BEAVER CREEK, CO (Feb. 5, 2015)—As Steven Nyman, Bode Miller, Ted Ligety, Travis Ganong and Andrew Weibrecht get ready to race the 2015 FIS Alpine Ski World Championships super G on Thursday, they’ll be down one forerunner.
Just before the first bib number starts, the clock will tick for the final forerunner and no athlete will go on course. Instead, it will act as a moment of silence for Ronnie Berlack and Bryce Astle—the two U.S. Ski Team development athletes killed by an avalanche in Soelden, Austria at the beginning of January. Members of both the families will be in attendance.
Ronnie Berlack stood at the bottom of Birds of Prey after forerunning in December 2014. (Justin Samuels)
Devon O’Neil of ESPN wrote a touching tribute to Berlack and Astle, including U.S. Ski Team athletes Nyman, Mikaela Shiffrin and Will Brandenburg’s feelings on the tragedy.
Good luck to the men racing the super G. To watch the race, in which NBC will include a moment of silence for Berlack and Astle, tune in to NBCSN at 1:00 p.m. EST or stream it live on NBC Live Extra. Ski in peace.
