Phil Mahre racing again

Did anybody notice that Phil is racing again. I understand he is going to try to make it to the US natls for his 50th birthday!

"The equipment has changed. It's made it easier."

http://www.kimatv.com/x3443.xml?ParentPageID=x13457&ContentID=x55445&Lay out=KIMA.xsl&AdGroupID=x49798

I'll bite...

So, can you confirm?

As of 5/30 he hadn't registered for a FIS license....

Volkl gonna build his K2's again?

Sounds like a question for....Vladman!!!

You beat me to the punch. I was going to pst it over the weekend.

Phil absolutely did race in the annual Golden Rose race at Timberline on Mt. Hood. Historically this race has been 4 slaloms but was 2 SL's and 2 Gs's this season. it is always run on memorial day weekend.

Phil raced in both SL's and i think 1 GS.

My boys raced in this race many times over the years.

go to www.pnsa.org and then pick "links" and go to the the Mt. Hood Academy (MHA) website. At the top of the page is a link to Golden rose Results!

the race is almost 100% PNSA racers that my boys have raced with since they were little. so i personally know a lot of the racers.

I came up against Phil at this charity event a couple of months ago:
http://www.49ers.com/community/news_...tion=CO%20News
Phil beat me by about a tenth of a second, over a very short, flat GS. But Marco Sullivan (a currently active racer) was nearly a whole second faster than us.
So obviously there's a big gap between where Phil is now and the top guys in their 20s. But what the heck? If he enjoys it, and just wants to see how high up the list he can get, why not? (Presumably he'll stick to SL and GS and won't risk the same fate as Bill Johnson.)
Phil is a humble, approachable, down-to-earth guy, and it will be fantastic for the youngsters to have a role model like that racing alongside them.

I was fortunate enough to participate in a few of the SL training sessions Phil did out in the NW and asked him that very question. Phil indicated he would not be taking any unnecessary risks in this endeavor and actually told me about what happened to Dane Spencer apparently on that very same course in the very same turn that got Bill Johnson.

Another point of interest is that Phil is no longer working under an agreement with K2, although he was skiing on K2 SLs that were Motos or something. My understanding is that he did some concentrated SL training for a couple weeks with Van Brassington, one of the best coaches in PNSA and probably USSA for that matter. Basically he was dialing in the new SL technique. I saw him running SL early in the winter then again this spring and I must say he seems to have "gotten it".

At Golden Rose SL-A he was about a second off Evan Weiss a young guy that is or was in some level of USST status and about a second faster than Tim Hill one of the top Master's racers in PNSA. He was about a half second behind Tommy Ford on the run where Tommy stood up. In SL-B he faded back another second on Evan and held about the same with Tim. Looked like about 100 kids racing so he was coming from out of the weeds. I believe the first WC he entered he got 6th coming out of the weeds....... I am going to take a wild guess and say it was a GS in Val d'Isere France.

Phil's an excellent person and I sure wish him all the best in making it back to Natz or anything else he wants to do.

- Fossil

Jeez, where's Steve??

Steve's knees took much more of a beating back in his "young racer dude" days, so I'm not shocked to see him taking a pass on this eadeavor. Remember the Weltmeister 1982 in Schladming, where Steve won the GS on a completely blown-out knee in a rather beefy brace.

So my guess is that Steve's knees are quite arthritic in comparison to Phil's.

Shoot, I remember when Phil and Steve made their first "big comeback." We all thought it was unlikely then, but they proved us wrong! Only a few years after retiring from the World Cup circuit in 1984, they decided to join the Pro Tour in the US, which was actually a pretty competitive racing scene. With only a few days of slalom training at Keystone, they took first and third in their first race. Because of their seeding in the dual format, that was the best they could possibly do!

If I recall correctly, throughout their racing careers, Steve had 11 knee surgeries, Phil none. Phil's major injuries were a few broken bones, which heeled better than Steve's knees, apparently. In the Mahre Training Center at Keystone, Phil used to refer to Steve in his two knee braces as the "poster child."

Anyway, they won't turn 50 until after next season, so they'll be 50 for the 07-08 season. That gives them a whole year to practice. . . . Furthermore, I suspect that the recent changes in the equipment rules will work in their favor, certainly over any of the kids who have only learned to tip 'em and carve!



Go for it, Phil!

Best regards,
Bob Barnes

But it says his USSA license is current as of 5/1/2006 as an Alpine Competitor..

For what its worth, Andy has had knee braces as long as I can rember. The joke around WP is that if your a Mahre, your givin them before you start skiing. The other one is that you can easily spot the mahre fam by looking for who has knee braces on.


Anyways,

I dont think that Phil is going to be winning to many race agaisnt the kids. Hell I ve see Andy blow both of them away, while Andy was skiing switch. However, Phils is in better shape than anyone else that Ive met of his age, and he will probaly still beat half the kids.

Did you see he started next to last iand finished 5th & 8th in SL and 3rd in GS and ran the 2nd fastest first run in GS at Golden Rose. I would give him a little more credit then that and give him a few more races. I would not count him out!

I'm not counting him out, but there area few younger skiers, that are going to be EXTREMLY dificult for him to beat. I.E. Jeff Harison however he is no longer racing.

Yep, that'll make him tough to beat, all right. :

Evan Weiss (USST past), Colby Granstrom and Don Brockett are not chopped liver! And again he started 102nd!!!!!!!

Jeff left the US ski team becasue he was sick of team politics, however, both the Mahres have said that he is the best natrual skier / racer that they ahve ever seen.

Yes harrison was good! But do you think the fact he is from White pass has something to do with thier comments? Rooting for their "Home Boy"?

I dont think so. Everytime we have a disscussion about skiing, they seem to be prey fair in there evaluations. Plus, Ive had the opertunity to see and ski with a lot of the best skiers in the sport (not necc. racing, but good skiers are good skiers) and I would also attest to the fact that he is the most natrually tallented all around skier that I have ever seen.

Don't get me wrong they are very down to earth great guys/ I have spent alot of time at the side of the course with them over the years, and also seen Harrison race, but Harrison is the same age as Ligety!

Not really comparable are they???????

Exactly, that goes back to what I was originally saying, the Mahres are great skiers and good friends, but I got my money on some of the groms.

For Phil to make Nats - The USSA Western Region(WR) men's quota to the US Nats is 13 - of which 4 are selected based on Nor-Am/ Europa Cup results. (He won't be eligible for either in early Nov/Dec) So, 9 WR slots available - using 1) USSA points, and 2) results from the WR Elite FIS Series in Jan,Feb. All 4 disciplines (DH,SG,GS,SL) appear on the selection board.

At the Golden Rose, he's taken the first step by getting in to the WR Elite series - 13 men will be selected from PNSA (Pacific Northwest Ski Asso.) based on USSA points. (he won't be an automatic to the Elites - being below a pre-determined WR point cut off). At the WR Elites, he'll be competing against the best skiers in the West, not just from PNSA, to earn 1 of those 9 slots, without favorable seeding due his FIS inactivity. And, you can be assured that a minimum of 3 of those slots will be earned by the speed event skiers (DH,SG) off the selection board.

Bet against him? For sure, most will be cheering for him -

I recall Phil making comments about both Evan Weiss and Jeff Harrison when they both were J3's. He had huge praise for both of them. Jeff went on to become Jr. World GS champion a very coveted tilte. Not sure if everyone recognizes how good you have to be to win at that level. While he may be the same age as Ted Ligety, comparing them now, does not make sense. If he had been able to put up with the politices, coaches and still had the drive, Jeff may have become one of the real great technical skiers too. But that is pure speculation. As for Phil's results, not bad, but quite a ways to go. I was at the Norams in Park City when Schlopy made his come back starting way in the back and scoring unbelievable results so it can be done, but at age near 50, I think it will be a long shot.

This informative post makes it clear that it is (properly, I think) difficult to just pop onto the scene and make the nationals right away.

Apparently, the Mahres' birthday is October 5, 1957. I guess the likelihood of success turns on whether "for his 50th birthday" in the original post is supposed to mean six months before or six months after that milestone. The latter seems more attainable (though no mean accomplishment, no matter how you look at it!).

Actually, it's 5/10/57 which, in American format, is May 10, 1957.

Not that a few months are going to matter much!

Best regards,
Bob Barnes

VÖlkl

There was a thread some time ago about Völkl making the K2 skis for Phil Mahre during his Worldcup career. Well now he has signed with Völkl for real and is using their skis. Apparently the guy at K2 was unwilling to pay for the living legend who put his product on the map to continue using it. This is the same guy who would not increase Bode's deal by 10K because he was sure Bode was going to get hurt. Bode switched to Fischer and the rest is history. That K2 guy has real good judgement!

Never cared much for K2 but Völkl has always been one of my favorites at least when I could afford to own them. Hope Phil does real well on VÖLKL with his return to FIS racing.

- Fossil

Just to be the devil's advocate here:

K2 doesn't even pay to be a member of the US Ski Team's equipment pool (or, so far as I know, the pool of any other national ski team). If they were going to try to promote their skis with current high-visibility racing success, that would probably be a better start than paying Phil Mahre.

I'm not sure Fischer is getting a ton more of a boost out of their Bode association than K2 is. Or Rossignol, for that matter. Atomic did for awhile. Head: remains to be seen.

The joke at Fischer when they sponsored Bode was that each win by him meant that they sold 50 more pairs of Fischer skis in the USA. Of course, his winning performances may have resulted in many more Fischer skis being sold in Europe.

K2 is not paying Phil but Volkl is....

Cool, another Taurus on the greatest skis on earth!!