Nyman seemed on the threshold of establishing himself as a World Cup regular, but the following winter he broke an ankle in a skateboarding accident. In 2003, he won the slalom at the U.S. national championships, but the following winter he broke his other leg the day after winning a Europa Cup race (skiing's equivalent of AAA baseball).

In 2005, he won the slalom again at the national championships, but he still wasn't fully recovered from the injuries. He was unable to train, and on race days he was limited to just two runs — an inspection run and the race. Because of lingering pain, he turned from slalom to downhill because it didn't put as much stress on his legs, and in 2005-06 he made the World Cup team full time in that event.

"It's nerve-wracking," says Scott, a former BYU assistant ski coach. "I want him to be a slalom skier. The downhill is crazy. I never thought he'd be downhiller. But you go where it takes you, I guess. His slalom this past winter started to come back. I predict he'll do well in the combined event (downhill and slalom). Part of it now is that he's been pegged as a downhiller."

Boosted by his showing this year, Nyman, who is single (he and Olympic champion Julia Mancuso broke up after dating a couple of years), will soon resume his off-season training regimen.

He plans to do most of his training in Utah but will spend some time with a personal trainer in Maui, as he did last year. His regimen in Maui includes, among other things, paddling a narrow long board (a 12-foot by 2-foot surf board) on the ocean from a standing position. Nyman will join the U.S. team for its annual training camps in New Zealand (August) and Chile (September).

"I'm home for the summer for the first time in a while, and it feels good," he says. "I want to explore the local area, just roam the mountains."

Nyman is a natural athlete. A few years ago a friend convinced him to try competitive cycling. He entered a Class C road race and won. The following year he entered the B class and won again. The year after that, he beat the A and B classes in the same race.

Nyman marvels at how his skiing career has fallen into place and credits it partly to the setting of a series of annual goals, from making the U.S. team to skiing in the junior world and World Cup competitions to coming back from injuries.

"I feel like setting goals put it in my head, and subconsciously it helped me find people who could help — like my trainer in Hawaii, like my chiropractor, Craig Buhler, like my technician," he says. "It was like this cosmic connection. Things are happening to make things happen. It sets the universe in order to do what I do."

During the off-season, Nyman also plans to continue efforts to lobby the U.S. Ski Team to do charitable work. This is partly because he wants to undo the damage done by Miller and partly because he has a compassionate streak.