This week on the American Downhiller Podcast we turn our attention to Cortina - the Women’s Favorite Course and interview the Stifel US Ski Team’s newest speed star – Lauren Macuga! “Cougs” is coming off a career-best 10th place in the Super-G in Altenmarkt and sets her sights on the 2026 Olympic Course this week in Italy. Cougs is part of the US Women’s speed team which is re-building and has been having some good results lately with Keely Cashman, Tricia Mangan along with the return of Jacky Wiles and Alice Merryweather. We talk to Lauren about her development as a speed skier from an “avera ..read more

The King of Kitz, Didier Cuche joins Daron, AJ, Marco and LEW for a super interesting and revealing breakdown of the most famous and dangerous Downhill on the World Cup circuit. Didier won on the Streif a record FIVE times with his first coming in 1998 and the last three coming in in 2010, 2011 & 2012! He shares his thoughts and secrets to this iconic track and lets us inside his head as he preps for the race, races the course and receives the Trophy in front of thousands! Daron Rahlves, the only American Downhiller winner on the Hahnenkamm stood on top of the podium beating Didier by just ..read more

Wengen's Lauberhorn is the longest Downhill on the World Cup circuit and not only presents gliding challenges, but includes legendary sections like the Hundschopf, Canadian Corner, the Kernen-S, the Hanegg Schuss and the Austrian Hole! Tune in and here Daron, AJ, Marco and LEW break down the course, share Wengen secrets and also give a tutorial on How to Glide!!! Other Topics discussed: First impressions of the longest DH track in the World What it's like to enter the road into Kernen-S and try to make the turns How to ride a flat ski The view from the Start House What it's like to stand on t ..read more

World Champion and a 19 time World Cup Winner Michael Walchhofer joins the American Downhillers to share his thoughts on the Bormio Course – a course he won THREE times over his career. He also shares his experiences being on the same Austrian Team as Hermann Maier, Stefan Eberharter, Fritz Strobl and Hans Knauss. As he says, “Sometimes we worked together more than others… At the end of the day, it’s not easy to share all the info you got about equipment and other things.” Walchhofer shares some special experiences he had on his time on the World Cup including fighting with Daron and Bode Mill ..read more

One of the famous Canadian Cowboys, Manny Osborne-Paradis joins the American Downhillers for a hilarious and educational Podcast that breaks down this week’s World Cup Downhill in Val Gardena, Italy. Manny won on the Saslong course back in 2009 by crushing the top flats with a secret “Canadian Drift” slide technique that he explains in depth in the podcast. He also talks about what it feels like to fly 89 meters in the air over the Camels and both survive as well as crash. This is a Podcast loaded with valuable nuggets of wisdom for racers and coaches as well as hilarious stories of what it is ..read more

The American Downhillers Podcast is BACK for another Season. Hosted by Olympian Speed Demons Doug Lewis, AJ Kitt, Daron Rahlves and Marco Sullivan, this podcast covers everything related to going fast on a pair of skis down the craziest “Abfarht” courses in the World. From Beaver Creek to Kitz. From steep starts to finish fall-aways. From base bevel to best beers. From rookie races to retirement realities. In 2023-2024’s Episode 1, the Team talks about the Birds of Prey which will be the first Speed racing of the season with two Downhills and a Super-G on Dec 1-2-3! And to help them break down ..read more

In Episode 3, American Downhillers Doug Lewis, Daron Rahlves, AJ Kitt and Marco Sullivan take a deep dive into two important Elements of Speed - Inspection and Course Reports.  Daron talks about hearing from Bode Miller at the start as well as how he breaks down a course during inspection. AJ shares his system of learning a course and how technology changes affected that. Marco adds his personal tricks to inspecting and then visualizing each course. And LEW shares his secret of spying on the Euros during inspection! The Downhillers also give their opinions on what has happened so far in S ..read more

In this Episode of the American Downhiller Podcast, Lew, AJ, Daron and Marco are joined by Bella Wright whose rollercoaster 21-22 season included the high of the Olympics and the low of a fractured heel, but finished with her first National Downhill Championship win! Bella breaks down her winning run on the storied Narrow Gauge run in Sugarloaf and what it meant to her. Then the boys also share the stories of their first National Championship wins and how important those races actually are, despite being “only” the Nationals and not World Cups. Bella then talks about growing up at Snowbird and ..read more

Episode #12: American Downhiller Podcast Alice McKennis Duran on the Women’s Downhill Olympian and World Cup Winner Alice McKennis Duran joins LEW, AJ and Daron to break down the Women’s Olympic Downhill as well as share her thoughts on racing Downhill at the highest level for a decade. To begin the podcast, LEW makes good on his promise to wear his 1984 pink Olympic Downhill suit if any American Downhiller won a medal in speed. And because RCS won silver, LEW had to stuff himself into the very tight candy-cane Descente. But he still could get into that super aero tuck that allowed him to shoc ..read more

Episode #10: This week on the American Downhiller Podcast Breezy Johnson checks in with Lew, Daron and Marco to talk about her Injury, recovery and all things speedy on the Women’s World Cup Downhill Circuit. They caught up with her in Vail a few days before her surgery to repair her knee that will keep her from her second Olympics. Right off the bat, the crew talks about their Ski Racing Heroes growing up and how they motivated them to pursue their goals. Anja Paerson was the bomb to Breezy from the way she skied all five events to her famous “whale-slide” after each victory. Breezy also ment ..read more