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U.S. Reflects on Bormio WorldsNews Posted by ngski on Tuesday, February 15, 2005 - Printer Friendly Version
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Information provided by U.S. Ski Team News Bureau
 BORMIO, Italy (Feb. 14) -- The U.S. Ski Team left Bormio, Italy Sunday matching its best medal output ever in the just-completed FIS Alpine World Ski Championships with six medals. While the Team didn't reach its goal of eight, officials reflected positively on what was the second-highest medal output of any nation in the 16-day Championships.
Bode Miller (Franconia, NH), Daron Rahlves (Sugar Bowl, CA) and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) each came away with two medals for the U.S. Ski Team, matching the six-medal performance in the St. Moritz, Switzerland World Championships two years ago. Miller led by sweeping the gold in the downhill and super G. Rahlves added silver in downhill plus a surprise bronze in giant slalom. Mancuso came away with a bronze in super G, followed by a bronze in GS -- the first U.S. medal in that event in 20 years!
"While we didn't hit our goal, what did really impress me about our athletes was that we were competitive in all 10 events," said U.S. Ski Team Alpine Director Jesse Hunt. "And that's a first for us. While we only matched our medal count from two years ago, we had shots in every event!"
In addition to the medal highlights for the U.S. Ski Team, capped off by the historic Miller-Rahlves one-two finish in downhill, there were a host of close calls and promise for the Olympic Games in Torino just 12 months away including:
- 20-year-old Lindsey Kildow (Vail, CO), missing medals in combined and downhill by about a mere two-tenths
- 20-year-old World Cup rookie Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) finishing fourth in combined slalom and nearly taking the USA to a medal in the inaugural team event
- 19-year-old Resi Stiegler (Jackson Hole, WY) leading a 6-7-8 USA finish in women's slalom
- Nearly all team selections coming from the top two levels of selection criteria
The championships also presented its share of disappointments including all four U.S. men failing to finish the slalom, despite a stellar first run by Ligety. And Miller going out of three of five events.
"Those were disappointments for us, but we also had some pleasant surprises," said Hunt. "Both Julia (Mancuso) and Daron (Rahlves) had been skiing good GS this year, but not at the level where a medal was an expectation. Both of them really stepped up to show what they could do, and that's the mark of the type of champions we have on this team right now."
Austria, led by nine men's medals, was the overall leader with 11 medals to six for the USA. Sweden, led by Anja Paerson, had four including her three gold. Host country Italy had four, with three gold for Croatia from Janica Kostelic. Perennial power Norway won only a single medal and Switzerland didn't win at all. Germany and France each won only a single medal, that came in the team event.
U.S. Ski Team President and CEO Bill Marolt used the opportunity of the Championships to gauge where the Team stands. "Our organizational theme this year is: 'Best in the World: Where Do You Stand?," said Marolt. "While we didn't get to our goal, we now know exactly where we stand. For us it's a great means of benchmarking.
"As Jesse said, this was a strong performance across all 10 events which we've not seen before. And we also now know exactly what we need to do to improve for next year. It's a case of continuing to implement the leadership to provide the best opportunity for our young athletes to have success. Athletes like Julia Mancuso, who stepped up to win two medals, have the ability. We need to provide them with the leadership to achieve their personal goals."
Marolt is keeping a close eye on the medals tally at the four World Championships this year as the Team continues to focus on its goal of being Best in the World in 2006. U.S. riders won three medals in last month's Snowboard World Championships in Whistler. The U.S. Ski team is looking at medal opportunities in the next two weeks at the Nordic World Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany, primarily in nordic combined. And the dominating U.S. Freestyle Ski Team has strong opportunities at the Freestyle World Championships later in March in Ruka, Finland.
-- Best in the World --
Skiiii Ya Later !!!
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