The Original U.S. Ski Team legend: Phil Mahre
We were honored to have Phil Mahre join us for Episode 4 of our Designed by Tradition podcast. Listen below as Phil joins our own Dan Egan to reflect on his career, overcoming injury, flying the helicopter to training during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, mentoring the next generation of U.S. Ski Team racers, the current state of U.S. ski racing, his love of auto racing, and much, much more.
If there were a Mt. Rushmore for U.S. skiers, Phil Mahre would certainly be on it.
He packed a lot into a short eight-year career: 10 FIS titles, Olympic gold and silver medalist, 27 FIS wins, 69 podiums and a member of US Ski Hall of Fame.
One of a family of nine, the Mahres grew up at the base of White Pass Ski Area in Washington. The family took sibling rivalries to the next level, as Phil and his twin Steve would go on to battle one another up to the highest level.
Phil in 1978 after winning the Giant Slalom at Stratton Mountain in Vermont
After a promising start to his career, Phil broke his tibia in 1979 in Lake Placid, but returned triumphantly a year later to take silver in the slalom in the 1980 Olympics - games where he would compete in all disciplines, flying a helicopter back and forth to Killington every day to train for both downhill and slalom.
Phil running the Giant Slalom course on Whiteface Mountain at the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid
Following the 1980 Olympics, Phil’s career took off. He wrapped up his first FIS title in the combined event just a month following the Olympics, and would go on to win the overall title in ‘81, ‘82, and ‘83, along with six more season-long discipline titles. Easily one of the best skiers in the world at the time, he was the first American to win the overall title and went to toe-to-toe with legends of the sport like Ingemar Stenmark.
Phil shares a laugh with Ingemar Stenmark in Lake Placid. Their rivalry was perhaps the centerpiece of the sport at the time.
Phil and Steve Mahre testing the slalom course in Sarajevo
Following his gold medal win at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo (where Phil came from behind to catch his brother for gold), Phil retired at the end of the season but would go on to mentor youth skiers like Ted Ligety and others, skiers that would go on to carry on the torch of American alpine excellence that Phil helped to create.
Speaking of torches, and given the nature of Phil’s incredible legacy, it was only fitting that he was chosen to carry the Olympic flame across the border from his home state of Washington into Canada ahead of the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver.