When you win a cow, the cheese goes with it.
Two-time Olympian Lindsey Kildow of the U.S. Ski Team won a cow last December when she won a World Cup women's downhill at Val d'Isere, Fra.
Ring 'dem bells!
Then she surprised race organizers by deciding to keep the cow. It is being raised at the U.S. women's European base in Kirchberg, Aust.
Organizers of Val d'Isere's 51st Criterium of the First Snow elected to give a big wheel of cheese to winners of this year's women's series on the Oreiller-Killy speed track.
Guess who was the big cheese Wednesday?—22-year-olds Lindsey Kildow. "They said the cheese is from my cow," she laughed afterward.
Kildow rocketed down the 2.8-kilometer course and captured her sixth career World Cup triumph by a monstrous 1.24 seconds over teammate Julia Mancuso, who had won Tuesday's Val d'Isere downhill.
She extended the U.S. Ski Team's streak to an unprecedented six days in a row with at least one athlete on the podium.
"We can keep it rolling," said Olympic giant slalom queen Mancuso. "All it takes is a little momentum. It's exciting. I'm stoked for everyone."
"Everyone" on the lengthening U.S. list of big cheeses and everybody else includes three-time Olympian Bode Miller, 29, of Bretton Woods, N.H.
Miller made it two consecutive World Cup super giant slalom victories Wednesday at Hinterstoder, Aust. with a healthy .79 second victory over Austria's Peter Fill.
It was Miller's 24th career World Cup triumph. The outcome gave the U.S. Ski Team nine podium finishes in an unprecedented seven straight races over six days—a real European pre-holiday blitz.
Miller, the 2005 World Cup overall and super G champ was aggressive on his new Head skis in reclaiming the World Cup overall lead by 19 points over Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal.
"I got full power out of the start, all the way to the second gate," said Miller, who nevertheless said it's too early to think about winning another overall title. "I don't think about it. But my skiing is definitely there in three events."
Asked about the success of U.S. Ski Team athletes in the past week, Miller said, "I think you're seeing a more mature team now. More and more people are in their middle and late 20s on the team. In the past, people left by their mid-20s. Now, we have 400-point World Cup racers on our team."
Reigning SG world champ Miller drew closer to Phil Mahre's record of 27 Cup wins.
Miller (440 points) now leads the overall standings ahead of Svindal (421) and is 56 points ahead of Canada's John Kucera atop the SG ranks after three events. Ted Ligety (252) is sixth and Steven Nyman (250) seventh in the overall standings.
With her win Wednesday, Kildow stretched her lead in the women's DH standings to 115 points after four events. And she moved up from fifth to third in the overall standings.
Austria's Renate Goetschl, second and fourth in the two downhills at Val d'Isere, has 441 points, Austria's Nicole Hosp 436 and Kildow 435. Mancuso is seventh with 279.
