Three ‘Vters’ make alpine Olympic roster

But it was also a week of disappointment for at least one Vermonter, Robby Kelley, who believed he was headed to Sochi for the games but didn’t get the nod.

The happy Vermont headline in the announcement is that Burke Mountain Academy star Mikaela Shiffrin is, of course, on the list and a major medal contender. Headed into the Olympics she leads the women’s world slalom standings and has podiumed twice this World Cup season in giant slalom.

Also on the roster is Warren native and fellow Burkie Nolan Kasper, who had an 18th last week in the Kitzbuhel slalom.

On the women’s side, another Easterner with Vermont connections, speed-specialist Julia Ford, was rumored to be on the bubble to make the U.S. Olympic roster. The Okemo Mountain School alum had been skiing well but, until the last minute, she was uncertain about getting the Sochi call. As it turned out, Ford did make the list.

The U.S. team heads to Sochi with strong showings on both the men’s and women’s sides, with top-10 World Cup finishes and several podiums and wins for both genders in virtually all disciplines.

“We’re on a really good track right now,” U.S. Alpine Director Patrick Riml said as the roster was announced. “All the programs, both the tech and speed athletes, are showing really good improvements and progressions. I’m very pleased with where we are right now going into the games.”

The U.S. Ski Team chose nine women and 11 men for alpine skiing. On the men’s roster the team will apparently run the full quota of four athletes in four disciplines — slalom, super-G, downhill and combined — but only three in giant slalom. Team officials did not explain the giant slalom decision.

Adding to the mystery, team officials are taking six dedicated speed skiers, not including Bode Miller, who skis all disciplines, and Ted Ligety, who races both tech events and super-G. That adds up to eight athletes for the two speed and single combined events, and five for tech events.

Kelley not on the team

The giant slalom decision leaves number four on the U.S. GS team — that would be Kelley — out of the games. Contacted this week, Kelley, who many observers believed would get a slot, was disappointed.

“I would have loved to have gone,” Kelley told occasional Stowe Reporter columnist and top U.S. ski racer Warner Nickerson Monday on a long drive between races in Europe. “It’s the pinnacle of the sport and I would have definitely enjoyed representing my nation.”

The roster includes speed skiers Jared Goldberg, Travis Ganong, Erik Fischer, Marco Sullivan, Steve Nyman and Andrew Weibrecht; slalom skiers Kasper and David Chodounsky; and giant slalom racer Tim Jitloff. Of course, Miller and Ligety are on the roster, as well.

Kelley was under the impression that he was headed for Sochi. But, in the end, a slot was not offered. He was at a hotel in Les Menuires, France, with some of his teammates when he got the news.

“I was sitting downstairs in our hotel playing ‘Need for Speed’ and Ian (Garner, the U.S. Team’s GS coach) came down and said, ‘Are you on the Internet? Let’s talk.’ And he told me. … Then when I got online I saw a text from my mom saying it.”

It was heartbreaking for the young Starksboro racer, son of Steve and Lindy Kelley, an alpine Olympian herself. Robby Kelley had worked his way back into form this season after injuring his ankle last summer. He is feeling healthy and strong, he said, and two weeks ago at a World Cup in Adelboden he skied to 28th, the second fastest American in the race.

After hearing from his mom, Kelley called the team’s head coach, Sasha Rearick, but the coach was unavailable. As of Tuesday evening the two had yet to speak.

“I just want to know the selection process and why they decided to select six downhill skiers for men and women.  

“I don’t want to take anything away from the downhill team. They are all having a great year and I know they’re having a great year, but only four can race. And, based off World Cup standings, I’m the fourth guy in GS. It seems to me that they should evenly fill out the quotas the way they did in the past.”

In the end, it was all about points. Team officials chose the roster based on World Cup points, Kelley said.

“The U.S. Team has 20 spots and I am the 21st with World Cup points. … so I was left off.”

Kitzbuhel

Now for Kitzbuhel races. It’s amazing that after almost two decades Bode still dominates the story on the U.S. Ski Team. Last weekend in Kitzbuhel, the 36-year-old maverick American stayed true to his mind-blowing script of being among the best in the world.

After weeks of warm temperatures and thin snow cover and amid concerns that the famous Hannenkahm downhill might not even happen, organizers pulled it off thanks to chillier weather and man-made snow. The course, however, had to be redirected around the run’s spectacular Hausberg jump.

Running 11th, Miller laid down a good but not flawless run. He held a fast and smooth line virtually top to bottom, but made one critical slip-up entering a flat section midway, getting slightly off balance for a fraction of a second. Even so, he moved into the lead and held it for six racers until Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal came down to sneak ahead by about a tenth of a second.

Four racers later, Hannes Rechheilt, thrilling his huge home-nation crowd, blasted down the Streif run two-tenths ahead of Svindal.

It was the result Austria wanted, as the nation reclaimed the world’s most famous downhill for the first time since 2006.

For Miller, it was devastating. He’s been on the Kitzbuhel podium before, but his chances to stand on the top of it are slipping away.

“I knew it when I crossed the finish line that I’d just wasted another opportunity to win this course,” Miller told the press afterward.

It was a good day for team USA, with Travis Ganong in seventh, Marco Sullivan in 19th and Steve Nyman in 27th.

In the super combined the following day, it looked as if the Americans were going to have more to celebrate. Ligety and Miller looked like they had a lock on second and third, respectively.

Young Frenchman Alex Pinturault had nailed the win (he was second to Ligety in the combined in Wengen a week before) and Ligety’s strength both in the super-G and slalom had him in second. Miller was in third, having laid down an excellent run in super-G and a nail-biter, risk-taking slalom.

But video replays showed Miller straddled a gate at the entrance to the last flush in the course, and he was disqualified, pulling up Austrian champ Marcel Hirscher into third.

Now it’s on to races in Garmisch, Germany, for the men and Slovenia for the women. Sporting events begin at the Sochi Olympics on Feb. 8.

2014 Olympic Alpine Team nominations

Men

David Chodounsky, Crested Butte, CO (6/25/84)

Erik Fisher, Middleton, ID (3/21/85)*

Travis Ganong, Squaw Valley, CA (7/14/88)

Jared Goldberg, Holladay, UT (6/15/91)

Tim Jitloff, Reno, NV (1/11/85)*

Nolan Kasper, Warren, VT (3/27/89)*

Ted Ligety, Park City, UT (8/31/84)*

Bode Miller, Franconia, NH (10/12/77)*

Steven Nyman, Sundance, UT (2/12/82)*

Marco Sullivan, Squaw Valley, CA (4/27/80)*

Andrew Weibrecht, Lake Placid, NY (2/10/86)*

Women

Stacey Cook, Mammoth Mountain, CA (7/3/84)*

Julia Ford, Holderness, NH (3/30/90)

Julia Mancuso, Squaw Valley, CA (3/9/84)*

Megan McJames, Park City, UT (9/24/87)*

Laurenne Ross, Bend, OR (8/17/88)

Mikaela Shiffrin, Eagle-Vail, CO (3/13/95)

Leanne Smith, North Conway, NH (5/28/87)*

Resi Stiegler, Jackson Hole, WY (11/14/85)*

Jacqueline Wiles, Aurora, OR (7/13/92)

*Competed in past Olympic Winter Games

Schedule of events

Medal competition at the Rosa Khutor alpine venue begins Sunday, Feb. 9, with men’s downhill followed by women’s super combined on Monday, Feb. 10. Other alpine events currently scheduled:

Wednesday, Feb. 12: Women’s downhill.

Friday, Feb. 14: Men’s super combined.

Saturday, Feb. 15: Women’s super giant slalom.

Sunday, Feb. 16: Men’s super giant slalom.

Tuesday, Feb. 18: Women’s giant slalom.

Wednesday, Feb. 19: Men’s giant slalom.

Friday, Feb. 21: Women’s slalom.

Saturday, Feb. 22: Men’s slalom.