Beaver Creek Review or Carlo Janka is really good.

I am a working ski coach; I also offer my services to ski teams and clubs to help train their staff. I will work with anyone who is interested to help bring their staff up to speed and all working together. So when I write this blog for entertainment purposes and to call attention to my business, it can be time consuming. After skiing with my group all day today at Mission Ridge, I sat down to catch the replay on Universal Sports. The past weekend told us a lot of what we already knew, but also gave us some fun surprises.
BIRDS OF PREY DH BEAVER CREEK
First of all, I want to gloat. Look it over, I don’t have the time but I called a lot of the podiums and the back to front moves. I also told you that Bode would start his ascent up the DH rankings. He was 4th, I think that qualifies. In watching the race I did not see much surprising and the Americans did well if not spectacular. I have to say, I was a little concerned with Nyman’s performance. I thought he would do better, because I thought he would execute more cleanly. I am more concerned, however, with Mac and his mental state. I am a huge fan but I think he occasionally fights demons and he needs to overcome them. You can see it right away when he skis; he goes from athletic to static and stiff.
Janka…I saw it coming and I see it coming like a storm. A strong, steady, consistent storm. He will be here for a long time and there will be difficulty dealing with him.
SUPER COMBI
Barely worth comment, Janka wins…Without Albrecht and Berthod, their 2 best combi guys…the Swiss are still the best at this discipline. Are we or anyone else going to embrace this discipline? Or are the Swiss just better all-around skiers? Are they training specifically for the Super-Combi? Are they selecting 4 event skiers to begin with? Or are they actually making more time in the preparation period to train 4 events. Not necessarily using more days on snow, but spreading their available days among 4 events more effectively and understanding that GS and Slalom training helps a skier in speed events , AND vice-versa.
GIANT SLALOM
The things we knew that came true:
Carlo Janka is going to be tough all season long. Ted Ligety gets 4th place more than anyone in GS, especially at Beaver Creek. He is well acquainted with the “wooden spoon.” Both guys ski GS extremely well and understand inspection and line. They both use the correct movement patterns which allow them great consistency and versatility. They love clean turns and their “feel.” And they never panic or push too hard or risk too much. They have great confidence in their abilities and ski within themselves. They will both challenge in Whistler.
Max Blardone and Davide Simoncelli had to risk too much to keep up on that kind of hill and it made them pay by the end of the day. This does not bode well for them in Whistler.
Kjietl Jansrud is a strong guy and a strong GS skier. He is also big, so hills like this favor him. Watch him through the season and see where he ends up going into Whistler. Watch him carefully on easier hills.
The Downhillers showed their stuff in Beaver Creek and it was obvious that they had an advantage. There is very little chance that Jeffrey Frisch(CAN) would qualify on any other hill in the World Cup. I would expect to be put in his place in Alta Badia if they choose to start him there. The same goes for Adrian Theaux. This also made Hirscher(AUT) finish back in the points. He simply does not have a light enough touch to be versatile on the longer turns, flatter hill and grippier snow.
Things we learned:
Benni Raich still has not corrected his seemingly over-canted, bouncing left foot. It cannot feel good and I can only guess that he does not want to mess with his set-up from week to week and will just deal with it as it is. It has been going on in varying degrees for 8 years.
JB Grange(FRA) hurt himself and it does not look good. The knee injury that happens without a crash is a fairly common injury. He looked fine the whole way, he did bounce once or twice and his knee did “jiggle” a few times. I watched in very slowly and it was tough to tell where it happened. But he definitely reached for his knee and did not take his second run. Hopefully he just bruised it on a gate or on his other boot or something like that. Look for news on this soon.
Ondrej Bank(CZE) is a good skier. And looking at his splits, the Elan ski ran on the flat pretty well at the Beav. It has not always been the case and was often a source of criticism of their GS skis in the past.
Leif Haugen(NOR) has now qualified in 2 consecutive GS races on 2 very different hills. I think his style will actually be better in Alta Badia and Adelboden. I would look at him as a Norwegian Olympic starter come February. And this is straight out of Denver University!
AMERICAN TROUBLE
What happened on the first run to the USA boys in the corner by the second tree-island? I stood there for every Beaver Creek GS held since the race moved away from Park City and it is a very important section. On the first run it is not a place worth risking. It can only hurt you as one little bobble severely hurts your “carry” of speed across the Screech Owl road. Bode made a bobble here and as he always does, he starting risking more after a mistake until he went out again, for good. This is a pattern in Beaver Creek that is disturbing. Jitloff did the same thing. Too much risk for that turn, it does not make any sense. Tommy Ford I can excuse on this one because I am sure he was too amped up. But at the same time, it is the coach’s job in that corner to make CLEAR what is to be done and executed and get buy-in from his guys. And recognize that T Ford is going to be a little amped up and try to cut some corners. Tommy Ford, Tim Jitloff and obviously Bode have the speed, they do not have to take extra risk. Jake Zamansky stayed within himself and he got a second run. Tommy Ford is faster than Jake Zamansky, of this I am sure.


THE SECOND RUN
That was a very exciting race. A lot of very good skiers going at it hard to make a move to the top. The top 4: Janka, Svindal, Raich and Ligety, were all expected to be in the hunt. I was a little surprised by Cuche but in all honesty, he looked like he lacked energy to me. He lacked his normal snap in his transition. He just looked tired. But at 35 years old and having been at high altitude on a very demanding hill for a week, I do not think it is anything to worry about. He has the right skill set for the Whistler GS.
Jansrud executed a lot of clean turns. Almost as many as Janka and Ted. Ted lost the podium on Red Tail jump, getting a little inside there, getting low and losing speed across the flat to the finish. This flat to the finish line is longer than is looks on TV. And with the very cold snow, any mistake on Red Tail can cost a lot of time.
And last, the Fanara crash was huge! Almost as big as Rahlves’ crash in Adelboden. But this was all pilot error. He came in too direct and was sliding his initiation rather than arcing it. He did not point deep enough with his ski tips into the apex and slammed his shoulder and neck into the panel, this yanked him around to the point where his inside ski hooked up in the snow and high-sided him into the B net. That being said, if you watch this crash carefully, a lot of things went right after the panel contact. First of all, the panel came off. Second, the B net stopped him. Third, the bags were there waiting for him if he did go through the second layer of B Net. A nice job by all involved.
A women’s look back at the weekend in Lake Louise will come tomorrow. See you all then!