Search for Speed

[Music] This is Andy Mill, the best downhill ski racer in the United States. [Music] I love to run up here. It's beautiful and I'm usually all alone. It's great for thinking about last year and next year. I'm a downhill ski racer and the training and preparation for the downhill races demands year-round dedication. For me, last year was my most exciting season. It started with the Winter Olympics in Ensrook and ended right here on this mountain with the World Cup in Aspen. [Music] It's incredible how much skiing has matured over the last century. In its beginnings, downhill ski racing was getting from the top to the bottom as fast as you could with no concern for how you did it. [Music] Decades of skiing experience have refined every aspect of the sport. Free skiing, powder, hot dogging, cross country, and ballet. But to me, downhill ski racing is the most technically advanced, the most exciting, and dangerous of them all. The downhill is a search for speed. [Music] Hello, I'm Bob Batti. We're in Aspen, Colorado for Lupon, the World Cup. This is the premier series of alpine ski races. Now, for those of you who don't know what the World Cup is, it's a whole series of event that starts way back in December in Valdis Air, France, and now we're concluding the last downhill race of the year right here in Aspen. The World Cup course is set over 2 miles of runs. The racers must ski through 30 gates as they drop 2900 vertical feet down Aspen Mountain. The course varies from flat running to wide sweeping turns to virtual drop offs as they travel at speeds in excess of 80 mph. There is another twist to this year's race because competing is Andy Mill, the US's number one downhill racer who at this year's Olympic Games placed higher in the downhill than any other American. Andy grew up and learned to race here in Aspen. As Andy prepares for the race, the town is now watching to see if the local boy who lived, learned, and trained here can win on his own turf. Well, in preparation all the races varies a lot depending on where you are. The degree of difficulty on that particular race, uh, I like to be quiet. I like to prepare by spending time with just myself. Quiet time. I get a lot of energy built up inside me. The most important thing for me to do is to inspect each inch over which I'll be hanging on the edge of control. Prior to the race, during inspection and pre-day trial runs, I need to find my line. My line is the groove that I hope will take me as fast as possible and hopefully through the finish. [Music] The world's greatest racers have gathered here for three days of practice runs, including France Clommer, Austria's 1976 Olympic champion and odds on favorite to capture yet another World Cup downhill. Since the results of a downhill race can be decided by only 1/100th of a second, it is important for the racer to seek racing technique that will hurdle him from start to finish with the highest possible speed. Therefore, these training days are extremely critical for the racers. They must familiarize themselves with this particular course, establish their lines, and polish technique to build to their ultimate speed. [Music] >> Well, I've just come out of the downhill start for the Roach Cup, and the boys are going to be going a lot faster than that because they're not going to be sidelipping. As a matter of fact, they're going to drop 2900 vertical feet in about 2 mi. The racers can save a few fractions of a second if they use a flying start. This technique is to get maximum momentum of the body down the hill before the feet trip the electronic wand and their time starts. [Music] Once out of the start and a few strong skating steps, the competitor will drop into a tuck position. This is a position that offers the least air resistance. Now the competitor can reach the fastest speed the terrain will allow. [Music] Well, I'm standing at the part of the downhill now where things really start to get interesting because the boys have just come off this big sidehill turn and they've gathered a lot of speed. Also, the bump that I'm standing on right now could cause a lot of problems because if they're not careful, they're going to catch a lot of air, which they don't want to do because it slows them down in the first place. But also, they could land way down on the plat, which is something you don't want to do in a downhill. In order to keep from catching a lot of air, the racers are going to get right down in a position like this where they can suck their knees up from under them and keep those hands right down on their boots. That'll keep them from going down and landing right on the flat. This move is called a prejump and it facilitates staying in the aerodynamic tuck position. Well, we've looked at the upper part of the course and that's been kind of straight running, but now we're where it really starts to get interesting. is steep and the turns are tough. This portion of the course is called Aztec and is the steepest part of the course. This is where the racer's line becomes most critical. This is because they cannot see over the lip and the position of the next gate. [Music] from Aztec down. It's a very, very difficult technical course. You come into Aztec and you have to set up. You're shot down this very steep face with kind of a short left-hand turn. Just a little direction change, but then a big roundhouse right that throws you into the critical spring pitch turn. Right behind me is the area of the course called spring pitch. And it really is probably the most critical part of the whole course because it's a real high-speed turn. And if the racers lose it in this turn, they're going to swing wide and lose all of the speed they need to carry on to the road. To get through the spring pits turn or any turn safely, the racer must carve his turn. This is to set the edge of his outside ski and maintain that edge set, carving the snow and not letting his skid. [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] The first day of training, Andy had fallen and reinjured his weak knee, and the team doctors wouldn't let him run the second day. Now, on the last day of training, Andy is desperately trying to learn the course. Andy came over Aztec cooking. He started through the turns and [Music] [Applause] [Music] because of Andy's five knee operations resulting from racing injuries, holding his downhill edge against these ruts is his biggest problem. You have to maintain your weight on your downhill ski because if you don't and lean inside a little bit, you're going to be down and out of the race. I thought I was doing fine. I felt good and relaxed coming into the top of spring pitch turn. Then because of an injured knee, I started to initiate my turn by leaning in. Suddenly, my left ski caught a rut, hitting my right leg and knocking my feet out from under me. With the compression of an 80 mph turn, I was on the snow with no chance of recovery. Instantly, I reacted to protect my damaged knee and tried to relax and keep that leg up so the ski would not catch and reinjure it. [Music] If the races make it through spring pitch, they swing down a short road or over another pitch onto a face called Straw Pile, a hard right around Norway's Island, then a long gradual left turn and straight to the finish. [Music] [Music] So after 3 days, the training and preparation for the race is over. The racers have had just five chances at running the course. Equipment is being fine-tuned, and the competitors are psyching themselves for going all out on race day. Fran Clama, already heavily favored to win, set a new course record and virtually assured himself a victory in the actual race. >> Andy Mill, America's favorite, suffered a serious fall at spring pitch. This not only reinjured his knee, but also allowed him to complete the course only once, putting him at a serious disadvantage with all the other racers. >> Race day. >> The excitement in Aspen is rampant. The crowd climbs the steep hills to gather at their favorite vantage points. This is one of the largest crowds ever to see a skiing event in North America. 5 in of fresh snow has fallen overnight, and the course will be a bit slower than the past three practice days. >> It should make waxing most important. The Austrian team, in an unbelievable display of the World Cup's importance to their national sport, hired a helicopter to transport the races and their freshly waxed and refrigerated skis to the top of the course. This allowed them to make lastminute wax changes to match the new snow conditions. It definitely puts the rest of the racers at a disadvantage. >> Today's downhill will begin in 1 minute with Seth Forest of West Germany. First round. Here we go. >> Early in the race, the Europeans demonstrated their downhill dominance even on an unfamiliar course. Swiss style Renee Berto and Hans Winkler of Austria had good enough runs for second and third places, respectively. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Bon's clber, his gold suit sparkling amongst snow crystals, skis with the reckless style for which he is faints. He literally flies down the course, heading, searching, and yearning for more and more speed. He attacks the brick of disaster with unbelievable abandon. [Music] [Applause] takes over the lead. Andy Mill is on the course from Aspen, Colorado. >> The Americans, including Andy, had badly missed the waxing formula for the newly fallen snow and were 4 seconds off the pace set by Clama over the easy and flat top of the course. [Music] [Applause] Andy Mill has just come over Aztec at 64 miles an hour. Designed to beat still kilome. [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Okay, the final standings for this World Cup downhill. In third place from Austria, Her Winkler in second place from Switzerland, Freddy Bridley. And the winner, >> the number one ranking downhiller in the world from Austria, France Fl. [Applause] Although plagued with knee injuries and pain, Andy Mills 1976 Olympic finish proved his ability to race with the world's best. In Europe, skiing fans stone the house of their favor when he doesn't win. In the United States, we vicariously share triumphs and failures with the athletes. My amateur ski racing is definitely going to continue for at least two more years. I'm just now coming into form. I really feel that in two years I can be one of the best skiers in the world. If I'm winning at that time, maybe I'll proceed to the 1980 Olympics. Before it's all over, I want to be the best. I think I can be, or else I wouldn't be here right now. [Music]