Super-G win caps Rahlves’ career Miller, Clark post downhill victories

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CARRABASSETT VALLEY – On Saturday night, Daron Rahlves addressed a couple thousand new friends at the opening ceremonies of the TD Banknorth Alpine Championships and invited them all to a little party being held in his honor the following evening.

“I’m not going to be working the door, so the more the better,” Rahlves explained with a chuckle Sunday morning. “They’ll be coming out of the woods. It’s going to be fun.”

After Rahlves’ scintillating run Sunday down the Narrow Gauge super-G course – and after he signed his autograph on every helmet, poster, shirt and scrap of paper proffered by a throng of fans – one thing was certain: His party would, indeed, be well-attended.

And thanks to his win, the celebration of the end of Rahlves’ 13-year U.S. Ski Team career also would double as a victory party.

Rahlves, a Truckee, Calif., native, reached top speeds of more than 65 mph and toured the course in 1 minute, 18.80 seconds. Scott McCartney of Redmond, Wash., was second in 1:19.11 while T.J. Lanning of Park City, Utah, took third in 1:19.55.

Bode Miller of Franconia, N.H., who attended Carrabassett Valley Academy, was fourth in 1:19.64.

Miller posted the top interval times at the top of the course, but a late-race miscue cost him a shot on the podium.

“I skied good. I hooked my arm [in a gate] right there before I came into view on this bottom flat,” Miller said. “Slammed myself pretty good. My arm was all numbed up.”

Miller said hitting a gate that late in a race on Narrow Gauge puts a racer in a deep hole.

“The bottom’s too flat,” Miller said. “If you make a mistake your time goes away really quickly.”

Rahlves, who retires as the nation’s most decorated speed skier, won his seventh national title. He has 13 top-three finishes at the U.S. national championships, and is looking forward to spending more time at home in California rather than spending six months a year in Europe.

Rahlves said after a busy Olympic year, his pending retirement finally became real while he waited at the top of Sugarloaf before the race.

“Today was the first day [it felt like I was retiring],” Rahlves said. “The first day I kind of said, ‘Last time with you guys,’ at the start, and just like, ‘Last ride down. Let’s wrap it all up.”‘

Rahlves wrapped it all up in style. And he hopes the success that he and Miller have had on the international stage will translate to more U.S. success in the future.

“Hopefully I can just pass on something to these other guys on the team to keep it going,” he said. “And me and Bode, we’ve had some good days training, racing against each other, going head to head for wins on the World Cup.”

In the women’s super-G, 21-year-old Stacey Cook, also of Truckee, Calif., knocked local favorite Kirsten Clark of Raymond from the top spot. Cook, an Olympian who finished 19th in the downhill at the Turin Games, finished in 1:23.90.

Clark was second in 1:24.01 while Kaylin Richardson of Edina, Minn., took third in 1:24.04.

Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso wound up fourth, just missing her 13th straight top-three finish in U.S. national championship events.

Cook, who had never medaled at the U.S. championships until a third-place finish in Saturday’s downhill, said her win was unexpected for two reasons. First, she has struggled in the super-G all year.

And second?

“I don’t win many races,” she said with a giggle. “The last race I think I won was Nor-Am two years ago in December.”

Cook said she knew she had a solid race going early on, and had to caution herself to remain in control.

“I was really excited halfway down. I knew that I had nailed the hard sections and [I was thinking] ‘keep it together,’ because I knew I had a fast time through there,” Cook said. “So I just tried to keep it together for the bottom [and] I knew I had a good run when I crossed the finish line.”

Clark, who had already raced, stood at the bottom of the course and watched Cook’s winning run, then greeted her teammate’s time with a smile and applause.

“I’m happy for her, I’m psyched for her,” Clark said. “She’s had a breakthrough year, having some good solid results in downhill and she’s kind of struggled a little a little in super-G but she’s a great skier and a hard worker and she deserves it.”

In Saturday’s downhill – the opening event of the national championships – Miller and Clark returned to their home mountain in style, with each posting wins.

Miller completed the course in 1:15.27, while Rahlves took second in 1:15.88 and Justin Johnson of Park City, Utah, was third in 1:16.14.

In the women’s downhill, Clark posted a time of 1:19.65 while Mancuso was second in 1:20.14 and Cook took third in 1:20.22.

The U.S. Alpine Championships continue through Wednesday. The men’s slalom will be contested at 9 a.m. Monday, with the women’s slalom following at 11 a.m.