U.S. skiers wilt under pressure

SESTRIERE, Italy – The sun glistened off the icy slope and unfolded ahead of him like a clean sheet of paper, practically begging for a signature run.

For a moment, Bode Miller was where everyone expected him to be. Exactly where he wanted to be.

The 18th man leaving the starting gate, he was the fastest to the first split at that point and sure he was just starting to cook.

“I attacked the top full gas,” he said. “I was absolutely 100 percent up there.”

Fit, fidgety and two places behind Miller, awaiting his own shot at a downhill course he once seemed to own, teammate Daron Rahlves had his back.

“I felt good about it,” Rahlves recalled. “It was a good day to ski.”

America’s bid to become an Olympic superpower on the slopes never looked more promising. Two legitimate chances at gold, two contrasting approaches – Miller, the natural; Rahlves, the technician – both at the top of their game.

And then in the span of a dozen minutes, what could have been a boon for U.S. skiing ended as a jaw-dropping bust.

“It was shocking,” U.S. ski team coach Phil McNichol conceded. “I just wish it was shocking in the other direction.”

Miller blistered the top of the hill, was still clinging to second after the third of five splits, then lost his grip on the final two turns and skidded to a fifth-place finish. Rahlves was very slow at the start, very fast toward the finish and very, very disappointed to find himself another five spots further back when it was finally over.

“I came out and executed, so this is a confidence-builder, more so than you guys recognize,” Miller said. “I feel good. I feel ready.”

Too late.

“I went out there and did what I could,” Rahlves said.

Too little.

Splice their races together somewhere near the midpoint, and the United States would have at least one medal in an event where plenty of people – McNichol and his bosses at the U.S. federation included – harbored strong hopes for two.

“They’ll live with their performances,” the coach said. “But it’s tough to see two guys who should do it, who could do it, fall short.”

Any post-race analysis, no matter who conducts it, will not be much more comforting.

“I’m not surprised,” said Fritz Strobl, the defending Olympic downhill champion and a member of the heavily touted Austrian team, who finished sixth. “There was too much pressure.”

For him, maybe.

“There was a lot of pressure on me, and after all,” said Austrian teammate Michael Walchhofer, “I was the fastest of the favorites.”

He took silver.

Rahlves, the heaviest favorite, doesn’t even have that consolation. Besides winning the downhill on the Kandahar Banchetta course the last time a World Cup race was staged here, he already owns three downhill titles on the ski circuit this season. And Rahlves went so fast Thursday in the first day of training – beating his closest pursuer by a staggering 1.2 seconds – that he took Friday off.

Miller only appeared to take the first training day off. Skiing like a tourist, he rolled home 16th and then decided to get serious. A seventh place run on Friday got his opponents’ attention and the next day, looking like the overall World Cup champion again, he was a half-second faster to the fifth split, the point on the course where all the big boys begin pulling up in practice. He rarely looked more dangerous.

Then, Bode being Bode, he decided to throw himself a little celebration.

“I had dinner with my buddies and had a couple beers, but then was in early,” he said. “I slept great and woke up feeling good.”

So good, in fact, that Miller decided to sleep in and skip the pre-race inspection altogether. He does that often.

“I think it was just, you know, certain guys had the speed,” Miller said.

Rahlves being Rahlves, he took the opposite tack. He’s revered by younger teammates for the depth and breadth of his preparation. He reviews his performances on videos, pores over computer simulations of the course, leaves no details to chance.

“I don’t know,” Rahlves said, finally, “where the speed was today.”

Wherever it was, the challenge now is finding it in a hurry. There are four events left for Miller, two for Rahlves.

Picabo Street, who won a silver in 1994 and climbed the final step up the podium four years later, knows firsthand how tough that can be.

“They’re definitely thinking the same thing I was: ‘Somehow, some way, I have to light a fire under my (butt),’ ” she said.

Considering the weight of the expectations Miller and Rahlves are carrying, that can’t happen soon enough.