ALPINE SKI WORLD CUP. All eyes will be turning to North America where the traditional Audi FIS Ski World Cup Organisers in Lake Louise (CAN) and Aspen (Colorado, USA) will be hosting the first races of the 2012/13 season in North America.

Ski coaches watch as Austrian skier Klaus Kroell takes air past a gate during alpine skiing training for the Men's World Cup downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta, November 22, 2012.  (Photo: REUTERS/Mike Blake)

The fastest male skiers in the world including Austria’ Klaus Kröll and Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal who captured the 2011/12 speed globes in downhill and super-G respectively, will be racing in the heart of the picturesque Canadian Rocky Mountains on 24th-25th November. The men’s Lake Louise World Cup represents the first speed events of the season and Canada's highest-profile alpine ski race.

The teams have been waking to thick layers of fresh snow in the past few days. “For the weekend, I believe we could see a drop in temperatures and more snow here in Lake Louise,” Uwe Gramann, the professional Metereologist in charge of the forecast for the Lake Louise races said.

A weekend of thrilling action will also be taking place in Aspen, Colorado (USA) with the ladies’ tech races in giant slalom and slalom set for 26th-27th November. A high-class starting field including last year’s World Cup giant slalom and slalom champions Viktoria Rebensburg (GER) and Marlies Schild (AUT) have announced their participation, while persistent health problems continue to make the participation of reigning World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn (USA) uncertain.

After Aspen, the ladies will move on to their first speed events of the season in Lake Louise on 30th November and 1st December, while the men will continue with downhill, super-G and giant slalom competitions at the 2015 FIS World Champs venue in Beaver Creek (USA) from 30th-November-2nd December.

FIS news
21/11/2012

Max Franz leads first downhill training of the season

LAKE LOUISE, Canada – Despite the worries that the history might repeat itself and that as last year the first downhill training of the season might not happen, everything went according to plan in Lake Louse on Wednesday morning.

The snowfalls over the past couple of days left their toll on the racecourse and there was a consensus on the conditions in the finish area – soft and slow.

Max Franz from Austria managed to be the least slow of all, with a time of 1 minute 50.65 he walked away from the first training 0.37 seconds ahead of teammate and last year’s discipline title winner Klaus Kroell. Third fastest in today’s training, .87, behind Franz, was Adrien Theaux who seems to appreciate the slope as he was third in last year’s super G in Lake Louise. Home favorite Erik Guay finished in fourth.

“I am happy with my run, it’s soft and it felt slow but I seem to have found a good line down. It’s only the first training and there is a while to go until we race on Saturday,” Franz said.

Theaux had a good preparation period and didn’t seem to be bothered by the conditions.

“We trained in Ushuaia where conditions were good to Portillo where there was hardly any snow. It’s funny to come here and have as much, but this is Lake Louise and I guess it wouldn’t be normal if it were any different,” the French skier said.

Joking with his teammate Johan Clarey who finished ninth today, Theaux seemed to appreciate the easy start of the speed season.

“Even though it might get bumpy for higher numbers, for us starting at the front it was easy – the speed was not to high which is not necessarily a bad thing for the first training. As long as this is not as fast as I will go…”

As it’s common during first trainings, today’s results might not necessarily reflect what we will see happening on race days. A lot of skiers chose to stand up well before the finish line, influencing their final times.

The weather forecast calls for a clear sky and favorable temperatures thought the night during tomorrow’s second training which hopefully will help the surface on the race course get more compact, something all racers are looking forward to.

Second training is scheduled for 11.30 local time (19.30 CET), stay tuned for the developments as things will be heating up before the first race on Saturday.

by Ana Jelusic
FISalpine.com
Wednesday 21 November 2012

Lake Louise at its best for second downhill training

LAKE LOUISE, Canada – Skiers were greeted by perfect conditions for the second Downhill training in Lake Louise. The Canadian resort was at its best to host the second downhill training of the season. With a time of 1 minute, 51.43 seconds, last year’s super G winner title and Lake Louise race winner Aksel Lund Svindal was the man to beat today.

The Austrian team kept the momentum going by taking second, third and fourth place – Georg Streitberger finished 0.13 seconds behind Svindal, Klaus Kroell, second fastest in the first training moved one place back finishing third, .38 seconds behind and Joachim Puchner was the last within half a second behind the leader with .48 seconds out.

Five centimeters of fresh snow overnight didn’t impact the race course as the cold temperatures helped harden the base. If yesterday all racers agreed that the course was slow and soft, during the second training everyone seemed happy with how things were developing.

An interesting fact was that even though the course might have felt faster, Svindal’s time was .78 seconds slower in comparison to the best time clocked by Max Franz during the first training. The Austrian finished ninth in today’s training, almost a second and a half slower than his time on Wednesday.

“Today it was a completely different story on the slope, the snow is more compact and it was fun to ski. I must admit that I was a little surprised with the times at first – but it actually makes sense if you think of it, the new snow is the “squeaky” one and it’s slower,” Puchner explained a possible reason.

With only one more training to go, things are looking good for the races this weekend. The weather might get tricky on Friday here in Lake Louise, but with two training in very different conditions under their belts the racers are ready to show what they’ve got this weekend.

If the first training might have been a test run and a first chance to get everything set up, Thursday one could sense the race jitters slowly building up among the teams.

The only taint to an otherwise perfect day was a crash by Swiss skier Daniel Albrecht. Wearing bib number 67, he crashed into the nets and was airlifted to the medical station. An update will be provided on his condition as soon as it becomes available.

Tomorrow’s training is scheduled for 11.30 local (19.30 CET) and after that it will officially be SPEED TIME!

***UPDATE – The Swiss Ski Federation provided an update on Daniel Albrecht following his crash during Thursday’s training run – the skier suffered an injury to the left knee and has been transported to a hospital in Calgary for further evaluation.

by Ana Jelusic
FISalpine.com
Thursday 22 November 2012