After five inches of new snow cancelled yesterday's downhill training run in Lake Louise, Canada, the World Cup's men speed specialists were back in action today with a second training run in preparation for tomorrow's race.

There had been two days of overcast skies and intermittent snow flurries, but the skies cleared this morning giving the field of 94 racers a chance for one last tune up before tomorrow's first World Cup downhill of the year.

Austrian Michael Walchhofer, last season's World Cup downhill title winner and 2003 victor in Lake Louise lead the field with the day's fastest time (1:50.66), followed by American Bode Miller (1:51.25, a two-time winner on this course). Italian Werner Heel had the third-fastest time (1:51.40).

"The feeling was very good, just as the training times in the last months, but now I see that the feeling was correct and now I am also good with the international confidence," said Walchhofer.

"It's very important that you can show the other guys that you can be fast on every course and every time," Walchhofer continued. "Tomorrow we will see, first it's very important all have the same conditions, the same light and wind, then I think it's looks very good."

The skies were clear at starting time (11 a.m.), but clouds began to roll into the area hurting the later starters' visibility.

Reigning downhill world champion, Canadian John Kucera made the local fans cheer with the fourth-fastest time of the day (1:51.63).

"I think I skied strong, solid everywhere. I addressed those issues I had in the first run in those sections and I skied them much better," said Kucera. "I think for tomorrow the biggest thing is just going to be skiing those new lines in a much more aggressive way. I think I can find a lot more time out there, obviously I'm still a ways out so I've got a lot of work to do."

Wednesday's quickest skier, Swiss Didier Cuche held strong on the course with the eighth-fastest time (1:52.37).

Canadians Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Erik Guay proved they know their way around the course, finishing 18th and 20th, respectively.

After Thursday's cancellation volunteer course workers worked nearly round the clock over the last 48 hours to ensure today's required training came off without a hitch.

The first World Cup downhill race of the year will be held tomorrow, Saturday, Nov. 28. A World Cup super-G will be held the following day.

By Eric Williams
Ski Racing Magazine
Saturday 28 November 2009

2nd training run cancelled in Lake Louise

The second training run for the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup at Lake Louise had to be cancelled as a snowstorm hit the ski area last night and early this morning.

The volunteers working for the event, also known as the sled dogs, were hard at work since early morning, as they tried to clear the downhill course to make it as safe as possible for the athletes. Unfortunately, since the large amount of snow made the track unsafe, the competition management decided to put a stop to today's training.

"We decided to cancel the second training run due to heavy snow fall and continuing snow fall," said Chief of Competition Darrell MacLachlan. "We were told that there was another major system coming through so there was no chance that we could make the race track safe enough for the athletes do go down. We will be working day and night to make sure that the track will be ready for tomorrow's last training run. We will make another decision tomorrow morning."

The teams will be back at work, weather permitting, tomorrow morning for their last downhill training run before the official speed season kicks off Saturday with the first downhill race following by a super-G race on Sunday at Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart.

There will be some entertainment on hill of the Lake Louise ski area Saturday November 28th as Mocking Shadows will be performing. The Mocking Shadows have been entertaining crowds across Canada for more then 10 years with their own brand of soul, reggae, blues and R&B. Drawing from their "old school" roots The Shadows have developed a contemporary sound that has attracted a younger demographic while still maintaining their original fan base.

Residents of Banff can also check out a live feed of CBC's coverage of World Cup races this weekend on a Jumbotron in Banff Avenue Square Saturday and Sunday as part of the annual WinterStart Festival.

FISalpine.com
Thursday 26 November 2009

Cuche takes season's first downhill training run in Lake Louise

The men's World Cup speed season officially kicked off Nov. 25 in Lake Louise, Canada with downhill training under overcast skies and warmer than normal temperatures (25 degrees F).

After two men's tech races in Soelden, Austria and Levi, Finland, the men have made their way to the North American leg of the young World Cup season. Racers are looking to make their mark in the standings quickly as they have only a precious few (six) downhill races to stake their claim on coveted spots on their respective Olympic teams for the Vancouver Games, only 460 miles from here.

Switzerland's Didier Cuche had the day's fastest time (1:49.98) ahead of Austrian Michael Walchhofer (1:50.60) and Frenchman Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin (1:51.08). Canadian Robbie Dixon pulled in the forth-fastest time (1:51.09) to lead the home team.

"It felt really good, by the inspection I was really happy to see that they worked a lot with the weather to get a harder course," said Cuche. "I felt pretty nice on the track, hopefully it won't be rougher and rougher every day because even though it's hard there are some marks now, we'll see what happens in the next few days."

Following a summer full of retirement rumors, Bode Miller rejoined the U.S. Ski Team. A season ago he won the first two days of downhill training in Lake Louise. Today he had the sixth-fastest time (1:51.25) to lead the Americans.

Miller wanted more speed however, finding the course too technical for high speed. "I didn't go very fast. They keep making the courses turnier and turnier and the speeds are just way down everywhere," said Miller. "Now everything is so technical it's like a Super G ... the last 25 second and the first 15 seconds are the only parts that feel like a downhill, the rest is pretty much hard turning the whole way, solid edge to edge the whole way down."

Last season's World Cup overall champion, Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal, knocked out of the Levi slalom with a leg bruise, was back on his skis today to test the leg. "It's not great but it was better than I thought it was going to be so I'm optimistic I would say," said Svindal. "I haven't skied for a while, just real easy free-skiing, so I tried to take it a little easy today too, but it doesn't seem to be any more sore than it was this morning, maybe a little sore but nothing bad." He finished with the 44th-fastest time.

Reigning downhill world champion John Kucera felt right at home. "It's been a good course for me in the past, I feel really comfortable here, I think that's a big thing. I've been racing here since I was 15 and the track doesn't really change that much," said Kucera. "More than anything else I feel really comfortable here and if I know I'm skiing well then it's a course that I can really push it on."

There will be two more days of downhill training before competition on Saturday, Nov. 28. A World Cup super G will be held the following day.

Eric Williams
Ski Racing Magazine
Thursday 26 November 2009