When alpine racing is your profession, it's often a lot of tedious hard work, with many ups and downs and not so much fun. The fun moments are often very far apart. That is part if this issue, IMO.
Hear hear! And that's why USSA has been working on making racing more enjoyable for non-USST/NCAA track athletes. While there's a decent, if often inconsistently managed, path toward the USST/NCAA goal, there isn't as much around for the non-elite-track athletes. Thus the major fall-off for athletes in the U16 and older groups: it becomes more work than fun, with less reward as the elite-track racers consolidate at the academies and high-level teams. And thus why USSA revised ski length rules for non-FIS-track racing - thus not forcing the athletes who aren't aspiring to USST/NCAA/FIS onto skis that require a lot of work to make a turn.
So the appeal of JM is that she makes it all
look fun! Her training videos are often shot at the beach, in idyllic settings. She's shown playing about on the snow, wearing her Wonder Woman tank suit, etc. That appeals to younger racers! Sure, the ones who are looking toward the top end will gravitate toward MS and LV training videos (lots of sweat, gym work,
et al), and they accurately portray what's involved with working toward elite track: all-in on the sport, all-in on workouts, all-in on quality miles under the skis.
I think the USST athlete who balances the two in terms of PR presence is Ligety. Yes, there are a lot of workout and gate training videos, but there are also plenty of video clips of him shredding pow at Deer Valley, or ripping the Mid-Mountain Trail in Park City on his mountain bike. There are shots of him in proud papa mode with his baby. He shows that there is a balance in life with fun moments, but that there is still a
ton of work involved in being a World Cup skier.
So JM "puts butts in seats," to use the concert promoter parlance. She is a media dynamo, a great human interest story for NBC Sports, knows how to "make nice" with the camera. And the USST and NBC will be milking that appeal as much as possible in this Olympic year. I could even see her show up as a special commentator in Korea if the skiing element doesn't pan out (and I'm quite sure that it won't).
As far as those like
@jmeb who would like to see JM emerge as a big mountain skier, that's within the realm of possibility but with some
huge caveats. If she gets total hip replacement, big-hit, big mountain skiing is a dicey proposition. The stress level on the hip joint with the big drops is really big, and it shortens the lifespan of the prosthetics used. Shortened prosthetic lifespan means more frequent revisions, and each revision has a decreasing return of investment. She needs to think long-term (something that elite athletes seldom do, to be honest), so maybe an occasional big mountain tourney would be ideal; otherwise, she could be Squaw/Alpine's best mountain ambassador.
Just my $0.02 (especially as a total hip replacement patient who still coaches alpine racing)....
