OUR TIME ON TOP The U.S. Ski Team once dominated Birds of Prey – can they do it again?
Daron Rahlves made U.S. Ski Team history by taking third in the 2002 Birds of Prey Downhill, and following that up with wins in 2003 and 2005, and a second-place to teammate Bode Miller in 2004. Photo by Jonathan Selkowitz.
The development of the Birds of Prey course over 20 years ago brought out the best in many racers—including and especially a trio of Americans with the surnames Miller, Rahlves and Ligety. Collectively, the three have 11 wins on a course known to test a racer’s limits. Daron Rahlves, the oldest of the three, was the first to reach the podium, finishing third in the 2002 Downhill. Marco Sullivan (sixth) and Bode Miller (eighth) were also in strong form that day—the first time three Americans finished in the top 10 of a World Cup Downhill since 1972. Rahlves was 29 at the time, and though he had only been on a World Cup Downhill podium three times to that point in his career, two of those trips were to the top step in back-to-back wins at Kvitfjell, Norway, at the end of the 1999-2000 season. Feisty and determined—and at 5’8”, 185 pounds, more compact than his rivals— he was also the surprise winner of the Super G at the 2001 world championships in St. Anton, Austria, upsetting the favored Austrians Stephan Eberharter and Hermann Maier on their home snow. Six weeks after his Beaver Creek performance, Rahlves became the first American to win the fabled Kitzbühel Downhill in 44 years. American ski racing history had a bright, new chapter to explore.
Getting a ‘Grip’ on Victory In 2003, Rahlves would score the first of his two Birds of Prey Downhill wins in a race moved to Beaver Creek from Val d’Isere, France. Home snow, often described as grippy, suited Rahlves just fine, as it did for Miller, who first gained attention in 2002 when he won two silver medals (combined and Giant Slalom) at the Salt Lake Olympics. In 2004, Miller, then 27, made his first appearance on a Birds of Prey podium, finishing second in the Super G that opened the weekend of racing. Miller and Rahlves often talked about pushing each other to be the better racer in addition to their own internal motivations for success.
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Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves went 1-2 in the 2004 Birds of Prey Downhill. The next year, Rahlves won and Miller took second. Photo courtesy Vail Valley Foundation. It’s a familiar scene across sports—what would Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic be without each other to challenge them? They also both liked the challenge of the Birds of Prey course, considered among the most difficult on the World Cup circuit.
“I do better in Downhills that make you fight more, that make you work hard,” Rahlves said. “You want to be getting in the gate and everybody to think: We’ve got to watch,” Rahlves said later in his career about his approach to racing. “I love putting down exciting runs that get people going ‘Whoa.’