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, BC (Feb. 11) – Bode Miller (Franconia, NH) took eighth and Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) was 10th as the U.S. Olympic Men's Alpine Team got another look at the Dave Murray downhill in Thursday's training session.
In difficult visibility Miller finished just .74 seconds back of leader Michael Walchhofer of Austria on a shortened course that finished just above the men's slalom start.
"Any time you can get on the course, no matter the conditions, it's always an asset," said Weibrecht, .93 seconds behind. "I was just trying to be clean and make it down. I had some mistakes, but overall, it was decent."
Switzerland's Didier Cuche, disqualified after missing a gate Thursday, led Wednesday's training session before poor visibility cut it short after 42 of 87 skiers made it down. Miller was seventh among those early participants.
2006 combined gold medalist Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was 26th on Thursday, training primarily for the super combined, while Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) followed in 27th.
"Considering the fog and having to wait up top for so long in the soft, wet snow, I felt like I skied pretty well," Ligety said Thursday.
"I'm just getting more comfortable on it," he said. "Yesterday was a total surprise, I had no idea how turny it really was."
Nyman said his run was smoother and cleaner than Wednesday's, and he had better direction off the jumps.
"I thought I skied well," he said.
Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) was 49th, Will Brandenburg (Spokane, WA) was 61st, and Erik Fisher (Middleton, ID) was disqualified for missing a gate low on the course.
The U.S. Team reported that the course was in good condition despite popular concerns about the weather.
"There's a lot of water in it, and they just haven't had much cold temperatures, but in general the hill's in excellent shape," U.S. Men's Speed Coach Chris Brigham said.
"The only thing that will make it unfair is the weather," Sullivan said. "Hopefully it will be the same for everybody. With fog coming in and out like this, that would not be ideal on race day.
"Whether it's a snowy day or a windy day, if it's the same for everyone, that would be the best."
A final training run is set for Friday at 1:30 p.m. before Saturday's Olympic men's downhill.
In difficult visibility Miller finished just .74 seconds back of leader Michael Walchhofer of Austria on a shortened course that finished just above the men's slalom start.
"Any time you can get on the course, no matter the conditions, it's always an asset," said Weibrecht, .93 seconds behind. "I was just trying to be clean and make it down. I had some mistakes, but overall, it was decent."
Switzerland's Didier Cuche, disqualified after missing a gate Thursday, led Wednesday's training session before poor visibility cut it short after 42 of 87 skiers made it down. Miller was seventh among those early participants.
2006 combined gold medalist Ted Ligety (Park City, UT) was 26th on Thursday, training primarily for the super combined, while Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT) followed in 27th.
"Considering the fog and having to wait up top for so long in the soft, wet snow, I felt like I skied pretty well," Ligety said Thursday.
"I'm just getting more comfortable on it," he said. "Yesterday was a total surprise, I had no idea how turny it really was."
Nyman said his run was smoother and cleaner than Wednesday's, and he had better direction off the jumps.
"I thought I skied well," he said.
Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) was 49th, Will Brandenburg (Spokane, WA) was 61st, and Erik Fisher (Middleton, ID) was disqualified for missing a gate low on the course.
The U.S. Team reported that the course was in good condition despite popular concerns about the weather.
"There's a lot of water in it, and they just haven't had much cold temperatures, but in general the hill's in excellent shape," U.S. Men's Speed Coach Chris Brigham said.
"The only thing that will make it unfair is the weather," Sullivan said. "Hopefully it will be the same for everybody. With fog coming in and out like this, that would not be ideal on race day.
"Whether it's a snowy day or a windy day, if it's the same for everyone, that would be the best."
A final training run is set for Friday at 1:30 p.m. before Saturday's Olympic men's downhill.
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ORINDA, CA, May 26, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ — OnTheSnow’s Visitors Choice Awards are chosen solely by visitors to OnTheSnow.com. Awards are based on ratings in five categories: Favorite Overall Resort, Best Downhill Terrain, Most Family Friendly, Best Terrain Park and Best Nightlife, and for combined totals of visitors going to individual resort pages on the site.
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By Victor Epand
I took skiing lessons for six years, from the age of eleven until I was seventeen. During that time, some of my instructors were more memorable than others, but the one I will never forget was Stephan. The man was about 6′4″ with shoulders so broad they were appeared to stick straight out from his neck. When he skied, his skis were so close together that his body formed a perfect triangle. Needless to say, he was a very skilled athlete and an excellent teacher, but one of his methods for teaching (or torturing) his advanced students was to force us to ski down the hill on one ski WITHOUT poles.
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