They appeared together on the Jan. 30, 1984 cover of Time, attired in matching US red racing suits and looking every bit the part of America's skiing couple.
Tamara McKinney held her Rossignols, Phil Mahre his K2s.
They were going into the February Olympic Games as favorites to win gold medals. But the magazine's cover selection was based on what the pair had already accomplished: Each had won the 1983 World Cup title, a first for American ski racing.
A quarter-century later, it could happen again.
After a second-place finish in the men's super-G last weekend at Kvitfjell, Norway, Bode Miller increased his lead in the World Cup standings. He has 1,363 points, 185 more than Swiss downhill veteran Didier Cuche and 290 ahead of his perennial rival, Austrian Benjamin Raich. After two slalom races this weekend in Slovenia, the season ends with four races in Bormio, Italy, beginning Wednesday.
On the women's side, American Lindsey Vonn (1,103 points) leads Nicole Hosp of Austria by 54 points. Maria Riesch of Germany is third (981).
True, Miller is not a part of the US Ski Team, having parted company at the end of last season. But for a decade of training and competition he was part of the team, and the US team has no problem covering him in press releases and letting him wear the national uniform.
At 23, having already surpassed her mentor and friend, Picabo Street, in World Cup wins (13 to 9), Vonn's shot at the overall title rests in her speed events.
This weekend, the women compete in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, with a downhill and super combined, which are considered Vonn's best chances at padding her lead before the final races in Bormio.
While the remaining schedule does not favor Miller in the same way, he already has a sizable lead. But he cautions, "This isn't over. There are still a lot of points out there in seven races, and you can't count Benny out in the overall."
But Miller also insists he isn't concerning himself with thoughts of the overall title.
"When I'm out on the course, the last thing I'm thinking about is the overall," he said. "I just push it."
This weekend in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, the men compete in a giant slalom and slalom, races that favor Raich's skills. The following week, the men's finals feature a downhill, super-G, GS, and slalom, which spread out the odds between Miller and Raich. Cuche's presence should be felt early, in the speed events.
In the middle of this season, Miller won a downhill to tie Mahre's American record of 28 career wins, then extended that number to 31 and counting.
When Miller broke the record, Mahre, the 1984 Olympic champion, seemed to shrug off the feat. "It's ridiculous that it's taken 20 years," said the 50-year-old Mahre, who runs a ski academy at Deer Valley, Utah. "[Miller] should have 50 wins by now."
Miller was graceful in recognizing Mahre's contribution to the sport. "He did an awful lot for ski racing," said Miller, who acknowledged Mahre's disapproval of him. "He was a real champion."
Vonn remembers how much Street influenced her course into ski racing. When she was 8, she met Street in a ski shop at home near Bucks Hill, Minn. Within a few years, she had joined her mentor on the US Ski Team and took just a few seasons to surpass Street's record. At first she felt apologetic.
"I did feel bad about it," Vonn told WCSN reporter and former Olympic ski racer Carrie Sheinberg Feb. 21. "I called her when I was home and she didn't call back, so hopefully she's not [mad] at me. It's not really a bummer, but it's pretty weird to be at the same level in the record books as your childhood idol."
But when she clinched this year's downhill title Feb. 22, Street was on the phone to congratulate Vonn, who, along with the rest of the team, will make an appearance at Sugarloaf in Maine at the US Alpine Nationals March 19-26.
