Olympic Selection is Near

Olympic Selection is Near.
Sunday was the Wengen slalom for men and the Maribor slalom for women. After those races, the men will have 1 event remaining in each discipline for selection for the Olympics except in GS which is complete. The Adelboden GS has been rescheduled as a 2nd GS in Kranjska Gora, after the Games. They will contest all of their remaining events at Kitzbuhel. One downhill, one Super-G and one slalom on Sunday. Selection is on Monday, January 25th. No races will be used after that date, meaning the slalom in Schladming will not be used. The women had the slalom in Maribor yesterday and then have a downhill, super-g and GS in Cortina coming up. Again, the last of their selection events.
The Olympic Selection for the US Ski Team goes as follows:
There are 3 lines of objective criteria. If more than 3 are selected at any line of criteria, they use the best FIS point result to rank the athletes selected to that point, in the last line of criteria used. If they are still tied, then they would use World Cup points to date. The fourth line is the need to decrease the team size and then they would use the highest single World Cup placing, then World Cup points and on.
The first line of criteria is a World Cup podium. The second line is a World Cup top 10. The third line is total World Cup points. Last, the fourth selection is reserved for a discretionary choice by the staff. I will let you know that this is rarely used, but it does happen. There is usually a pretty good point at which the points drop-off and selection is often obvious. But there have been times where it has been close and the younger guy or someone coming on strong directly before the Games has gotten chosen.
TEAM USA TO THIS POINT
MEN:
DOWNHILL
As of today, January 17, 2010, the men’s DH selection is as follows: Bode Miller is selected first with a podium. Andrew Weibrecht is second on points; Sullivan third on points, Nyman is fourth on points. After that we have Fisher and Macartney who need big results in Kitzbuhel and some kind of falter by Steven or Sully to make it in.
SUPER-G
This is a bit of a surprise since our leader is Ted Ligety. Ted has a podium in Super G and will be the first selection. Miller will also be selected with a top 10. Weibrecht sits in 3rd on points and Sully sits in 4th on points. Obviously, Nyman, Fish and Macartney need to get after it a bit in Kitz to get into the mix.




GS
GS should be a done deal as there are no more GS races on the docket before selection and this one is interesting. Ted gets in with a podium. Then comes Zamansky, Ford and Jitloff in that order with VERY LOW point totals. Please notice that there is one obvious name missing from this list and I don’t know how many people are aware of this, but Mr. Miller has not scored a World Cup point this season in GS, in his historically best event. So here is where your safety net, the discretionary spot, has to be used. I know, there are guys who more or less earned it but getting more points than Bode. But the Olympics are about 3 things, Gold, Silver and Bronze and NOTHING else. You are not there to gain experience, be an Olympian, or any other reason you can think of. You are one of the best 4 of Americans in your discipline and you are there to attempt to win a medal. There is One Gold, One Silver and one Bronze. I think my point is clear. They need to put Bode in the GS. Sorry, Jit but that’s the way it should be. I would think that the team would be Ligety, Miller, Zamansky and Ford. Miller can win races and we all know it.
SL
Ligety and Cochran are leading this selection with a top 10 each and then Miller on points. At this point there is not a fourth guy with any points. Due to the rules the discretionary pick comes into play. There are a lot of choices but really not a lot of good ones. They could decide to have the guys’ race for it at Europa Cups this week but we are getting to the deadline and the Kitzbuhel slalom will be the deciding factor. They can only hope that someone identifies himself. They could also use someone already qualified for the games in another discipline like Tommy Ford.
The other thing that is going to become a nuisance for the tech group is the potential for a shrinking World Cup quota in slalom. They need someone to step up and get the job done.
KOMBI
The Kombi selection is a little different as it only has 2 objective spots and those go to Miller and Ligety. Then Weibrecht has points so I would think he has a spot. After that, I think they will either select someone out of who is already on the team or no one at all.

WOMEN:
DOWNHILL
I think Lindsey Vonn gets a spot in DH? Then we have 3 girls with top 10 finishes. They are Cook, Mancuso and McKennis. So it seems like a done deal. There is an outside shot from Chelsea Marshall, Leann Smith and Keely Kelleher but they need big results into the top 10 and have the other girls get shut out for it to happen for them. I think the book is closed on this one.

SUPER G
Ummmm, Vonn gets a spot. Then Julia with a top 10. After that, Keely, Chelsea and Alice all have points but not a lot of points. So Cookie, Leann and Kaylin Richardson could all get on the board with a strong finish and steal a slot. Cookie is the only one with a lot of World Cup experience on the hill in Cortina and I would think she will be the one to break through if anyone does. She did have two top-15 finishes here in 2008.
GS
Sarah Schleper leads the way with a top 10 finish. Lindsey has her top 10 from Soelden. Then come Julia Mancuso and Megan McJames on points. No one else has any GS points on the World Cup so it looks like a solid selection. I think that Megan is an excellent choice even if you went through the discretionary criteria. It is possible that someone could make a charge in Cortina but no one has really shown themselves.
SL
The Maribor has passed with no points scored by the American girls. Mrs. Vonn has her podium from Levi for selection, then Schlep with a top 10. Then Hailey Duke and Kaylin Richardson have some points. Not a lot of points, by the way. The discretionary word comes up again. Who would you put in there instead of Kaylin, or Hailey? Maybe Megan McJames? She won a couple NorAm slaloms recently so maybe she could do it. It would keep the team size down and save some money. But then, why get rid of Richardson? She can be your 4th Kombi athlete too. So what about Duke? While she has not done much this year, she has managed some points after a solid season last year and has struggled since her ankle injury in the fall. At this point I would go straight off the points for slalom.
KOMBI
Vonn, the world leader in this category is an obvious choice again. Then Mancuso, who has been a staple in the Kombi for all major events in recent memory. I would guess that Stacey Cook would go in Kombi and Kaylin Richardson.
There will be a little fun watching the status of selections change as the teams charge for the last available slots. Good luck everyone!

Greatest Show on Snow, the January Tour

The Greatest show on snow coming up this month!
MEN: Adelboden, Wengen, Kitzbuhel, Schladming
WOMEN: Haus, Flachau, Maribor, Cortina
Before I get going on this one I need to take care of some business. I left the US Ski Team last spring but somehow retained the title of Fantasy Football League Commissioner. And I have to congratulate and acknowledge fellow Wenatchee-ite, former employee and athlete of mine and current World Cup coach Pete Korfriatis as the champion of the US Ski Team Fantasy Football league for the 2nd straight season. It is the first repeat championship since the fabled 3-peat of 2002-2004 by yours truly. I would also like to wish the best to Anna Goodman of Canada. Another injury in a tough season for injuries.
First stop for the guys, Adelboden. The nickname should say it all, “Rattleboden.” It is the classic GS race on the World Cup. As great as Alta Badia is, and I love it there, I think Adelboden is the one. The one I would want to win if I ever skied fast enough to get the opportunity. The one that I always watched as a young racer and was amazed that they could do what they did. Tucked up the Frutigen Valley just outside of Interlaken, Switzerland, it is an amazing place. Sheer rock walls and a giant ski area. You can ski over to Lenk on the west side too. It is not far from the home of Gruyere cheese, either.
And on that note, one of the most amazing things they serve in Adelboden is cheese bread. First, a half baguette is skewered on a hot metal rod and left there for a few seconds. Then Raclette is scraped and poured into the hole in the bread. For 5 SFR it is yours and one of the best treats ever! Cheese fondue in every bite. Anyway, Adelboden has sold 37,000 tickets this year so it should be an amazing show. The most I have ever seen there is about 30,000. I have seen 10,000 people at the GS bib draw where they zip-line the boys in from a roof-top to the stage, ripping across a public square above the crowd. Watch out, it can be crazy. Half way down the hill there is a tent and a big screen. Usually about 5,000 people hang out here drinking wine and beer and schnapps. As well as eating a cheese bread or some sausage. It is just below the slalom start and often gives the home country boys a boost when they are about to bonk.
The first couple times I went there, the hill had only a t-bar. The quad they have is new only a few years ago. We would ride up between 2 fences with the race hill on one side and the crowd on the other. It felt like being in a zoo. People staring through b-net at us as we rode the t-bar. Now there is a quad so it is a little easier, although a little less familiar. But I will say this, no tech race is more impressive than Adelboden. The bottom pitch is insanely steep, with a road 3 gates above the finish. And when all the speed builds up into the compression and you hit the road, anything can happen. Rahlves’ crash there is the most violent crash that ever happened in a tech event. And with all of the play that crash got, Andreas Schifferer(AUT) had a very similar crash on run 1 that day and went a little above the air-bag, sliced through the net and broke a spectator’s femur. It is an intense day there.
When you drive up to the hill, there is always a feeling of anticipation, of intensity waiting to happen. And then you ride up for free ski and the hill is injected wall to wall. It drops out of the start for 5 turns of almost free fall. Then it hits a compression as the hill bends to the right. A road is there almost immediately and bounces you again, still bending right. Of course with fall-away right foot the whole way. It will stay relentlessly right footed all the way to the bottom pitch. Then it breaks to the left briefly and then re-adopts the right foot attitude and another pronounced road. Six more turns or so and then another road with a major deepening of the right foot pull. Then it flattens a little and into the slalom hill. A big break-over for a couple of turns and onto a dead-flat with some big, round rolls in it. It flattens more and starts bending to the right hard. Then breaks over again into the almost free-fall finish pitch. 1 minute and 13-15 seconds of unending intensity. Rattle-boden all the way. 30 thousand plus screaming Swiss at the bottom.
In the 7 years I spent on the World Cup, this race always amazed me with the fervor the crowd backed their boys. Their skiers are loved in Adelboden. I was there one year when Berthod and Albrecht were young. They had not done much all year and I was having my lunch at the slalom start trying to will my last athletes to stay in the top 30. When Berthod left the start, a buzz began, I looked up to the screen and he was only a couple tenths out at the first split, the noise got louder. He hit split 2 and the entire crowd understood, he was just .97 behind. They were willing him to qualify. And he did, the place exploded. The same happened on the next racer, when Dani Albrecht went. It was amazing.
At the awards there, they lift the top 3 out on a crane to the parking lot above the stadium. The year Berthod won (January 2005) and Albrecht was 2nd it was like a religious experience. I think Jimmy was like 17th? None of our other guys finished. But I stayed and watched the ceremony as I was waiting for the slalom course set anyway. And the crowd went nuts, and sung the national anthem over and over…it was a deep and moving experience. It was something that sticks with me and I hope we can someway reach that type of experience.
I will say more, that Adelboden requires a rare combination of intensity and tactics. It needs an athlete to be aggressive with their movement and body position. To be driving the switches and moving hard to be in the front of the boots, but yet to understand the tactics of the blind rolls, fall-away turns, the compressions and roads. It has it all. To put a little understanding on it, we were talking about which GS was toughest and the argument was between Alta Badia and Adelboden. I chose Adelboden. Ted looked at me and told me that he did not think Adelboden was all that tough. The next morning he hit the bottom of the first pitch and high sided himself into the red-room right in front of me. That was the year he won the GS globe. He still has not done better than 9th there ever. I think I am going to rest my case. Just recall the crash Daron Rahlves had at the bottom of Adelboden and that will tell you the level of risk there is on this hill.
Very quickly, congrats to Lindsey for her win today in the replacement race for Val d’Isere in Haus, Austria. Also to Stacey Cook and Alice McKennis for solid World Cup points!