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Downhill from here?
Posted: Wednesday March 15, 2000 01:07 PM
Daron Rahlves' skiing career took a downhill turn earlier this month, when the 26-year-old Californian captured back-to-back World Cup titles in Kvitfell, Norway. U.S skiers seem to keep treating Norwegian terrain as a home-powder advantage. Tommy Moe won the 1994 Olympic downhill gold medal and Kyle Rasmussen won a ' 95 World Cup race on the same Kvitfell course. Those were the last two international victories by U.S. men's downhillers prior to Rahlves' impressive double. The course conditions -- sharp turns and fewer long flat parts than most downhills -- were ideal for Rahlves, whose small size (5'9", 180 pounds) keeps him from being a strong glider who can speed through long flat stretches of snow in the aerodynamic tuck so crucial to top downhill performances. His best previous showing on a World Cup downhill had been 15th at Lake Louise, Canada, earlier this season. For this reason, Rahlves' ability to take early entrances into turns and square himself more quickly to the next turn ahead of him has made him a better skier on Super-G courses, where has had several top-10 World Cup finishes. It isn't as if Rahlves has had to choose between the two disciplines. Most skiers who are strong downhillers are also strong in Super-G, just as slalom stars also excel in giant slalom. But Rahlves' expectations have clearly changed. "Maybe I was meant for downhill after all," he says. "I don't buy the idea that a good technical skier can't beat a good power skier." Ironically, Rahlves learned much of his aggressive approach to turns in the water. He won a world title in jet skiing in 1993 and is known on the World Cup circuit as a popular showman and daredevil. Rahlves showed up for a pre-race drawing of bib numbers last year wearing an afro wig and nothing on his back except an American flag. The last time Rahlves skied in Norway, in August of 1998, he stumbled in wet, foggy conditions on a glacier north of Lillehammer and suffered a dislocated right hip and broken clavicle. He had dislocated the same hip in 1996 -- not long after crashing on a dirt bike and snapping his collarbone -- and still has screws in it. If Rahlves isn't skiing with a screw loose, he could be a candidate for alpine gold at the Salt Lake City Games next year. Here comes the Olympian Olympic alumni Mike Gostigian and Sharon Monplaisir had a truly Olympian wedding in New York City on Feb. 29. For starters, the couple got married in an Italian restaurant on a Tuesday night because it fell on Leap Day. "We've spent our entire lives preparing for a special day every four years," says Gostigian, 37, a modern pentathlete on the U.S. team at the 1988, '92 and '96 Games. "Now we'll do that together for the rest of our lives. After he and Monplaisir, 39, a fencer on the '84, '88 and '92 U.S. squads, said their vows, they passed under a procession of crossed swords held aloft by six of their Olympic teammates and then followed the trail of a guest who was carrying an Olympic torch. Instead of the traditional strands of "Here Comes the Bride," the tune of "Bugler's Dream," the theme used by ABC to open its past coverage of the Games, played over the loudspeaker. Gostigian and Monplaisir have both worked as personal trainers and appeared in several fashion magazines since their competitive days. Their busy lifestyles are time-consuming, but at least they have four years to find that perfect first anniversary gift. You go, ma'am Here are two telling stats from last month's U.S. women's Olympic marathon trials in Columbia, S.C.: Among the top 30 finishers in the race -- which was won by 37-year-old Christine Clark of Anchorage, Alaska -- more women were over age 40 (5) than under 30 (4). Among the top 100 finishers, twice as many women were over 35 (40) as compared to those who were under 30 (20). "Today's elite is proving you get better with age," says Joan Benoit Samuelson, the 1984 Olympic champion who, at 42, placed ninth in Columbia despite running with a herniated disk in her back. "You may not have as much raw speed, but you have so much more stamina and smarts as you get older." Like Clark, Samuelson has two small children. "Running and motherhood have given me a balance in my life," Samuelson says. "They each require tremendous patience and discipline, but they're also very rewarding." What's more, Samuelson may not be finished. "I haven't been able to bring myself to say 'this is it,'" she said recently. "And I'd like to thank the older runners in the race who gave me something to look forward to when I get to be their age." Sports Illustrated writer-reporter Brian Cazeneuve covers Olympic sports for
the magazine. For more Olympics news, check out his Sydney 2000
Mailbag.
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