 | 2010 |
| JIM "MOOSE" BARROWS Moose Barrows was a member of the U.S. Ski Team from 1965 through 1970 and represented the U.S. at the 1966 World Championships in Portillo, Chile, and the 1968 Grenoble Olympics. Primarily a downhiller, Barrows was third in a World Cup downhill at Franconia, New Hampshire in 1967 and was the 1969 North American downhill champion. Following his retirement from the U.S. Ski Team, he raced professionally from 1971-75, taking third in the World Pro Championships in 1972. He returned to the U.S. Ski Team as a downhill coach from 1978-80, guiding the fortunes of the men's Olympic downhillers at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics. He is now self-employed in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, and offers his experience and expertise to the ski industry as a consultant. |
 | DARON RAHLVES The most decorated American Downhill and Super-G skier in history, Rahlves earned a career total of 12 World Cup victories during the course of his 12-year career on the U.S. Ski Team. Two of those wins came on home turf with Downhill victories in 2003 and 2005 on Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey course, while he also climbed to the top step of the podium twice at the famed Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel with a Downhill win in 2003 and a Super-G victory in 2004. Rahlves officially announced his presence as one of the top speed merchants in the world in 2001 when he crashed an Austrian World Championships party in St. Anton, winning the Super-G gold medal. He would also collect a pair of medals at the 2005 Championships in Bormio, Italy with a silver in Downhill and a bronze in Giant Slalom. In the early stages of his career, Daron split his passions between ski racing and jet skiing, winning the Expert World Championships for jet skiing in 1993, the same year he was named to the U.S. Ski Team. While Rahlves retired from the Team in 2006, he remains heavily involved in ski competition, making the transition to ski cross with an eye on making the U.S. Team for the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. He captured the gold medal in Skier X at Winter X Games 12 in 2008, while finishing third overall in the Ski Tour series. When not racing on skis or motorcycles, Daron and wife Michelle are busy raising twins Dreyson and Miley in Truckee, California. An ambassador for Sugar Bowl Resort, he works with their ski academy and ski team. |
 | MARC GIRARDELLI One of the greatest all-around skiers of all times, Luxembourg’s Marc Girardelli ranks fourth in career World Cup victories with 46, trailing only Sweden’s Ingemar Stenmark, Austria’s Hermann Maier and Italy’s Alberto Tomba. Although born in Austria, Girardelli switched federations when he was twelve years old when his father Helmut decided that he was not getting the proper attention from the Austrian team. An 18-year veteran, Girardelli began his World Cup career in 1980, picking up his first victory in a Slalom in Gallivare, Sweden in 1983. That winter also marked the first of numerous knee injuries, which almost cut short his career. Although he finished third in the 1984 World Cup overall standings and won the Slalom title, he was unable to participate in the Sarajevo Olympics because he did not yet have a Luxembourg passport. All that changed in 1985 and Girardelli went on to earn a total of 11 (four gold, four silver and three bronze) World Championship and two Olympic silver medals throughout his career. From a World Cup standpoint, he won the World Cup overall title a record five times, unmatched on the men’s tour, with only the legendary Austrian Annemarie Moser-Proell recording six career overall crowns. |
 | BILLY KIDD One of the more prominent U.S. Ski Team members from the 1960s and 70s, Kidd made the "Stars and Stripes" look popular with his red, white and blue "Captain America" sweater and downhill helmet. He was the first U.S. male to win an Olympic medal, the silver in slalom at the 1964 Innsbruck Games. In 1970, he became the first Amerian male to claim a World Championships medal with a gold in the combined in Val Gardena, Italy. Kidd, a Vermont native, was also a member of the 1968 Olympic team in Grenoble, France. Following his retirement from amateur racing, he competed on the pro tour and is now Director of Skiing in Steamboat. Since his "Captain America" days, Billy has changed his signature headgear to the equally recognizable cowboy hat. |
 | TODD BROOKER Cut from the same cloth as the “Crazy Canucks,” Todd Brooker was a stand-out Canadian downhiller on the World Cup circuit from 1975 to 1987. Brooker was a member of the ‘84 Olympic team in Sarajevo and competed in the World Championships in ‘82 and ’85. A horrific fall in Kitzbuhel ended his career in 1987, but despite a shortened campaign, Brooker still ranked fifth in the final downhill standings for the season. Brooker is a now a commentator for NBC Sports. |
| BARBARA FERRIES-HENDERSON The better looking half of a dynamic brother-sister ski racing team (brother is Chuck Ferries), Barbara was a member of the 1962 World Championships team in Chamonix, France and brought home a bronze medal in downhill. She was also a member of the 1964 Olympic Team to the Innsbruck Games. But perhaps her best year came in 1961 when she won the Harriman Cup in Sun Valley, Idaho, as well as claiming double wins in the Aspen Roch Cup at the age of 17. She was inducted into the National Ski Hall of Fame in 1978 and is married to former Canadian national team member Scott Henderson. |
| HOLLY FLANDERS A 10-year veteran of the U.S. Ski Team, Flanders was a member of both the 1980 and the 1984 Olympic teams in Lake Placid and Sarajevo, as well as the 1982 and 1985 World Championship teams in Schladming, Austria and Bormio, Italy. Perhaps her best season came in 1982 when she recorded a pair of World Cup downhill victories and led the downhill standings up to the final race of the season before dropping to second. Flanders had a total of three career World Cup victories and was the U.S. National downhill champion in both 1981 and 1985. |
| CHAD FLEISCHER A ten-year member of the U.S. Ski Team, Fleischer hails from that hotbed of ski racing…Nebraska. However, he was able to escape the clutches of the Husker football program, moving to Vail and taking up downhill. A two-time Olympian, Fleischer captured the 1996 and 1999 U.S. national downhill titles and earned the runner-up position in downhill at the 1999 World Cup Finals. One of his most memorable career highlights came in his own backyard in the form of a sixth place showing in Super-G at the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships on Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey course. He now serves as expert commentator on Versus’ coverage of World Cup skiing. |
| PAM FLETCHER Without a doubt, "Fletch" has some very fond memories of Vail and the American Ski Classic. In 1986, she came out of the 30th start position to capture the World Cup downhill. Pam was on her way to a second victory the next day in Super-G when she hooked a tip three gates from the finish. The following year, Fletcher was the leader through the first 15 racers before being bumped to third by Sigrid Wolf and Elisabeth Kirchler. Fletcher was a member of the 1987 and 1989 World Championship teams, as well as the 1988 U.S. Olympic squad. However, considered one of the favorites for a medal in the Calgary downhill, she broke her right leg in a collision with a course worker while warming up for the race. She won national titles in downhill and Super-G in 1987 and 1988, while capturing the NorAm downhill title in 1982 and 1983. Fletcher retired after the 1988-89 campaign. |
| PATRICK ORTLIEB Ortlieb carved his name in the Austrian skiing history books when he tamed the extremely technical “new course” in Val d’Isere, France to claim the Olympic downhill gold medal at the 1992 Albertville Games. He followed that performance with a World Championships downhill gold in 1996 in Sierra Nevada, Spain, while just missing the medals at the 1994 Lillehammer Games with a fourth place downhill effort. During the course of his amateur career, the native of Lech collected a total of four World Cup downhill victories, including wins in Val Gardena, Italy in 1994 and 1996. He also delighted the home country fans in 1994 with a downhill win on the prestigious Hahnenkamm in Kitzbuhel. However, it was the Hahnenkamm that eventually had the last laugh as a 1999 fall in Kitzbuhel ended Ortlieb’s World Cup career. |
| DAVID GORSUCH A Vail resident since 1965, Dave Gorsuch was a member of the U.S. National Team from 1957 to 1964, and represented the United States in the 1960 Olympic Winter Games of Squaw Valley and the 1958 World Championships in Bad Gastein, Austria. During the Squaw Valley Olympics, Gorsuch recorded a 14th place result in both the downhill and the giant slalom. |
| STEIN HALSNES Stein was part of the Halsnes troika that literally owned the professional ski racing circuit in the 1980s. In 1984, Stein finished sixth in the overall Peugeot Grand Prix standings and was 10th in the 1985 rankings with one victory that season. Stein has returned to his home in Sauda, Norway. |
| TORIL FORLAND In the heyday of women's professional racing, the late 70s and early 80s, Norway's Toril Forland was the sport's dominant figure. She won five overall pro titles, including four consecutive ones from 1981-84. Prior to her professional career, Forland was the bronze medalist in the 1972 Sapporo Olympic combined at the age of 17. That same year, she competed at the World Junior Championships where she won a gold medal in the giant slalom and silver in the slalom. |
| FINN CHRISTIAN JAGGE A 17-year veteran of the Norwegian team, Jagge recorded a total of seven career World Cup wins, including the 1997 World Cup Finals slalom on Vail Mountain’s International course. A four-time Olympian, he also collected an Olympic gold medal for his slalom victory at the 1992 Albertville Games and now serves as the head women’s coach for the Norwegians. |
 | ELISABETH “LISI” KIRCHLER-RIML During her career, Kirchler was known as one of the most congenial members of World Cup racing. A member of the 1984 and 1988 Austrian Olympic Teams, she took the silver medal in giant slalom at the 1985 World Championships in Bormio, Italy. |
| FRANZ KLAMMER In one run of the 1976 Innsbruck Olympic Winter Games, Franz Klammer romanticized the sport of downhill skiing for millions of viewers as he sped to victory from the 15th start position, shocking both Switzerland’s Bernhard Russi, who thought he had a second consecutive Olympic downhill victory firmly in hand, as well as ABC commentators Bob Beattie and Frank Gifford, who had already done their race call, proclaiming Russi the winner. Klammer’s daredevil style inspired many young downhillers and over the course of his career, “The Kaiser” accumulated 25 World Cup downhill victories, including a four-year span from 1974-77 when he won 19 of the 33 downhills contested, with a nine-win streak at one point. Following a slump that included failing to make the 1980 Austrian Olympic team to Lake Placid, Klammer came back with a vengeance, winning the 1983 World Cup downhill title, a crown he had previously worn from 1975-78. 1976 FRANZ KLAMMER SPORTS ILLUSTRATED COVER:  |
| ISOLDE KOSTNER As an 18-year-old World Cup rookie, Italy’s Isolde Kostner burst onto the scene in a big way, bagging a pair of Olympic bronze medals (Super-G and Downhill) at the 1994 Lillehammer Games. A native of the German-speaking town of Bolzano, Kostner claimed her first World cup victory just three weeks prior to the Lillehammer Olympics with a Super-G win in Garmisch, although her second career win would be another two years in the making. She would finish her illustrious career with a total of 15 World Cup victories, capturing back-to-back World Cup Downhill titles in 2001 and 2002. The 2002 season also produced her third Olympic medal with a Downhill silver in Salt Lake. Her World Championships exploits are equally impressive, earning a career total of three medals in Super-G, with two golds and one silver. While Downhill and Super-G were the events that brought Kostner fame, she was also a very good Giant Slalom skier, consistently finishing in the top ten. Kostner would have actually preferred skates to skis, but there was no girls’ hockey team in Bolzano. She retired from the Italian team in 2006, following a 15-year career, giving birth to her son David in July of 2006. |
 | KRISTINA KOZNICK Koznick began skiing competitively when she was seven years old at Buck Hill Ski Area in Minneapolis when her father enrolled her in a ski-racing program because he'd grown tired of watching his daughter play video games for hours on end. Under the guidance of Austrian-American Erich Sailer, Koznick’s family insisted that she train in Minneapolis, and although Minnesota's terrain, with its 200-foot "mountains," didn't lend itself well to downhill, it worked well for Slalom training. At 15, she made the U.S. Ski Team and was on her way to her first World Cup. Koznick is still the youngest American woman ever to compete in an Alpine World Cup event. Koznick's racing continued to improve while on the USST, until a torn anterior cruciate ligament kept her out of the 1994 Lillehammer Olympic Games. She won the World Cup slalom in Are, Sweden heading into the '98 Olympics, but was a victim of the course in the second run. In 2000, Koznick, separated from the USST to train and compete on her own through the 2001, 2002, and 2003 World Cup seasons. Paid for entirely through her own earnings and donations from fans, Koznick enjoyed her best World Cup season, ending the 2002 campaign in 8th place in the World Cup Overall standings and 2nd place in the Slalom rankings. She rejoined the team in 2004, ending her career at the conclusion of the 2006 campaign with a total of six World Cup Slalom wins and five U.S. National Slalom titles. Koz now reside in Edwards, Colorado. |
| DOUG LEWIS Lewis began bombing down Vermont’s mountains at the age of three, turning his attention to racing when he was eight. A graduate of Green Mountain Valley School Ski Academy in 1978, he won his first title at the Junior Olympics in 1980, making the jump to international competition the following year with his first World Cup appearance in Aspen. Named to the U.S. Ski Team in 1981, “Lewie” represented the U.S. at the 1984 Sarajevo Olympics and the 1988 Games in Calgary, but his greatest moment came in 1985 at the World Championships in Bormio, Italy, where he captured the bronze medal in Downhill. During his seven-year Ski Team tenure, Lewis also collected a pair of U.S. National Downhill titles in 1986 and 1987. After retiring from the Team in 1988, Doug graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Vermont with a degree in Small Business Management. While his World Cup racing days were over, he had the honor of winning the inaugural Jeep King of the Mountain Downhill race against eleven other Olympic and World Championships medalists. Today, Doug is actively involved in the ski industry as a broadcaster, motivational speaker, spokesperson, coach and trainer. He and wife Kelley run ELITEAM Conditioning Camps in Vermont. |
 | HILARY LINDH Alaska-born Hilary Lindh has been moving fast her entire life, first donning skis at the age of 2. Named to the U.S. Ski Team when she was just 14, Lindh captured the World Junior Downhill title in 1986, becoming the first American to claim that honor, while also collecting a U.S. National title just three weeks later. A veteran of three Olympic teams, Hilary mined silver in Downhill at the 1992 Games in Albertville, France, while also collecting a Downhill World Championships gold medal in 1997 in Sestriere, Italy and a bronze in Downhill in 1996 in the World Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain. She was the only American to win a medal at the 1997 Championships. During her 11-year World Cup career, Lindh recorded a trio of Downhill wins, including a victory in Vail in 1994. She also claimed a career total of four U.S. National titles. Hilary retired from the U.S. Team following the conclusion of the 1997 season and now resides in Squamish, British Columbia. |
 | PHIL MAHRE Phil Mahre, with the help of twin brother Steve, put the U.S. squarely on the map of international ski competition in the 1970’s and 80’s, while redefining ski racing in America at the same time. His 27 World Cup career victories now stands as the second highest for an American male racer, having been eclipsed by Bode Miller this winter. Mahre collected three consecutive overall World Cup titles in 1981, 82 and 83, by virtue of his gifted slalom and giant slalom talent, along with a willingness to ski downhill, especially in combined events. Few will forget the one-two punch that Phil and Steve delivered in the 1984 Olympic slalom in Sarajevo, with Phil winning the gold and Steve taking home the silver. Four years earlier in Lake Placid and only one year removed from a career-threatening injury, Phil claimed the silver medal in slalom behind career rival Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden. Ironically, both Phil and Steve made the decision to retire from the World Cup circuit in Vail during the 1984 American Ski Classic. Phil made the decision to come out of competitive ski retirement in 2007 in an attempt to qualify for the U.S. National Championships. As a result, he is now competing with athletes that were not born when he retired from the U.S. Ski Team. |
| STEVE MAHRE It has been said that if there had been no Phil Mahre, then certainly Steve Mahre would have been the best men’s skier that the U.S. has ever produced. Born four minutes behind twin brother Phil, Steve was a ten-year veteran of the U.S. Ski Team, retiring from the Team following the 1984 American Ski Classic races in Vail. During his illustrious career on the World Cup circuit, Steve collected a total of nine victories, including a pair of historic slalom wins in 1982 as Phil claimed the runner-up spot in both. That same season, Steve also captured the gold medal in giant slalom at the World Championships in Schladming, Austria two weeks after having his knee “scoped” by Dr. Richard Steadman. That win marked the first World Championships gold medal for an American male in an individual event. He rounded out his career with a silver medal in slalom at the 1984 Olympic Winter Games in Sarajevo, while Phil mined the gold. |
 | TAMARA MCKINNEY-FINN In her 13-year racing career, McKinney became no less than America's winningest skier. However, her brightest moment came at the 1989 World Championships in Vail where she won the gold medal in the combined and a bronze in slalom before a most appreciative home crowd. The only American woman to have ever won the overall World Cup title in 1983, McKinney also gathered a trio of World Cup discipline titles in slalom and giant slalom. In addition to her medals at Vail, McKinney was a bronze medalist in the combined at both the 1985 and 1987 World Championships in Bormio, Italy and Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Tamara also owned the U.S. National Championships, winning nine national titles during the course of her career. Her amateur career came to an end in the fall of 1989 when she suffered an injury while training in Switzerland. |
| CINDY NELSON Nelson first joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1971 and promptly scored World Cup points in her first two outings, a dramatic opening to a long and distinguished career that would continue through 1985. Nelson represented the U.S. on four Olympic and World Championship teams. Highlights of her career include a bronze medal in the 1976 Olympic downhill in Innsbruck and a silver medal in the 1982 World Championships downhill in Schladming, Austria. One of her more remarkable achievements occurred in 1984 when she tore knee ligaments in December but was back in the starting gate exactly six weeks later to compete in the Sarajevo Olympics. In all, Nelson collected a total of seven World Cup victories and seven U.S. national titles during her career. Competing in three disciplines for the majority of her 14-year career, Nelson scored a total of 1,353 World Cup points. When the Super-G was added to the World Cup circuit in 1982, Nelson won the initial "test" event in Sansicario, Italy, and two "official" races the following year. |
| BRIGITTE OERTLI A ten-year veteran of the powerful Swiss women’s team from 1981 to 1990, Oertli claimed a bronze medal in Combined at the 1989 World Alpine Ski Championships in Vail and Beaver Creek, while also picking up a pair of silver medals in Downhill and Combined at the 1988 Winter Games in Calgary. A great four-event skier, she captured four World Cup Combined titles and finished in the top five in the World Cup overall rankings from 1985 to 1988. Colorado wins included the World Cup Downhill in Aspen in 1988 and the World Cup Combined in Steamboat Springs in 1989. Oertli was a member of the Swiss Olympic teams in Sarajevo and Calgary, while also qualifying for a trio of World Championships teams. |
| FRITZ STROBL Fritz Strobl etched his name in Austrian ski racing nobility in 2002 as he sped down Snowbasin’s Grizzly racecourse to claim the gold medal in Downhill at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake. He just missed the Olympic podium in Super-G, finishing fourth. A native of Lienz, Austria, Strobl enjoyed 15-year career on the World Cup circuit, collecting a total of nine World Cup victories in Downhill and Super-G, including a Downhill win in Vail in 1997 at the World Cup Finals. In addition to his Olympic glory in Salt Lake, Strobl also earned a pair of World Championships medal in 2007 with a silver medal performance in Super-G in Are, Sweden and a gold in the team event. He was runner-up in the World Cup Downhill standings in both 2002 and 2006, while also being among the handful of racers to have won twice (1997 and 2001) on the prestigious Hahnenkamm Downhill course in Kitzbuhel, Austria. Strobl still holds the record for the fastest time on the full Streif course, with a 1:51.58 in the 1997 race. He retired from international competition following the conclusion of the 2007 season, taking the final run of his career, the Super-G at the World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, dressed as Mozart. |
| HANNES TRINKL Yet another in the great line of former Austrian downhillers, Hannes Trinkl cemented his legacy with a World Championship gold medal in Downhill in 2001 on home turf, with a win in St. Anton. The native of St. Pankraz began his medal run in 1998, with an Olympic Downhill bronze from the Nagano Games. Other Olympic results included a sixth place Downhill showing in 1994 in Lillehammer. A 13-year World Cup veteran, Trinkl recorded a career total of six World Cup victories, five in Downhill and one in Super-G. His best World Cup season came in 1994, with a fifth place overall ranking and the runner-up spot in the Downhill standings behind Luxembourg’s Marc Girardelli. That winter saw him pick up a Super-G win in Lech, Austria and a Downhill victory in Bormio, Italy. He also claimed a second place Downhill result at the World Cup Finals in Vail in 1994. Trinkl retired from competition following the 2004 campaign. |
| OTTO TSCHUDI An American Ski Classic participant since the event’s inception in 1981, Tschudi began his 17-year ski racing career as a member of the Norwegian national team in 1964 and represented his country at the 1968 Grenoble and 1972 Sapporo Olympics, in addition to the 1970 World Championships in Val Gardena. During his tenure on the Norwegian Team, he earned five Norwegian National titles before coming to the U.S. to ski for the University of Denver under Willy Schaeffler. He was a member of the DU team that won five NCAA titles during his collegiate career. Following his retirement from amateur racing in 1972, Tschudi raced professionally until 1978 when he was named Director of Skiing at Winter Park. In addition to his exploits on the slopes, Tschudi has served on the Board of Trustees for the University of Denver since 1992 and was instrumental in bringing back the sport of skiing to the Pioneers following ten-year hiatus, while also working to internationalize and improve many of the school’s other sports. The recipient of the Spyder Sabich Memorial Award for outstanding contributions to the sport of skiing, he has helped U.S. skiing through the work that Thom Weisel and his other partners at Thom Weisel Partners are involved in, putting on events and raising money in the San Francisco Bay area for the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association. |
| PERNILLA WIBERG A 14-year veteran of the World Cup wars, Sweden’s Pernilla Wiberg is one of only a handful of racers to have won World Cup events in all five disciplines (downhill, Super-G, giant slalom, slalom and combined). In fact, “Pila” ended her illustrious 13-year career with a total of 24 World Cup victories and the 1997 overall World Cup crystal globe. In the big events, Wiberg was equally stellar, winning a career total 6 World Championships medals, including the gold in combined and the silver in slalom in the Vail Valley’s 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships, as well as a trio of Olympic medals that included a giant slalom gold in Albertville. Unfortunately, Pernilla has been a somewhat frequent visitor to the Vail Valley for other reasons, having had several knee tune-ups from Dr. Steadman. Along with her skiing exploits, she is also an accomplished musician. |
 | PETER WIRNSBERGER Austria’s Peter Wirnsberger has the distinction of racking up more World Cup downhill starts (150) during the course of his career than any other racer in history. A native of Vordernberg, Wirnsberger has eight World Cup downhill victories to his credit, as well as the World Cup downhill title in 1986, a crown came courtesy of four consecutive downhill victories. He is also one of the few men to have won back-to-back downhills on the famed Hahnenkamm course in Kitzbuhel, Austria, that feat coming in 1986. A silver medalist in downhill at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games in Lake Placid, Wirnsberger has been in the top ten of the World Cup downhill standings eight of his 14 seasons on the tour. |
| Legends Also Participating: Paul Carson Scott Henderson Michael Mair Ylva Nowen Jeff Olson Chris Puckett Franz Weber |
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