USST's Steve Nyman wins Europa Cup downhill at Altenmarkt

USST’s Steve Nyman wins Europa Cup downhill at Altenmarkt{mosimage}Steven Nyman, the mercurial young racer out of Orem, Utah, won a Europa Cup downhill at Altenmarkt, Austria on January 21.

Phil McNichol, the head men’s coach for the U.S. Ski Team, received the news as he stood on the side of the Streif — the most perilous downhill course in the world, at Kitzbuehel, Austria. “Hey boys, I just got some good news,” McNichol was heard announcing to his colleagues over the team’s radio frequency, normally reserved for only the most urgent and immediately relevant chatter.

Nyman blazed onto the U.S. Ski Team in 2002 after winning the slalom at world junior championships — a race he’d only been invited to as an alternate.

Nyman, a tall and laid-back Utahn also known as “Ny-monster,” has been hot and cold since then. After a lackluster season last year, he won the downhill at the U.S. National Championships at Lake Placid.

Nyman grew up skiing at little-known Sundance Ski Area, raced for a few years with the Park City Ski Educational Foundation, and says now that his favorite place to ski is Snowbird.