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WENGEN, Switzerland (AP)—Downhill racer Cheap Nike Shox Steven Nyman will be aiming to extend a great American tradition when he takes on the historic Lauberhorn course on Saturday. It was at Wengen a generation ago, on Jan. 15, 1984, that the United States got its first men’s World Cup downhill win when Bill Johnson tamed the long, quirky track that twists beneath the Eiger and Jungfrau mountain peaks. Nyman has also been inspired by the Wengen victories by Daron Rahlves and Bode Miller, his former and current teammates. “The runs that those guys put down a few years ago were inspiring,” Nyman said Thursday. “Just so gut-wrenching and intense, how hard they were pushing the whole way down. “My first World Cup year was the year Daron won and it blew my mind,” the 28-year-old Sundance, Utah, native said. That success for Rahlves in 2006, 11 years after fellow Californian Kyle Rasmussen made Wengen his first career win, started a three-year stretch of U.S. dominance. Miller delivered back-to-back in 2008 and ’09. When he was denied a hat-trick by Switzerland’s Didier Defago, another Californian teammate Marco Sullivan was third. One of many Wengen traditions sees podium finishers ferried by helicopter down to the village for a press conference in an elementary school classroom. “I want that helicopter ride at the end,” said Nyman, who was fifth fastest in a final training run on Wednesday. Miller was 14th. The longest World Cup downhill—4.43 kilometers (2.75 miles) this year— includes the tour’s fastest and slowest sections on a 2- 1/2 minute journey. Racers hit 140 kph (87 mph) on the Haneggschuss straight having earlier slammed on the brakes to steer through an S-bend and emerge at 70kph (44 mph). They hurtle off the signature Hundschopf cliff uggs sale jump, negotiate one passage that’s just 10 foot wide and pass through a low tunnel bridge carrying the cog railway trains which take them to the start. “In between every section you have time to think and feel,” Nyman said. “It’s super intense, then a walk in the park. There’s a lot of thinking time.” The Lauberhorn was “designed by nature,” said Michael Walchhofer, the Austrian veteran who leads the season-long downhill standings. “If you wanted to design a new course like that, it could not happen,” said Walchhofer, who won in 2005 when Miller was third. Walchhofer, at 35, is in his farewell season while old rival Didier Cuche— twice runner-up to Miller—appears set to return next year. Cuche, 36, would be a hugely popular winner if he can give the knowledgeable Swiss crowd a third straight home success. Defending Lauberhorn champion Carlo Janka feels he’s an outside bet to repeat. “Maybe I don’t have the same confidence like last year,” said Janka, who is winless in defense of his World Cup overall title. The home team also looks to all-rounder Silvan Zurbriggen, the surprise downhill winner at Val Gardena, Italy, having a career-best year at 29. Zurbriggen is perhaps better suited to the super-combined which opened the program Friday, having finished third three times including last year behind Miller. On the eve of the 81st Lauberhorn meeting, the 28-year-old Nyman keenly felt the sense of history. His fellow Sundance resident Robert Redford filmed scenes in Wengen for Air Yeeyz Shoes skiing’s all-time classic movie more than 40 years ago. “I’ve watched ‘Downhill Racer’ in the past and it was filmed here in this hotel,” said Nyman, speaking in the lobby of the Beausite Park where the U.S. team stays. “There’s an intensity here.”