Bode Miller of the USA in action during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Downhill training on November 24, 2011 in Lake Louise, Canada. (Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)
. world ski news : Romed Baumann fastest in second Downhill training in Lake Louise - 24 November 2011 - 22:33
First training run in Lake Louise cancelled due to overnight snowfall
ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. LAKE LOUISE, Canada - After days of endless snowfall, it finally stopped snowing and Thursday morning brought clear blue skies, and crispy cold air to Lake Louise. A decision to push back the 11:15am scheduled start of the second Downhill training was promptly made early in the morning. Moving the start almost two hours later, to 1pm, gave course workers some valuable extra time to clear the slope form the soft snow from the previous days, and get it in the best possible conditions for the racers.
Bode Miller of the USA in action during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Downhill training on November 24, 2011 in Lake Louise, Canada. (Photo by Alexis Boichard/Agence Zoom/Getty Images North America)
On a clean but still soft course, Ambrosi Hoffmann of Switzerland did the honors of opening the 2011/2012 speed season with bib number one. But it was Austrian Romed Baumann who set the pace on today’s training. Finishing his run in 1 minute 49.12 seconds, he left Adrien Theaux from France just .03 seconds behind. Klaus Kroell, an other Austrian was among the fastest down the course, taking third just .16 seconds behind the leader.
Young Austrian, Max Franz skied into 14th position with bib number 45, he was the last racer to finish within a second of the leader, proving that even though conditions were extremely soft on the course, it managed to hold up decently even for the higher starting numbers.
Today’s best ranked Canadian, Erik Guay, best-described course conditions.
“You have to be extremely light on the touch because the moment you're hard on your edges, you know, you're dragging speed,” he said after coming in 5th today, .23 seconds off the fastest time.
The whole training went smoothly, apart from World Champion Christof Innerhofer, German Stephan Keppler and Andrew Weibrecht of America who experienced some problems coming down and crossed the finish line without successfully completing the training.
The last scheduled training before the first Downhill of the season is scheduled for Friday morning. If the weather cooperates, it will give the racers a last chance to find the best setup to adapt to the soft conditions they will most likely be facing on race day as well.
by Ana Jelusic
FISalpine.com
Thursday 24 November 2011
First training run in Lake Louise cancelled due to overnight snowfall
LAKE LOUISE, Canada- Everything was ready for the first Downhill training of the season on Wednesday, but heavy overnight snowfalls forced organizers to cancel it. Already Tuesday night at dinner, after the Team Captains meeting a rumor about a possible cancellation was present among the teams. A look outside the window this morning was enough to prove the weather forecast was right and conditions for training were all but ideal. At 7am it was made official, speed season will have an other try at kicking off on Thursday, today it’s simply a no go.
World cup teams are all settled at the beautiful Fairmont Chateau, their home for the upcoming week. Due to the lack of snow in most of Europe and postponed races in Levi, most of them came to Lake Louise from speed camps somewhere in North America. So, the Canadian, Norwegian, American and Austrian teams trained in Colorado over the past weeks, the Italians, French, Swiss and Slovenians chose Nakiska, while team Sweden (with the addition of Andreas Romar of Finland) had a couple of good days at Sun Peaks.
It is no secret weather can be the most unpredictable aspect of the Lake Louise races and last years -51 Celsius came as a major surprise even to the toughest guys. They might be used to training in the cold, but with last years temperatures, speeding down a course at 140kmh in a spandex suit, took the word cold to a whole new level. This year temperatures are definitely less extreme, with around -10 Celsius and up expected, but it has been snowing for a couple of days and it doesn’t seem like it has any intention to stop. It might make the setting more beautiful, but it sure gives the organizers some extra work. In order for the slope to be in the best possible shape, all the fresh snow has to be pushed off the race course and a lot of effort is being put into creating the best possible conditions for the racers.
Last year’s second training run had to be cancelled due to bad weather, but luckily on race day everything went smoothly. Veteran Michael Walchhofer won his 16th World Cup race, his second one in Lake Louise, (he retired after the season finals with a total of 19 career World Cup victories), an other Austrian, Mario Scheiber took second while Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway rounded up the podium.
Out of the nine DH races disputed last season, Walchhofer won three of them but still lost the Downhill globe to Didier Cuche (with two Downhill victories), by a mare 12 points. Silvan Zurbriggen, Klaus Kroell, Beat Feuz and Adrien Theaux took the top of the podium on the rest of the DH races. With six different winners last year, Walchhofer out of the picture enjoying his retirement, the snowy forecast and changing conditions so typical for Lake Louise, we are sure in for an interesting weekend of ski racing. Soelden might be the official season opening, but it’s Lake Louse where things start to get serious.
by Ana Jelusic
FISalpine.com
Wednesday 23 November 2011