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Great Athletes

Phil Mahre

by Robert Passaro

Sport: Skiing

Early Life

Phillip Mahre was born on May 10, 1957, in Yakima, Washington. His twin brother, Steven, was born four minutes later. The twins were the fifth and sixth of nine children in the Mahre family. Phil’s father, David Mahre, reluctantly gave up apple farming when he found it would not support his growing family. He was offered a job managing a ski area at White Pass, Washington, in the Cascade Mountains. When Phil was four, the family moved into a house located about thirty yards from the ski lift. Phil started skiing when he was six.

Phil Mahre (right) with his twin brother, Steve, at the Winter Olympic Games in Sarajevo in 1984.

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(AFP/Getty Images)

Living in the mountains, the Mahre twins rode a bus an hour and a half each way to the nearest school in Naches, Washington. They did their homework on the bus ride home and were off skiing as soon as they got back to White Pass.

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The Road to Excellence

Phil began winning junior ski races at White Pass in the mid-1960’s and, with Steve, soon dominated the Buddy Werner League races held there. Eventually, Phil and Steve were essentially competing only with each other. They took first and second places consistently, one winning some days, the other winning on the other days. Phil and Steve were close, even for twin brothers. They competed with each other, but they helped each other and pushed each other to work harder. This relationship continued throughout their careers.

When Phil was eleven, he was selected as one of a dozen boys to attend the national training camp of the U.S. ski team. Then, just after graduating from high school, when Phil was seventeen, he made the U.S. ski team and began competing internationally on the World Cup circuit. Phil raced at Innsbruck, Austria, in the 1976 Olympic Games and finished fifth in the giant slalom. Phil’s performance was the best finish by an American alpine skier that year, but Phil had not yet reached his prime.

The Emerging Champion

Phil began to excel on the World Cup circuit, the highest level of international skiing. Phil won five World Cup races in 1977 and 1978, equaling a record set by Billy Kidd for the most World Cup races won by an American. Phil finished ninth in the overall standings (combined results from slalom, giant slalom, and downhill) in 1977, and he finished second to Ingemar Stenmark in 1978. Phil had another excellent year in 1979, finishing third in the overall standings.

Then in 1979, at pre-Olympic races, Phil shattered his ankle in a fall. Phil had suffered injuries before, breaking his leg in an avalanche in 1973 and tearing ligaments in his ankle in 1974, causing him to miss much of that season, but the broken ankle was severe and required surgery. Doctors installed screws and a metal plate to hold the bones together, and Phil’s chances for success in the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics looked bleak.

On the World Cup circuit that year, Phil’s performance suffered. He roared back at the Olympics, though, and won the silver medal in the slalom, second only to Stenmark. The following season Phil was back on top of his form, and he won the overall title in the World Cup, finally beating Stenmark. He was the first American to win the title in the fifteen-year history of the World Cup. He won the overall title again in 1982 and 1983.

Phil’s career culminated at the Olympics in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, in 1984. Having already planned to retire at the end of the year, Phil made public statements that a gold medal was not that important to him. He felt there was too much emphasis on winning medals. He said the important thing was to enjoy himself and the competition and that he was satisfied with his career so far. The press criticized him for his remarks and what appeared to be a lackadaisical attitude. Phil, however, was far from lackadaisical. He attacked a very difficult slalom course and ended up narrowly defeating his brother Steve to win the gold medal in the slalom. He was the first American ever to win an Olympic gold medal in skiing.

Continuing the Story

After Sarajevo, both Phil and Steve retired from amateur ski racing. Phil planned to spend more time with his family. For him, skiing was simply sport; it was meant to be fun. He avoided the limelight and once said he would probably be just as happy if he were flat broke.

Phil and Steve competed together on the U.S. ski team for years, and they pushed each other to higher and higher levels. While the twins competed against each other, each admitted that he enjoyed the other’s success almost as much as his own. However, one would not slack off to help the other win. Steve once took points from his brother in a crucial World Cup race. If he had purposely skied more slowly, he would have allowed Phil to clinch the overall title. Eventually, Phil did clinch the title, but Steve made him work for it. They helped each other too, but by offering advice and encouragement. When it came time to ski, they always went all-out.

Although the twins did not train during the off-season—they spent summers in other pursuits, like building a house for Phil near Yakima, Washington—they dedicated themselves in the winter. Often the twins would get up while it was still dark. They would hike the slopes and ski several runs before the sun came up, well before other skiers reached the mountain.

In 1989, after four years in retirement, the Mahre brothers returned to competitive skiing, this time on the professional tour. Phil started placing in races right away, although pro skiing is not as competitive as the amateur World Cup. Phil and Steve brought more popularity to pro skiing, especially among American spectators, who came to watch one of the best male skiers the United States has ever produced.

Phil and Steve remained active in skiing as teachers at the Mahre Training Center in Keystone, Colorado. Phil competed in numerous professional ski events with other legendary skiers like Franz Klammer. He also became interested in professional auto racing. He was inducted into the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame in 1992. In 2006, Phil attempted a comeback, hoping to make the U.S. National team. Even at fifty years old, he provided competition for the younger generation of American skiers.

Summary

Phil Mahre has been hailed many times as the greatest U.S. skier ever, and his accomplishments attest to that—though his American record of twenty-five World Cup victories has been surpassed by Bode Miller. Still, Phil has said that gold medals and fame and glory are not that important to him. He competes aggressively, skiing a wild, all-out style even when he can afford to ski a conservative race. Ultimately, however, skiing is just fun, and he has said he will stop racing when he stops having fun.

Additional Sources

1 

Conner, Floyd. The Olympics’ Most Wanted: The Top Ten Book of Gold Medal Gaffes, Improbable Triumphs, and Other Oddities. London: Brassey’s, 2002.

2 

Fry, John. The Story of Modern Skiing. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 2006.

3 

Mahre, Phil, Steve Mahre, and John Fry. No Hill Too Fast. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1985.

4 

Wallechinsky, David, and Jaime Loucky. The Complete Book of the Winter Olympics. Wilmington, Del.: Sport Media, 2005.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
Passaro, Robert. "Phil Mahre." Great Athletes,Salem Press, 2009. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=Athletes_2116.
APA 7th
Passaro, R. (2009). Phil Mahre. Great Athletes. Salem Press. online.salempress.com.
CMOS 17th
Passaro, Robert. "Phil Mahre." Great Athletes. Hackensack: Salem Press, 2009. Accessed December 14, 2025. online.salempress.com.