American Downhiller Podcast Episode #11

Breaking Down the Olympic Men’s DH

The boys woke up early today after watching the Beijing Olympic Men’s Downhill race and break it down. From the Training Run controversy to the awesomeness of the course to how the American Downhillers skied. All agree it was an amazing course and race and were riveted to the very end.

Lew, AJ, Daron and Marco also share their memories of their favorite Olympics and why. They collectively competed in 13 Olympic games ranging from the Sarajevo in 1984 where Bill Johnson shocked the World to 2014 when Bode gave us yet another thrilling race. Most talk about how the first Olympic experience stayed with them the longest.

They next discuss the “controversy” of cancelling the third training run as well as how the one day delay may have affected the racers. Each had similar experiences with delays in their Olympic experiences including an 7 day delay in Sarajevo and an 8 day delay in Nagano because of so much snow!

They all had praise for the new Olympic Downhill course which had everything you wanted in a course that will decide who walks away with a medal and who goes home empty handed. The terrain tested every racer and created a challenging puzzle to figure out after only two training runs. The blind knolls demanded confidence in your inspection and technical prowess. The speed increased everything including the forces and fear. But will this spectacular course ever be run again?

How was Feuz able to win by the slimmest of margins, just a tenth of a second over the 41 year-old vet from France? The boys break it down as well as share their thoughts on how RCS, “iced” Bryce, and Travis skied  in their runs. None were disappointed with the effort displayed by the American Downhillers.

Finally, as we look forward to the Super-G, they all give their picks on who will win Gold, Silver and Bronze. You don’t want to miss this Podcast and please share your picks with the boys at [email protected]. Also include a question for them to answer on the next podcast!

Listen on Apple or Spotify or watch exclusively on SkiRacing.com!