Steven Nyman is poised at the starting gate, alert, coiled, ready. A signal sounds: three even tones followed by a single, more urgent pitch, sending Nyman kicking onto the Val Gardena downhill ski course. He pushes five times with his poles, accelerating as quickly as possible, stabbing the snow frantically. He skates forward with abbreviated strokes, neon green boots moving up and down, his focus on building as much momentum as possible.
Nyman is feeling good. It was a clean start, and his confidence is rising. He’s conquered this terrain before, winning his first — and only — World Cup ski race on this Italian mountain six years earlier. “Nyman was good in training,” the TV announcer says. He turned in the ninth best practice-run time. But right now, the afternoon of December 15, 2012, he’s only thinking about the next 90 seconds. If he can string together the best pieces of his practice runs, he knows he’s got a shot. One thought cycles through his mind: Don’t mess this up.
In the world of downhill racing, Nyman, 30, is a grizzled journeyman, a fixture on the World Cup circuit who for most of his 11-year professional career has been stuck solidly in the middle of the pack.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2014/02/ski-run-nyman-sochi-olympics/?cid=co18291974
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