Austria+America
Austrian fans
Austrians that would inform their skiing for years to come. “Skiing with the Austrians built our confidence and showed us
we were able to beat them,” says Rahlves. “We learned that quality was more important than quantity.” Reflecting on the
impact the Austrians had on his racing, Rahlves continues. “At that level you need every run to count and to give race
effort in training,” he says. “I was more focused on racing and being physically ready. The USST sports science really
kicked in on recovery and the best maintenance programs during the comp period that we followed around 2000.”
This is largely due to Andy Walshe, who was hired in 1999 to build out the USSA’s sports science department. While
the Austrians had a solid sports science program in place (which included partnerships with Austria’s top universities),
until Walshe, this was a frontier the U.S. had largely ignored.
With Walshe in place, the U.S. began to see progress almost immediately — the Americans emerged in the early 2000s
as serious podium contenders, with Rahlves, Erik Schlopy, and Miller leading the U.S. in snagging top- 10 results and
challenging for the overall and individual globes. Judging from the improvement of the ski team over those years, it’s
hard to ignore impact of Walshe’s program on their performance.
The Austrian-owned sports goliath, Red Bull, certainly noticed and poached him three years ago to head up its high per-
formance unit. This year, Red Bull acquired Per Lundstam, the USSA’s
former strength and conditioning coach, as its new high-performance
manager.
In Walshe’s place, the USSA installed Troy Flanagan, who has a PhD in
aerospace engineering, and with him a whole NASA-style approach to
sports science. With the recently unveiled Center of Excellence (COE),
largely regarded as one of the best sports science facilities in the world,
and Flanagan and his team rolling out increasingly sophisticated innova-
tions in nutrition, biomechanics, and ski technologies, the U.S. is push-
ing the frontier in sports science. “The US program has just gone from
strength to strength,” says Walshe. “Troy just takes it to a whole other
level — pushing it further. He brings a whole aerospace dimension to it.”
While Flanagan is humble, quick to credit others for the team’s success-
es, and cautious to underestimate what his competitors are up to behind
the scenes, he knows he’s caught the attention of other nations. “I think
there’s a perception that the Americans have the best program out there,
and people are looking over our shoulder to see what we’re up to,” he
admits. “The Austrians are getting very organized to take another step.
There’s a science and technology race going on at the moment.”
Walshe adds: “It’s a leapfrogging process, always a race to see who can
come up with the next big thing.”
But the key, says Flanagan, is how the coaches, athletes, trainers and
specialists use the COE. He points to the synergy now among the sports
science department and coaches such as Sasha Rearick, who has a
sports science degree, which allows for a more fluid collaboration with
athletes, too. All of this then contributes to the individual successes of the
racers and the overall success of the team. “Sasha is a great example of
someone who is always pushing us to develop more,” says Flanagan. And
while Austria has always had a solid research-based sports science pro-
gram, where the U.S. really stands out, says Walshe, “is with our coach-
athlete model. That’s always given the Austrians a run for their money.”
Sports science aside, the U.S. has done something for the sport that
is harder to quantify. “The U.S. has produced big champions — Picabo,
Bode, Lindsey,” says Hoedlmoser. “Because of those people, the whole
of ski racing is still interesting. They’re big personalities and the U.S. has
brought some commerciality.” This, of course, is an oxymoron as ski rac-
ing barely makes a blip on the average American’s radar (and TV) screen.
While skiing is Austria’s national sport and they’re fiercely proud of their
athletes, the Austrians also love American racers. “The spirit of the Amer-
