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The Fall Line

Francis Bompard/Getty Images Sport
American ski racer Bode Miller

 

In the sport of alpine ski racing, "the fall line" describes the shortest path down the race course and thus the shortest distance between a competitor and victory. In a new book called The Fall Line, writer Nathaniel Vinton dissects the high-speed, high-stakes world of ski racing and tells the story of how a group of gifted American athletes--led by Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn--rode a figurative fall line through the sport that upended decades of European dominance. Vinton joins us Tuesday to talk about it.

In his book The Fall Line, Nathaniel Vinton describes an amazing feat of balance executed by Bodhi Miller at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. 

Franz Klammer's gold-medal winning run in the 1976 Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria ranks, according to Nathaniel Vinton, as one of the most thrilling ski runs in modern history

Guest

Nathaniel Vinton is part of the sports investigation team at the New York Daily News, for which he regularly reports on ski racing. Originally from Utah, he has covered downhill ski racing for Ski Racing magazine, the New York Times and the International Herald Tribune. His new book is called The Fall Line: How American Ski Racers Conquered a Sport on the Edge [Amazon|Indiebound].

 

Doug Fabrizio has been reporting for KUER News since 1987, and became News Director in 1993. In 2001, he became host and executive producer of KUER's RadioWest, a one hour conversation/call-in show on KUER 90.1 in Salt Lake City. He has gained a reputation for his thoughtful style. He has interviewed everyone from Isabel Allende to the Dalai Lama, and from Madeleine Albright to Desmond Tutu. His interview skills landed him a spot as a guest host of the national NPR program, "Talk of the Nation." He has won numerous awards for his reporting and for his work with RadioWest and KUED's Utah NOW from such organizations as the Society of Professional Journalists, the Utah Broadcasters Association, the Public Radio News Directors Association and the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.