Dave Gibson, Nederland. In 1964 America won its very first Olympic men’s ski medals when Billy Kidd of Steamboat Springs, CO, took silver and Jimmie Heuga bronze in the slalom at Innsbruck, Austria. Kidd would go on to win a gold medal for the overall (downhill and slalom) at Val Gardena, Italy, in 1970. That same year, former Colorado Buffaloes ski coach, U.S. Ski Team coach, and ABC sports commentator Bob Beattie founded the World Pro Ski Tour (WPST). Its storied history includes Kidd joining the tour and extending his successful career. Legendary duels in 1973 between Jean-Claude Killy and “Spider” Sabich were viewed by millions. Those over fifty years of age might recall the final race of the series when Killy won the crown after a spectacular Sabich crash. 

Remembered fondly by many, “Spider” Sabich was tragically shot and killed at his Aspen home in 1976 by his singer/actress girlfriend Claudine Longet who was sentenced to 30 days following a sensationalistic trial. Skiing under the Coors Light banner, fraternal twins Phil and Steve Mahre, gold and silver medalists respectively at Sarajevo, competed in the WPST with Phil winning the slalom in 1989. A skiers’ strike in 1992 along with the non-renewal of a TV contract led to its demise in 1998.  

Recently, with a number of sponsors and CBS Sports onboard, the World Pro Ski Tour has been resurrected. Three of the six stops on its schedule are in Colorado. Racers like Ted Ligety share similar pedigrees of competitors from the past. Tour member Ligety won three gold medals during the 2013 Alpine World Championships and five World Cup overall giant slalom titles. In 2014, at the Sochi Winter Olympics, he took home a gold medal which was the first-ever Olympic men’s giant slalom medal for the United States.

Due to snow and high winds, Friday night’s qualifying runs at Eldora’s Pro Open were postponed until the next day, Saturday, January 18, 2020. After the brackets were established, racers squared off at 12:30 p.m. for the dual-format single-elimination super-slalom. In each skier’s pairing, they would ski head-to-head with their opponent, once on the red course and once on the blue course. The racer with the best combined time moved on to the next round. The 64 heats in the round of 32 took only little over an hour to complete as entrants tore down the mountain in less than twenty seconds per run. Seventy-six year old goodwill ambassador and 1970 WPST World Championship winner Billy Kidd was on hand for inspiration and to wish the sweet sixteen racers good luck. In an impressive showing on their home mountain, one quarter of the skiers remaining were CU Buffs.

With all of the racers eliminated but four moving into the semifinals, Alex Leever of Vail (3-time NCAA champion) met Michael Ankeny (2015 overall and slalom NorAm champion and 2nd place finisher at the 2019 Waterville WPST). Nolan Kasper (3-time Olympic team member with five top-ten finishes in World Cup slalom) faced off against Robert Cone (NCAA champion and winner of three WPST events). The amount of time that the winner of the first run gained was applied to a head start for the second run. The racer who crossed the finish line first would be the winner. Determined by a mere blink of an eye, Robert Cone and Michael Ankeny advanced to the final. Ankeny narrowly edged Cone by seven one-thousands of a second in the first run. With Cone gunning for his fourth consecutive WPST win and the 2020 overall title, he would be hard to beat. It was Ankeny who crossed ahead of Cone, securing his first WPST title by 0.267 seconds and $10,000 in prize money. A champagne-soaked Ankeny said after his thrilling upset victory, “I was always a bridesmaid and never a bride. I really felt the energy of the crowd and the other athletes today, and it was something I was able to harness and use to take the win.” 

(Originally published in the January 23, 2020, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)