DEER VALLEY — She still wears red, white and blue makeup, sprinkled with glitter, same as last year. Same effusive smile, too.
Not much has changed in Shannon Bahrke's life in the 352 days since she won a silver medal in the 2002 Winter Olympics. She remains All Shannon, All the Time. That's why she laughs, recounting her amazement at earning the yellow bib that goes to the overall World Cup leader.
"I'm like, 'Thanks for letting me borrow it,' " she says.
And why she doesn't mind talking about the stuffed toy cat named "Fish Sticks" that keeps her company on road trips.
It's also why, when asked if her life has changed since becoming a "star," she blurts, "I still feel the same. It's not like, 'Omiosh! I'm Britney Spears!'"
She still goes shopping, mostly unnoticed. She attends classes at the University of Utah undetected. The only major concession to her 15 minutes of fame is that she has met a lot of famous athletes, some of whom won so many medals they could use them as beverage coasters.
Those people are famous.
She's just Shannon.
Bahrke was back at Deer Valley, the scene of her greatest moment, for Wednesday's qualifying round of the 2003 Freestyle World Championships. Has it really been a year since she went from well-known to famous, from hopeful to downright positive? A year since she won the first American medal of the 2002 Winter Games?
In the time since, she has accomplished much: traveled, met famous people, been interviewed hundreds of times, bought a house in Salt Lake City, given speeches, relaxed, trained. She even adopted a kindergarten class from Eastwood Elementary in Salt Lake, which showed up this week to cheer her on. She sat in the snow with the kids and posed for group pictures, loving every minute.
"There's my class!" she squealed after finishing her run.
But the difference is this year, for the first time, she is leading the World Cup moguls standings. That four-year plan to get back to the next Olympics? She's already a year or two ahead of schedule.
Winning a medal on the world's biggest stage can do that.
Despite Bahrke's whirlwind year, Americans have short attention spans. Only the stars who win several medals, or appear repeatedly on television (i.e. Michelle Kwan), seem to stick in the country's consciousness for long. Mostly, she now travels incognito. She was big for a few weeks last February. People would stop her in a store and say, "You're Shannon Bahrke!"
"And then I'm like, 'I am?' " she says.
But after the Olympics it was back to being herself.
"People don't really notice you that much. Even in my gym, when I went in there, I was like, 'Hey, I just wanted to let you know . . . if I could get a membership here,' and they're like, 'Why would you get a membership for free?' I'm like, 'OK, well . . .' "
Bahrke qualified for Friday's finals, scoring a 24.08 on the same course she raced on last year — with a few adjustments. Like, for instance, the way the designer shortened the distance between the start and first jump, and between the second jump and the end. It made the run considerably more difficult than a year ago.
Likewise, snow conditions that marked last year's event are nowhere to be seen. This year the Champion run is harder and rougher. So rough, in fact, that halfway down the hill, Wednesday, her goggles slipped onto the bridge of her nose.
"My goggles go whoop! and I'm like, 'Ohhhh! WhatamIgonnado?' "
In the end, though, all turned out well. She qualified for the finals with room to spare, finishing sixth. Leading the way is Norway's Kari Traa — which adds intrigue to Friday's finals. It was Traa who won the gold medal in the Olympics and has dominated the circuit for several years.
"I feel like it's my hill, but she won the gold last year, and I got silver. So it's not really mine," Bahrke says.
But that was last year.
Now she's leading the standings and Traa is trying to catch up.
Maybe things have changed more than she thought.
E-mail: rock@desnews.com