CARRABASSETT VALLEY — On Wednesday morning, shortly after 9:30, 18-year old Heidi Livran made the first run of the U.S. Alpine Championships. Livran, a Colorado native, was making her national championships debut.
“I’m a little nervous,” Livran said when she completed her super-G run with a time of 1 minute, 25.81 seconds. Livran finished 18th, but for a few minutes she sat atop the leaderboard, a rookie setting the tone.
That’s what the U.S. Alpine Championships are all about. The young skiers, wide-eyed and eager to compete, taking on the veterans. Many of the older skiers arrived here glassy-eyed and weary, competing just a day or two after making a transatlantic flight from Europe, where they recently finished a season on the World Cup tour.
“For the young girls, they get here, and it’s the biggest race of the year. For us, we show up super tired and it’s our lowest race of the year,” World Cup and Team USA veteran Stacey Cook said. “Completely different vibes, but I remember how special it was when I was young, so I try to keep a smiling face and not get two feet on the plane home quite yet.”
Six days ago, Cook, 30, was competing in a World Cup race in Meribel, France. She arrived at Sugarloaf at 7:30 on Tuesday night after flying in from Geneva, Switzerland. Cook placed eighth in Tuesday’s Super G competition. It was Cook’s first race at Sugarloaf since the 2008 national championships were held here. She won Super G and downhill titles that year, and won the national title in the Super G when the championships were held at Sugarloaf in 2006. Cook has been to so many national championships, they blend together.
“My first nationals would have been 2001, maybe? I can’t remember,” said Cook, who raced in the last three Olympic games. “I remember going to my first nationals and how special it was. Getting my eyes open to bigger competition. My advice would be to live it up. Embrace the situation and keep striving for more, because it only gets bigger.”
Carrabassett Valley native Sam Morse is in his third national championships. He’s skied the Narrow Gauge course thousands of times, but with the veterans in the field, he knew he had to push it a little more and take a chance. A slip midway through his run cost Morse some time, and when he crossed the finish line he was in 14th place. He finished 26th.
“I just didn’t execute what I wanted to do. I got a little mixed up in the middle. I took it low down in the soft stuff. It happens,” said Morse, who will turn 19 in May. The disappointing finish couldn’t wipe the grin from his face.
“It’s good to have the older guys back here with us, and the young guys are trying to go and chase them down,” he added. “You know you have to risk it because they’re really good. You’ve got to put it out there.
“You’re going in knowing you’re not the most technical. You’re not the best tucker. But if you put one together you can be right in there with those guys. Learning that belief at these kind of races, that’s key.”
To Steven Nyman, 33, a veteran of Team USA and three Olympics, the battle between the young skiers and the old is a major draw of the U.S. Alpine Championships.
“There’s some young guys that are hungry. That’s what’s cool about nationals. We’re tired. All us World Cuppers are beat,” Nyman said. “These guys are gunning for us. When I was young, that was the thing, to come to nationals and get to race the big boys and see where you stack up.”
Nyman skied seventh in the men’s Super G on Wednesday afternoon, and his time of 1:19.77 held the lead for most of the day. Then, one of those young guys stepped up.
Drew Duffy, a 19-year old from Vermont, skied 30th. Halfway through his run, you could see Duffy was gaining speed. When he came into view for the final stretch, you knew he had a chance to end up on the podium.
Duffy crossed the finish line at 1:19.73, beating Nyman by the amount of time it took the veteran to read the youngsters’ score.
The battle between young and old will continue for four more days. The veterans will try to hang onto the titles, knowing young skiers like Duffy only need a door hundredths of a second wide to walk in and take it.
Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242
Twitter: @TLazarczykMTM
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