Put him in the starting gate, and laid back is replaced by intense competitiveness, which could drive him to be a medal threat in the next Olympics. His biggest challenge might be simply to stay healthy. Nyman, who at 6-foot-4, 215 pounds is one of the biggest skiers on the tour, missed most of three seasons with injuries, including two broken legs. "We put our bodies through more strain than any sport out there. The G forces we develop on the new skis is incredible," he says, referring to the side-cut skis (like snowboards).

"They cut really hard. And I'm so tall it creates a lot of stress. There are more G's, and the vibrations going through the skis are intensified. There are times when it feels like my eyes are rolling down from the Gs."

Nyman is the product of a perfect storm of conditions to raise a ski racer. His father, Scott, was head of the ski school at Sundance Ski Resort. He and his wife, Becky, also an expert skier, and their four sons lived on the mountain year-round for 17 years. Nyman had it all: expert teachers in the house, brothers to push him and a ski hill in his back yard.

It was an idyllic life for boys. The mountains were the boys' back yard. They built dams, camped, hiked, built tree forts and, of course, skied. With few neighbors, they relied on each other for company and fostered close family ties. In the summer they were hired as caretakers for their neighbors' homes, mowing the law and weeding yards for resort owner Robert Redford, among others.

Becky likes to hold it over her husband that it was she who taught Steve and his brothers to ski. At one time she was taking three boys under the age of 5 skiing each Saturday, holding one on her lap as they sat on the chairlift. All four of the boys became excellent skiers, but only one of them had the taste for competition and the almost obsessive motivation to excel.

When he was 14, Steve, the second oldest of the boys, lost a race to two of his brothers and came home enraged. He hid under his bed "punching stuff" and swearing they'd never beat him again.

"What impressed me about Steve was that he loved it," says Becky, "and he was self-motivated."

Steve, who started skiing at age 2 and racing at 12, read magazine articles on ski technique and made notes on coaching advice and things he learned from reading. When he was 16, a coach asked him to write five goals. His five: Make the U.S. ski team, win a national title, ski in the Olympics, win a World Cup race and win a world championship. He has accomplished the first four.

"I found those goals about a year after he made them, and I thought, isn't that nice; he made goals," says Becky. "I was glad he was shooting for the stars, but how many kids does that happen to. I never thought it would happen."