WHISTLER CREEKSIDE (Feb. 15) – The U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team bore its teeth in a speedy return to action today, with Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) going 1-2 in the first session of downhill training and four Americans landing among the top 20 in the afternoon session Monday.
Vonn, considered the favorite Wednesday's downhill, continued to test her bruised shin after reporting progress in training Sunday.
"It's tough," she said. "I honestly was expecting it to be a little bit better than it was. Yesterday I trained slalom and it felt OK. But the course here is pretty bumpy – I was pretty shocked. It was like jarring – it was a fight to make it down."
"I was just barely in my tuck any part of the course. I think this is the worst course for my shin. I just have to fight through it, do some therapy now, and hopefully Mother Nature will give me another day off tomorrow. I just have to be able to grit my teeth and fight through it on Wednesday and hopefully still come out on top."
The skiers finished just above the Hot Air finish jump in the morning session and skied the bottom section from the combined slalom start in the afternoon, when Vonn was 20th in the second leg.
Vonn may refrain from training Tuesday, weather or not. She said she was taken aback that her first run time was so fast.
"I was honestly surprised," Vonn said. "I almost went out of the course a couple times. It wasn't bad skiing, it was just fighting to make it down skiing. It's not a feel-good course, it's not a fun course, it's a stick-your-nose-in-it-and-make-it-down course. If you're skiing aggressive and not sliding, you'll be fast."
Mancuso added a tie for fifth in the second session as the 2006 giant slalom gold medalist put the speed field on notice.
Also starting in the downhill will be Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO), who took ninth in her final World Cup downhill in St. Mortiz, Switzerland on Jan. 30 and Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA), who was 13th and 14th in Monday's training sessions after a hard crash last week.
Thursday's super combined follows Wednesday's downhill for the women.
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WHISTLER CREEKSIDE, BC (Feb. 14) – The wait for alpine medal competition appears to be over. After countless volunteer hours on the course and with cold, moisture-free weather on the horizon, men's medal competition should open at 10:30 a.m. PT Monday with downhill featuring a strong American team that includes Bode Miller (Franconia, NH).
"The things that most people never see are often times some of the most significant," said men's Head Coach Sasha Rearick. "That's exactly the case here. The volunteers have as much heart as any of the athletes. They've been up all night working through rain and wet snow to get this track ready for Olympic competition. Now all we need is Mother Nature to do her part and it's looking like that's going to happen. We should be good to get the men's downhill off tomorrow."
To gear up, the men's team including Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY), Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) and Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) spent the morning powder skiing with their coaches at Whistler. They then settled in to a good dinner prepared by USOC chef Adam Korzun, who also cooked for the Team during the January World Cup swing.
"So much of the success in this group comes from having fun," said Rearick. "The snow was great this morning and the guys and staff had a good time, but we're here to get the job done and we're are in a good place to do that. We're ready to race."
All four Americans where able to get two training runs on the Dave Murray downhill, though only the second counted as a complete training run since not all competitors in the field where able to complete the first day due to fog. In both sessions, Miller landed 7th and 8th, while Weibrecht posting a pair of 10's.
"My skiing has been solid this year and I'm feeling really comfortable on this hill," said Weibrecht after the second training run. "But I know that in order to do well here, I'm going to have to push it."
For Miller, who is famous for leaving everything on the hill, the Olympics are an opportunity to raise his personal bar.
"I feel like I’m coming into these games in the unique position of still growing stronger," Miller told reporters during the Team's opening press conference. "I'm psyched to be here and I'm ready to run. It's a unique opportunity to be here and in a lot of cases it allows you to elevate your intensity, your focus and your inspiration to a level that you couldn't achieve on your own and that's unique to the Olympics. I think there's something extra to be put on that."
In a field of 64, the U.S. men run early with Weibrecht cracking things open with bib four, followed by Nyman with six, Miller eight and Sullivan 27.
U.S. men will then go back-to-back with medal events as super combined retains its originally scheduled spot Tuesday.
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WHISTLER CREEKSIDE, BC (Feb. 14) – With four consecutive days of downhill training scrapped due to weather, the U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Team, including World Champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and 2006 gold medalist Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) are ready to get back to official training Monday. If all goes well, and Mother Nature cooperates, the start of medal competition will follow with downhill on Wednesday.
Organizers are calling for a split training session around the men's downhill medal event. The first half kicks off at 10 a.m. with athletes skiing full steam from the top of the course to just above the Hot Air finish jump. At approximately 1 p.m., and following the men's flower ceremonies, the women will return to Franz's run and ski the bottom section, starting from the combined slalom start in order to get enough speed for a realistic flight off Hot Air into the finish.
If completed as planned, it will serve as an official training run and allow medal competition to begin Wednesday with downhill.
Organizers are calling for a split training session around the men's downhill medal event. The first half kicks off at 10 a.m. with athletes skiing full steam from the top of the course to just above the Hot Air finish jump. At approximately 1 p.m., and following the men's flower ceremonies, the women will return to Franz's run and ski the bottom section, starting from the combined slalom start in order to get enough speed for a realistic flight off Hot Air into the finish.
If completed as planned, it will serve as an official training run and allow medal competition to begin Wednesday with downhill.
"Our girls are doing great. We've been training slalom and some super G, powder skiing, sharing our meals together - it's just an awesome atmosphere to be around," said women's Head Coach Jim Tracy. "They're all in a good mindset and looking forward to racing."
Among those training Sunday was Vonn, who put her bruised right shin to the test for the first time since Feb. 2.
"It didn't feel perfect," said Vonn, a three-time Olympian. "I'm still in quite a bit of pain while skiing, but the time off snow has been incredibly beneficial for me. I needed time to heal and Mother Nature helped me out with that. But now that I've gone out and taken a few runs, I know I can do it. I'm ready to get Olympic competition started and I know my teammates are ready to go too."
In addition to Vonn and Mancuso, who took full advantage of the snow day with some powder skiing, Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) returns to action following a crash Thursday before the session was canceled due to poor visibility. Cook was airlifted from the hill to the Whistler Polyclinic, yet escaped with only bruising.
Following her crash last Thursday, Cook said, ""It's not the ideal way to start the Olympics, but I've just got to keep fighting. I hear I'm lucky, so I've just got to keep that luck going. I'm going to be ready. I'll be back out there." And she will, along with Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO), Leanne Smith (Conway, NH), Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, VT) and Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN).
Following the training run, coaches will decide who will join Vonn and Mancuso on the start list for the downhill medal event.
But without the incredible effort of legions of volunteers, Tracy says, training would not be possible.
"We had at least 20 centimeters of snow on the top last night and they had winch cats working the top down to Ladner's Roll," said Tracy. "Below that, the volunteers are slipped everything wall to wall smoothing everything out. It's supposed to get down to the mid 20's tonight and if that happens everything should freeze up nicely. They are doing the best possible job with the cards they've been dealt and my hat goes off to them."
Category: Skiing News
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