Phil Mahre Looks To Medal At 50

According to an AP report,1984 Olympic gold medal winner, Phil Mahre, is serious in his attempt to qualify for next year’s Alpine Championships. At 49, Mahre’s battling against skiers 30 years his junior, but he has swallowed his pride and won’t hear of talk about a mid-life crisis. To Phil, the fire still burns, and with new technology and a training regimen he honestly feels he has a shot.

Mahre started his "mid life awakening" this season and entered 23 races in the last year, with 8 top 10 finishes in races in the Northwest, including a first-place at Mount Hood in February. However, against stronger fields in Utah, Mahre could only manage finishing in the 40s and 50s. To qualify for next year's nationals, Mahre needs to be ranked in the top 13 in the slalom or giant slalom in the Western Region.

There's plenty of ground to make up. In the latest U.S. Ski Association rankings, Mahre was 48th in the slalom and 56th in the giant slalom in the Western Region. In the Pacific Northwest region, Mahre was sixth in the slalom and seventh in the giant slalom. But don’t forget the last time he got his groove he won 27 World Cup races in the slalom, giant slalom, and combined, and seven World Cup season championships in those disciplines. Along with those honors were the three straight overall World Cup titles from 1981-1983 — along with Tamara McKinney (1983) and Bode Miller (2005), he is the only American to capture the overall title.

But, there is no doubt Phil Mahre is serious about this quest. Just the fact that he can stand in the crowded pre-race start area among competitors that are young enough to be his sons – heck is son is his unofficial coach – and charge out of the gate to win shows he still has the gold lust that spurred him on 25 years ago. But at times he knows it’s a hard road and a big dream – he told AP "I'm just kind of lost in time. Twenty-three years has passed by since my gold medal and I'm still kind of lost back there."

Go For It – Phil.