Perhaps the realization finally set in that he was 2-for-2 in the Turin Paralympic Games.
"I had an amazing first race and everything else is just icing," Cook said of winning Sunday's 5k event and Wednesday's 10k. "I'd like to see everyone else on my team have a good race. Everyone's capable of getting on the medal stand."
Cook certainly wasn't as confident in the mixed zone, just after he finished the two loops that made up the 10k course at Pragelato Plan in 27 minutes, 22.8 seconds. Even with his name on top of the leaderboard, he spoke as if it might go away at any moment.
That was a lesson he says he learned in the Salt Lake City Paralympics in 2002, where he consistently posted great finishes yet wound up with silver each time.
"I would come across the line and then I would wait until the last guy, and the last guy would beat me, so I don't say anything yet," he said with a sigh.
Nobody beat him on this day. Cook will attempt to add to his medal haul with the 1x3.75k + 2x5k relay on Friday and the 20k on Sunday.
Cook considered current World Cup leader Kjartan Haugen of Norway the favorite entering Wednesday's race.
"If I can beat Haugen, it's a great day," Cook said in his customary understated manner. "He's a great friend and an incredible classic skier, so for me to be able to beat him is a great day for me."
But so far, the 37-year-old Utahn has proven to be the pacesetter at these games. He certainly wasn't a dark horse, with his third-place ranking in the current World Cup standings and last year's middle-distance world championship.
It's just that Cook remains humble through it all. As the other racers trickled in Wednesday, he wouldn't accept congratulations from passersby. But he did talk about his own race.
"It was a good race. I just tried to go as hard as I could for as long as I could. I kind of faded a little coming out of the valley but we'll know here soon enough," he said as the last group of skiers headed toward the finish line. "It wasn't as smooth as the other day but I definitely skied well."
Haugen didn't beat Cook. In fact, no one came within 37 seconds. Silver and bronze went to two Russians, Alfis Makamedinov and Kirill Mikhaylov, with the Norwegian in fourth.
The course was two 5-kilometer loops instead of the shorter 2.5k circuits in Sunday's 5k race. That added more terrain that Cook didn't think played to his strengths. He's also still recovering from a bout with a mononucleosis-like virus, which he contracted in December.
"There's a lot of flats so you have to have a lot of upper-body strength. I suffered a little bit there, definitely. But overall I'm very happy," he said.
He led Haugen by only seven seconds at the halfway mark.
"One thing I have noticed about both of Steve's races is that he has nothing left in the tank when he crosses the finish line," said John Kreamelmeyer, Cook's coach. "He's leaving it all out on the course, and that's just huge. I'm so impressed with his effort and his desire to win. That kind of effort means everything in these races."
Strategy came into play as Cook went out with the second group of skiers instead of the third, as he normally does with the other higher-ranked competitors. The U.S. coaches decided to switch Cook, who began 12th with American Dan Perkins who moved back in the start order to 20th. It was only a difference of four minutes in the start times but increasingly warm temperatures made that important
"It's easier to ski among the faster guys," Cook explained, "but we thought it would be better to go out in the middle so we'd have more consistent snow. Yesterday, the temperature was going up every 10 to 15 minutes and that really affects the kick. So if I could go out early when the snow was cold and hard and I could get my race done, we thought it would pay off. It was a smart idea."
Mike Crenshaw, a Salt Lake native now living in Boulder, Colo., skied a solid race, finishing seventh with a time of 29:18.0. Perkins took 16th place with a time of 30:33.7.
"That was a much better race for me," Crenshaw said with a laugh. "I knew Cook would be coming up on me, so when he did I just latched on and tried to hang with him."
It could be an all-Utah affair in the men's relay on Friday with Heber City's Chris Klebl, who finished18th in the 10k sitting race, Crenshaw and Cook. Crenshaw seemed excited about their chances.
"Oh my God, he is the top dog in the world. With (Cook) as the anchor, he will be able to pull all us other slugs around," Crenshaw said.
