Daron Louis Rahlves (born June 12, 1973) is a former American

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

alpine ski racer and

freestyle skier Freestyle skiing is a skiing discipline comprising aerials, moguls, cross, half-pipe, slopestyle and big air as part of the Winter Olympics. It can consist of a skier performing aerial flips and spins and can include skiers sliding rails and ...

Biography

Born in

Walnut Creek A walnut is the edible seed of a drupe of any tree of the genus ''Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, ''Juglans regia''. Although culinarily considered a "nut" and used as such, it is not a true bo ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, and raised in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

, Rahlves attended the Green Mountain Valley School in

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

and currently resides in Truckee, California. He retired from racing at the end of the

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

season with twelve World Cup victories and a world championship. Rahlves earned three

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

medals, a gold in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

in the

Super-G Super giant slalom, or super-G, is a racing discipline of alpine skiing. Along with the faster downhill, it is regarded as a "speed" event, in contrast to the technical events giant slalom and slalom. It debuted as an official World Cup event d ...

and a silver and bronze (downhill and giant slalom) in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. His best year in the overall World Cup standings was

, when he finished fourth. Rahlves' best years in the downhill standings were

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

, when he placed second. He was also the runner-up in the Super G standings in 2004. Rahlves was named to the U.S. Olympic team as a freestyle skier for the

2010 Winter Olympics )'' , nations = 82 , athletes = 2,626 , events = 86 in 7 sports (15 disciplines) , opening = February 12, 2010 , closing = February 28, 2010 , opened_by = Governor General Michaëlle Jean , cauldron = Catriona Le May DoanNancy GreeneWayne Gretz ...

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. He competed in the

ski cross Ski cross is a skiing competition which incorporates terrain features traditionally found in freestyle skiing with courses which include big-air jumps and high-banked turns. In spite of the fact that it is a timed racing event, it is often con ...

event at

Cypress Mountain Cypress Mountain is a ski area in West Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, located in the southern section of Cypress Provincial Park, operated under a BC Parks Park Use Permit. The ski resort is a 30-minute drive north of downtown Vancouver, an ...

and placed 24th.

Personal life

Daron is married to Michelle and has twins: son Dreyson and daughter Miley (born in July 2007).

Movies

Rahlves has been featured in several movies as his racing career matured and after retirement. 2005 brought Rahlves' first appearance in Warren Miller's "Impact". In 2007, Rahlves was featured in Rage Films' movie "Enjoy" as well as Jalbert Productions' "The Thin Line: Examination of the Downhill" and in 2008 has segments in Warren Miller's "Children of Winter" and again in Rage Film's movie "Down Days". He has also been in Warren Miller's Dynasty and Matchstick Productions' "In Deep in 2009. In 2010 Rahlves starred in Teton Gravity Research's "Light The Wick" and in 2011 Warren Miller's "Like There's No Tomorrow". Rahlves was a featured in Teton Gravity Research's "The Dream Factory". Most recently, Rahlves rode a night scene in Alyeska in which the snow was backlit with array of projected LED colors for Sweetgrass Productions "Afterglow" in 2014.

Awards and titles

* 2001 World Championships in St. Anton,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

: Gold Medal in

. *

Hahnenkamm in

Kitzbühel Kitzbühel (, also: ; ) is a medieval town situated in the Kitzbühel Alps along the river Kitzbüheler Ache in Tyrol, Austria, about east of the state capital Innsbruck and is the administrative centre of the Kitzbühel district (). Kitzbühel ...

: 1st place in

Downhill Downhill may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Downhill'' (1927 film), a British film by Alfred Hitchcock * ''Downhill'' (2014 film), a British comedy directed by James Rouse * ''Downhill'' (2016 film), a Chilean thriller directed by Patrici ...

, the first American champion on the prestigious ''Streif'' course in 44 years (

Buddy Werner Wallace Jerold "Buddy" Werner (February 26, 1936 – April 12, 1964) was an American alpine ski racer in the 1950s and early 1960s. Early years Born and raised in Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Werner was the middle child of Ed "Pop" and Hazel M ...

in 1959). *

Hahnenkamm in

: 1st place in Super G, becoming the first American champion ever in that race. * 2005 World Championships in

Bormio Bormio ( lmo, Bormi, rm, italic=yes, , german: Worms im Veltlintal) is a town and ''comune'' with a population of about 4,100 located in the Province of Sondrio, Lombardy region of the Alps in northern Italy. The centre of the upper Valtellina ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

: Silver Medal in

behind

Bode Miller Samuel Bode Miller ( ; born October 12, 1977) is an American former World Cup alpine ski racer. He is an Olympic and World Championship gold medalist, a two-time overall World Cup champion in 2005 and 2008, and the most successful male America ...

, completing the first 1-2 finish for American men ever at the Worlds. ** Bronze Medal in

Giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up t ...

. *

Lauberhorn The Lauberhorn is a mountain in the Bernese Alps of Switzerland, located between Wengen and Grindelwald, north of the Kleine Scheidegg. Its summit is at an elevation of above sea level. Lauberhorn ski races The mountain is best known for the ...

Wengen Wengen () is a mountain village in the Bernese Oberland of central Switzerland. Located in the canton of Bern at an elevation of above sea level, it is part of the Jungfrauregion and has approximately 1,300 year-round residents, which swells to ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

: 1st place in Downhill (third American to win) * 12

victories. * 7 U.S. National Championships titles

World Cup results

Season standings

Race victories

* 12 wins – (9 DH, 3 SG) * 28 podiums – (20 DH, 7 SG, 1 GS)

World Championship results

Olympic results

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rahlves, Daron 1973 births Alpine skiers at the 1998 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2002 Winter Olympics Alpine skiers at the 2006 Winter Olympics American male alpine skiers American male freestyle skiers Freestyle skiers at the 2010 Winter Olympics Living people Olympic alpine skiers of the United States Olympic freestyle skiers of the United States Sportspeople from Walnut Creek, California X Games athletes People from California People from Olympic Valley, California