses for 12 days if you count training). Make the effort to get there. It won’t disappoint. And consider:  the only folks who saw Bode Miller’s best run at Sochi were those at training.

“’Excitement Building’ for Colorado Alpine Ski Champs” read the headline in Around the Rings, and I’m thinking, “Where are they going to put that?”

Because it would be just like Vail to construct a facility to enhance excitement. The Vail Valley Foundation doesn’t do things half way.

While the season will surely have multiple highlights, with Worlds among them, we’re also going to miss Marlies Schild. After a lifetime spent defeating the clock, it was the ticking of her own biological clock that spelled the end of her racing career.

For a decade Marlies Schild illustrated the best of the World Cup circuit, dancing between the tight gates to the tune of 35 slaloms wins, better than all women who ever raced slalom. Better than Erika Hess, better than Vreni Schneider, better than Perrine Pelen.

Marlies would routinely build up such a large early lead as to drain the ambition from any who might challenge. Roughly half of her slaloms wins (48 percent) came before January.

As impressive as they are, it wasn’t so much the sheer numbers that intrigue us about Marlies. It was more her grace, her concentration, indeed her attention to detail that separated her from the myriad of very, very good slalom skiers that populate the circuit. The only disappointment is that we won’t ever get to see Schild, at her peak, go against our own Mikaela Shiffrin, at the peak she’s going to reach some day. It seems laughable to say, but Mikaela, the World Championship, Olympic and World Cup champion is still improving. Her coach, Roland Pfeifer, says, “It’s going to be exciting to see what she’s capable of — she will be better than last year.”

We should get used to this. With her attention to training and quest for learning, she will continue this procedure, getting better year after year. My guess, her peak is still years ahead of her.

I’m grinning as I say this.

Yep, it’s a great time of year.

 Trees, squirrels, firewood and energy.

Football is underway, reminding us all that athletes can have off field issues. Skiing’s record in this regard is unusually clean, which we should all be concerned about. I can be a bit naïve, preferring to find the best in people rather than the dirt swept under their rugs. I hope more of us feel like this than not. Our buddy Nate Vinton, one man who saw through Lance Armstrong’s charm, suggests some cynicism is necessary for journalism these days. Nate’s book on the World Cup is about to drop, by the way, and it will be a fantastic read.

The kids are back in school. The ski academies have posted photos of putting the little darlings through the toughest conditioning tests they could muster. Those photos show the youngsters appearing happily beat-up, and their new school clothes show some fresh scuffing.

They are ready for the season. Hope we all are, too. Let our gravity fed racers have the times of their lives. Safe speed you magnificent athletes. Bring it on every level. Be inspiring. Feed on the energy.

Let the season begin.

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”