Mike Lafferty (alpine skier)

Born in Eugene, Oregon, Lafferty was the third and youngest son of Paul and Jean Lafferty.[1][2][3][4] His father Paul (1910–92) was a college ski team coach in the 1930s[5] and an officer in the famed 10th Mountain Division of the U.S. Army in World War II.[1][6]

Lafferty learned to ski at Willamette Pass and raced as a junior for the Bend Skyliners at Mt. Bachelor.[7] Following graduation from South Eugene High School in 1966, he followed his brother Peter to the University of Colorado in Boulder.[8][6] He raced for the Buffaloes for two years[9] until named to the "B team" of the U.S. Ski Team in December 1968, then promoted to the "A team" later that month.[10][11][12]

Lafferty's first top ten result in a World Cup race was in December 1969, with a fifth place in a downhill at Val-d'Isère, France.[13] At the Winter Olympics in 1972 in Japan, Lafferty finished 14th in the downhill.[14] Two years earlier, he was 31st at the World Championships in 1970 in Italy.[15]

Lafferty's best World Cup result was his first podium, a runner-up finish at Crystal Mountain, Washington, in February 1972, the first event after the Olympics.[16][17][7] The next day he had a fourth-place finish in another downhill[18] and ascended another podium in Italy a few weeks later.[19] Before the Olympics, he finished just off the podium in mid-January with a fourth place at storied Kitzbühel.[20]

His third-place finish in the World Cup downhill season standings in 1972 was the best by an American male until 2003, when Daron Rahlves finished second. (Other third-place finishers were Bill Johnson in 1984 and A.J. Kitt in 1992.) Rahlves finished second again in 2004 and Bode Miller was also second in 2005 and 2008. Through 2014, a U.S. male has yet to win the season title in the downhill discipline.

Following his final season in 1974,[21][22][23] Lafferty returned to Oregon to help manage the family's successful cold storage business in Eugene and Albany.[2][4][6][24] He briefly raced on the pro circuit in North America.[25]

• Mike Lafferty at the International Ski Federation
• Mike Lafferty World Cup standings at the International Ski Federation
• Mike Lafferty at Ski-DB Alpine Ski Database
• Mike Lafferty at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• University of Colorado Olympians – 1972 Sapporo – alpine skiing – Michael Lafferty
• Sno Temp – about us
• Getty Images – 1972 Winter Olympics – alpine skiing – Mike Lafferty