BORMIO, Italy (AP) — Long before the free-spirited Bode Miller, there was David Chappellet, a driven, do-things-my-way downhill racer representing the U.S. ski team.
Sure, Chappellet's story was make-believe and straight out out Hollywood, a brash prospect played by the late actor Robert Redford coming out of nowhere (Idaho Springs, Colorado) to fill in for an injured teammate and becoming an Olympic champion. But decades later, the character from the 1969 film “Downhill Racer" still resonates.
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United States' Ryan Cochran Siegle speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
FILE - Robert Redford attends a premiere on Sept. 27, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Daron Rahlves, of Sugar Bowl, Calif., skiis down for a firs-place finish during the men's super-G at the US Alpine Ski Championships, March 26, 2006, in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)
FILE - United States' Bode Miller races down the course during a training run for the men's downhill competition at the alpine skiing world championships on Feb. 3, 2015, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
To this day, Redford's Chappellet serves as a badge of honor for American downhillers, the personification of their ethos and underdog status in a Europe-centric sport. The movie stands up, too, due to its gritty camerawork and picturesque scenery, which includes visits to venues on the World Cup circuit like Kitzbühel, Austria, and Wengen, Switzerland.
“The movie encapsulates the pursuit of excellence that we’re trying to accomplish and it exudes such an aura around what we do,” explained U.S. racer River Radamus, who’s competing in his second Olympics at the Milan Cortina Games. “I love that movie. That’s part of why I wanted to do what I do today.”
The film — directed by Michael Ritchie of “Fletch” and “The Bad News Bears” notoriety – was based on a book by Oakley Hall. It featured the relationship between two characters played by Oscar-winning stars: Redford, a loner who plays by his rules to become a champion, and Gene Hackman, his locked-in U.S. ski coach. It was a celebrated part for the actors, who both died in 2025.
Redford's character may have been an amalgamation of several U.S. ski team personalities. Maybe a little Billy Kidd after he and teammate Jimmie Heuga became the first American men to capture Olympic medals in Alpine skiing in 1964. Maybe a dose of the charismatic Vladimir “Spider” Sabich, who was shot and killed by his girlfriend in 1976. Maybe even some Wallace “Buddy” Werner, who died in an avalanche in 1964 at 28. This was long before the days of Miller, who burst on the scene with his own flair for doing things his way — much like Redford's Chappellet.
Bill Marolt, a skier for Team USA in the 1960s, remembers the movie’s premiere and how his team was portrayed in a positive light along with a little Hollywood embellishment.
“It just brought back a lot of memories of what had gone on,” recounted Marolt, who would go on to become the ski coach and athletic director at the University of Colorado along serving as president/CEO of the U.S. ski team. “Movies always take some liberties, but the bottom line, the message was pretty accurate and pretty clear.”
Early in the movie, a racer named Tommy Erb crashes and gets badly banged up. It opens the door for the arrival of Redford. Playing Erb was collegiate and U.S. skier Joe Jay Jalbert, who also filled in as Redford’s stunt double for the challenging skiing scenes.
A recent graduate at the time from the University of Washington, Jalbert was slinging mud for a construction company when he received a call from Redford's attorney. A simple question that altered his life: How would Jalbert like to be in a ski racing movie?
“Literally in less than two months I’m on a plane to Wengen, Switzerland,” Jalbert recounted. "That’s where I first met Bob.”
They became good friends, too, spending time on the slopes long after the film.
“Bob was an advanced skier, absolutely,” Jalbert recalled of Redford, the magnetic movie star who also was the founder of Sundance Mountain Resort in Utah and creator the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to support independent filmmakers.
Jalbert played a big role in making the ski racing scenes look more authentic by lugging a heavy camera down the slopes at high velocity. He also took some high-speed wipeouts as Redford's stand-in.
“Once a downhill racer, always a downhill racer,” laughed Jalbert, whose on-set experience launched a longtime filmmaking and cinematography career that's seen him make more than 800 productions and become a member of the U.S. ski team Hall of Fame.
Two American men have won the Olympic downhill, Bill Johnson in 1984 and Tommy Moe in 1994. The only U.S. woman to capture the downhill at the Winter Games remains Lindsey Vonn in 2010.
Ryan Cochran-Siegle, an Olympic silver medalist in the super-G at the 2022 Beijing Games, remembers being introduced to “Downhill Racer” as a teenager. It only cemented what he already knew: He wanted be a ski racer.
“Movies that make a lasting impression, they hold so much truth to the real world,” said Cochran-Siegle, who's among the favorites in the men's downhill on Saturday. “As an American speed racer, there’s so much of that underdog mentality in going over to Europe and being away from home, trying to still be the best in the world.”
Retired U.S. downhiller Steven Nyman grew up in Sundance and near the home of Redford, even doing yardwork for the actor as a kid. The film made an impression on Nyman before earning a spot on the squad. But his true memory of “Downhill Racer” centers around how the team used watching it as an inspiration before racing in Wengen. It was an idea formed by teammate Daron Rahlves, who won at the famous venue in 2006.
“Redford really tells a great story about the life of a ski racer," said Nyman, who often ran into the actor at Sundance. “It ended up being something similar to my life.”
Rahlves has a Redford story, too, of sitting behind the actor on a plane ride to San Francisco.
“I introduced myself and we talked about ‘Downhill Racer,’” said Rahlves, who won nine World Cup downhill races, including the famed Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel in 2003. “He remembered so many things about that experience. He was like, ‘Have you ever raced the Hahnenkamm?’ I told him, ”Yeah, I actually won it.'
“He just gave me a high-five. That was a good moment."
AP skiing: https://apnews.com/hub/alpine-skiing and AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
United States' Ryan Cochran Siegle speeds down the course during an alpine ski, men's World Cup downhill, in Crans Montana, Switzerland, Sunday, Feb. 1, 2026. (AP Photo/Pier Marco Tacca)
FILE - Robert Redford attends a premiere on Sept. 27, 2017, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP, File)
FILE - Daron Rahlves, of Sugar Bowl, Calif., skiis down for a firs-place finish during the men's super-G at the US Alpine Ski Championships, March 26, 2006, in Carrabassett Valley, Maine. (AP Photo/Jim Cole, File)
FILE - United States' Bode Miller races down the course during a training run for the men's downhill competition at the alpine skiing world championships on Feb. 3, 2015, in Beaver Creek, Colo. (AP Photo/John Locher, File)
