Phil Mahre

Philip Mahre (born May 10, 1957 in Yakima, Washington) is a retired American alpine ski racer, widely regarded as one of the greatest American skiers of all time. His total of 27 World Cup race wins remains number two all-time among American skiers, behind Bode Miller. Phil and his twin brother Steve (four minutes younger) were both world class ski racers in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Despite their very similar appearance and according to the delivering physician, they are fraternal rather than identical twins. Phil, Steve, and their seven siblings literally grew up at a ski area; in 1964, their father Dave became the mountain manager for the White Pass Ski Area, 50 miles west of Yakima, where they moved into a home near the base of the lifts.

Career

Early years

By the age of 12 years old, the Mahre twins future was so promising that ski manufacturers sent them free skis, and the next year Rossignol tried to sign them to a career-long contract to use their skis, which their father declined. Eventually they would use skis made by an American company, K2, throughout their career. K2 was located on Vashon Island, just west of Seattle, a few hours northwest of White Pass. The Mahre twins would work extensively with the company throughout their careers, developing custom race skis ideally suited to their needs.

U.S. Ski Team

Phil Mahre earned a spot on the U.S. Ski Team in early 1973 at age 15. He was selected to the "A' team following the 1975 season and competed at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, taking fifth in the giant slalom at age 18. He finished the 1976 World Cup season in 14th place in the overall standings. He won his first World Cup race the next season, a giant slalom at Val d'Isère, France in December 1976. He followed it up with a slalom win in March at Sun Valley, Idaho, defeating the man who would become his fiercest rival, the legendary Swede Ingemar Stenmark, with brother Steve taking third. Phil would finish ninth in the overall standings for 1977.

The following season would establish Phil Mahre as one of the best ski racers in the world. In 1978 he placed second in the overall standings, followed by third in 1979. At the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, he took the silver in the slalom behind Stenmark, along with the unofficial Olympic combined title (official as a concurrent World Championship title). He would once again finish third in the overall World Cup standings for 1980, while winning the first of four consecutive discipline titles in the combined.

World Cup Overall Champion (1981-83)

Phil's career reached its zenith over the next three seasons. He won the most prestigious title in alpine skiing, the overall World Cup title, three consecutive years from 1981-83. He narrowly edged Ingemar Stenmark, who had previously won three consecutive overall titles from 1976-78, by only 6 points to capture his first title in 1981. Mahre's finest year was 1982 when he took the event titles in the giant slalom and slalom, as well as winning the overall title. Mahre had eight wins and 20 podium finishes, and his 309 points were well ahead of Stenmark's 211. Twin brother Steve finished third overall at 183 points, and also won the World Championship in the giant slalom at Schladming. In 1983 Phil would once again beat Stenmark by a large margin for the overall title, along with taking a second straight giant slalom title.

Only two other Americans have won the World Cup overall title: Tamara McKinney in 1983 and Bode Miller in 2005. When McKinney won the women's title in 1983, it marked the only year that both World Cup overall titles have been won by Americans.

1984 Olympics

At the 1984 Winter Olympics in Sarajevo, Phil again medaled in the slalom, this time taking the gold while Steve won the silver for a Mahre twin 1-2 sweep. Steve had led the first of two runs, skiing flawlessly and building a large half-second lead over Swede Jonas Nilsson with Phil in third place another two-tenths back. Phil skied a fine second run to grab the lead, then Nilsson skied next and faltered, dropping out of the medals. Steve skied down last needing only a solid run to take the gold, but a series of mistakes dropped him into second place, and so Phil became the Olympic champion. Meanwhile, unknown to the racers, Phil's wife Holly had given birth to a son an hour before the race started. Phil did not find out about it until a TV interview after the race.

The Mahres won two of the five alpine skiing medals taken by Americans, all from the Northwest. Portland's Bill Johnson (downhill) and Seattle's Debbie Armstrong (giant slalom) also won gold, and Christin Cooper of Sun Valley took the silver behind Armstrong for an American 1-2 finish in the women's giant slalom.

The Mahre twins raced a limited World Cup schedule during the 1984 season, and retired from the circuit in March at age 26. Phil ended his career with 27 World Cup race victories, at the time second only to Stenmark's 79 wins among men's racers (he would end his career in 1989 with 86 wins), while Steve finished with 9 wins.

Post-retirement

In 1985, Phil and his brother released their book "No Hill Too Fast", which chronicles their childhood and World Cup careers, and includes a series of instructional sections titled "How to Ski the Mahre Way". That same year the twins established the [http://mahretrainingcenter.com/ Mahre Training Center] in Deer Valley, Utah, and continue to run it to this day. The twins attended the Bob Boundarant School of Driving in the fall of 1988 and began competing in auto racing. They are currently racing in the Grand American Road Racing Association Koni Challenge series, in the Grand Sport class.

Comeback

In 2006, at the tender age of 49, Phil Mahre decided it was time to come out of retirement and make another run at qualifying for the U.S. Nationals by the age of 50. [cite web | title = A New Hill to Descend: Mahre Returns With Big Goal | publisher = The New York Times | date = January 15, 2007 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/15/sports/othersports/15mahre.html?ex=1326517200&en=5c7cbb91c0a1fdec&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss | accessdate = 2007-03-15 ]

World Cup victories

References

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External links

* [http://www.usolympicteam.com/26_571.htm U.S. Olympic Team.com] - biography for Phil Mahre
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* [http://www.ski-db.com/db/profiles/mhrph.asp Ski-db.com] - Phil Mahre - results
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,923375,00.html TIME.com] - "For Purple Mountains' Majesty" - 21-Mar-1983
* [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,954103-1,00.html TIME.com] - "Their Success Is All in the Family" - 30-Jan-1984
* [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/olympics/258623_wolyphil09.html Seattle Post-Intelligencer] - "Where are they now?: Phil Mahre" - 09-Feb-2006
* [http://www.washingtonsportshalloffame.com/skiing.htm Washington Sports Hall of Fame] - Phil Mahre
* [http://www.bizazzmedia.com/mahre] - Phil Mahre talks about his comeback.