Soelden Men: "The Good,The Bad and The Ugly."

Since I started this thread with the girls on Saturday night, I will follow it up with the same format for the guys.
First a little summary. From what I saw, I liked the course setting at Soelden. Speed control for the men was pretty good except the usual trap of letting them go a little too soon coming off the pitch. There is always a temptation to straighten out the set thinking you are off the pitch when setting. And, with the long flat stretch to the finish you want the athletes to have speed to carry through the very flat finish line. The big mistake is that the course setter often lets the set go and does not keep it straight enough or does not give enough room. And, as usual, the hill at Soelden showed her teeth causing a lot of mistakes throughout the field. Even the best had problems. The second run was characterized by dark, flat light, bumpy terrain after almost 200 attempts on the hill and some broken through turns with some bally snow. Now on to the GBU.

The Good:
Great job by Cuche, Ligety and Janka. Proving that they are prepared to make an assault on the GS globe and GS gold in Vancouver. And that they can tough it out in not great conditions to have strong runs.
Ligety's success validates training this summer with less time on snow. It also gives him confidence in his knee and rehabilitation program.
JP ROY! Great job following through on first run success and getting into the top 10.
Robbie Dixon: Great job from that start number and maybe a stepping stone to more?
Both JP and Robbie's success today validate the Canadian preparation period.
Leif Kristian Haugen (NOR): Fantastic performance coming out of Denver University and the NorAm circuit. Awesome!
Kjietl Jansrud (NOR); Once again the winner of run 2 in Soelden. I am sure there is more to come.
Ondrej Bank (CZE): Welcome back to the 2nd run after missing almost 2 whole years with a severe knee injury. VERY IMPRESSIVE!
Tommy Ford (USA): The 20 year old from Bend, Oregon in his first World Cup getting to 32 falling just short of qualification. Qualifying in Soelden from over bib 50 is statistically the toughest in the world. Good job, and make that leap in Beaver Creek!
Switzerland: 1st, 3rd and when you can qualify Zurbriggen in GS, you are doing well.
In general I thought it was a pretty strong showing for the field. With a month to prepare for the next GS in Beaver Creek, the competition will be much deeper.


THE BAD:
Like the ladies yesterday, 3.25 margin of qualification is way too high. Soelden averages 2.56 over the last 8 years.
Not qualifying:Christoph Gruber (AUT), Markus Larsson (SWE), Tim Jitloff (USA). You guys should qualify every time. Even with mistakes, one pole, whatever.
Austria: 5th, 13, 14,18, 25, 27. The long-term decline of their GS skiing is starting to show. Long-time quality GS guys looked horrible.
Thomas Fanara (FRA): You are known for attack, you did not.
Stefan Goergl: See Austria above.

THE UGLY:
Almost the entire field for not picking up the point at which you could let things go coming off the pitch. Almost every guy in the race did not control the ski and keep elevation long enough coming onto the flat. Go download the splits and you will be amazed by the amount of time being given away on the bottom.

To every guy in the field who blew the little turn just above the finish. 6 turns above to be exact. It is there every year. Sometimes a delay, sometimes not but there is always a little ripple cross-rut there from the traverse from the ice box after they start building the finish area and a lot of you chiseled away time there. Pay attention.

Manny Moelgg (ITA): How could you do that after Manu did the same thing the day before? The St. Vigilio/Kronplatz fans are not happy this weekend!

Aksel Lund Svindal (NOR): I am speculating here and no one has reported anything yet. But watch the video. Aksel goes inside and down with his hip skiing right to left and then goes to switch to his left foot and skis out. He immediately lifts his left leg off the snow and does not put it down. Then on stopping, he reaches for his left knee. I am not saying I know anything but that is a classic move to rupture something in your knee. Not always ACL but meniscus, etc. Again, I do not know but watch the tape. Aksel knows if something is wrong. And that would be ugly if what I thought I saw actually happened. I sure hope not!

So that wraps it up for Soelden! We saw a lot, and it will all change by the time they get to Aspen and Beaver Creek. Next is Men and Women SL in Levi, Finland. I will start blogging on that one as soon as it makes sense.
Alpine Race Consulting just finished 2 speaking engagements this weekend for PSIA-NW. Thanks for your hospitality and reception. It was a lot of fun. See you all on the hill this winter!