Val d'Isere and Aare, and Jackson Hole...

Obviously, I gave the jinx to Janka this week. I am like the cover of Sports Illustrated so far this year. Anyone I feel confident will win, does not. I am currently in Jackson, Wyoming at a regional FIS race. It is a different level of racing but it is a lot of fun. Being back in the States and working at this level is rejuvenating. The kids are all enthusiastic and putting in the highest effort on the hill, no one is used to being coddled by the system. They are stacked into condos or hotel rooms to reduce cost. They get out on the hill early and stay out until the end of the day in most cases. They carry clothes for each other and cheer each other on at the start. It is a true moment in sport. For the most part, they want to do as well as they can, and they want their friends to do well too. Some kids become mini-stars within their peer groups for big move-ups or huge results. It is a very happy thing to behold. Even when pressed with something that might be controversial like a brutally tight and tough course set, the course setter takes some heat but with a bit of kindness rolled into it. We have all been there; we have all set something that we thought would run better and caused a large percentage of DNFs. In this case it was Tyler Palmer. I think I had heard of him before. Like from the poster on my wall as a kid racing in Vermont. He was a World Cup winner. He won slalom in St. Moritz in January, 1971 along with one in Sestriere in December of 1971. He caught a ton of light-hearted crap from everyone all day as the kids struggled with his 1968-era set. He himself said, “I saw Killy run this exact course in 1968, and he crashed too!” Anyway, it has been a fun 3 days getting back to the roots here in Jackson and we have 1 more to go. Great to be here!
But on the serious side, what did we see this weekend? The Val d’Isere hill on the Face de Bellevarde is supremely difficult and relentless. And when you see course workers beating on the surface with rakes and shovels, it cannot be good news on that difficult of a hill. This week, it once again earned the nickname Val de Misere. When I watched the races this afternoon I was struck once again with the difficulty. The difficulty to set a good course where the athletes can ski their best, and the inability for them to execute a plan with any success. Even the guys on the podium could not have been happy with the performance. With regard to the outcome I am sure they picked up the check, but I doubt they were internally happy with their performance. It’s possible that they are only happy to be out of there and on to Val Gardena and Alta Badia. I was pretty much an Austrian party in France this week. Taking advantage of others’ greater mistakes, the Austrians won all 3 races. Raich, Walchhofer and Hirscher all came with wins. A win is a win but I think it is un-cool when wins happen by default or attrition. Big weekends nonetheless from Hirscher, Raich and Baumann. A great job from Ted in the Super-G just to hang in the race, let alone podium in Super-G. That should show everyone that you never give up in a ski race. Rumor has it that he has a new pair of slalom skis that are working very well and we should be expecting resurgence from Ted in his breakthrough discipline. It’s funny how the misfortune of one can help another, figure that one out on your own.
Some other quick observations on the week in Val d’Isere. The Swiss, after handing it to everyone all season were pretty well crushed in France. Cuche hurt his ribs in a free ski crash on the Super-G hill. He raced the SG but pulled out of the GS. Berthod was their only guy in the GS finish area after 2 runs. Jitloff got his first points of the season. Zamansky scored again. And to Leif Haugen, who scored in his 3rd consecutive GS on 3 VERY different hills, “Right on man! College skiers all over the USA are on the bandwagon.” If you think the Face does not favor GS guys in the SG and slalom guys in the GS look at the result. How many GS points has Lizeroux scored in GS in his career? How many wins has Marcel Hirscher in GS? How many World Cup wins does he have, period? Look it up! Hop and switch Blardone brings the heat every time on that hill. Markus Larsson in the top 10? In SG you have Ligety on the podium, Raich 5th, Scheiber, Svindal, Gorza, Miller, Cuche, Hirscher!, de Tessieres, Baumann…All capable if not absolute GS skiers. What else happened? Miller and Cuche did not start due to injury. Miller with a chronic ankle problem that is exacerbated by the tough, steep, bumpy hill. And Tommy Ford just missed his start. Too much time in the restaurant at the top and miss-timed it. It happens. Not often but it does. I would like to remind him that Ted slept through an entire race day in Korea and came out and won the next day. So Tommy should expect big things in Alta Badia!
I talked to Pete Korfiatis today and he said he had to set about 22-23 meters all the way down that GS hill. I have to say that is not GS. Sliding and hitting just makes the whole sport look bad on TV and makes the athletes feel bad about their experience. I love the challenging hills on the World Cup in all the disciplines, but after being on this hill a few times I think it feels forced. I don’t like it and I don’t think I ever will. Move back to La Daille!
THE LADIES IN AARE.
The French girls swept the wins in Aare and I have to say I am a bit surprised in one way, but not in another. I expected the Swedes to make more of a push at home in the dark in Northern Sweden in December. The very grippy snow and the dark usually favors them. But I am not surprised at the French right now. The girls were all at the NorAms I attended last month in Colorado and I was very impressed with their chemistry within the group. You can tell by just watching them in the lodge or at the start. Very happy, relaxed and calm. They all seemed genuinely happy to be there at a Continental Cup and to be there with each other. I am also a big fan of Tessa Worley. She is a fantastic GS skier and will get more wins as her career moves on. I have been touting her all year and she came through this week. Just like what she brings to the hill as a skier and in her attitude. Good focus on the hill, an easy demeanor and good skiing. Look for more from her. Tina Maze continues to impress and make it look pretty easy. Brignone backed up Aspen with another good result! Validating a result with another is something we all hope for. It was great to see Sarah Schleper finish 8th in a World Cup. But even more importantly she won the second run. That momentum cannot be replaced. Her confidence should be skyrocketing! Further congrats to Chemmy Alcott making a statement in 11th for the Great Britain program! Mark Tilston should be happy. And to Ingrid Jacquemod for continuing to score in GS! And to Jessica Lindell-Vikarby for scoring again in her return after being injured.
The slalom was won by Sandrine Aubert. The girl from Les 2 Alpes was about a month late on my call from Levi. So I gave up on calling her for the win and she wins…I guess that is just the way it is. The Riesch girls crushed it onto the podium. The first time for them together! And I need to make a comment about tall girls in slalom again. Aare is a relatively tame hill with cold, grippy, slow snow. So the bigger girls, if they ski mistake –free, can win or equal their best. Weight helps with the friction in the snow but also the ability to block the gate high off the snow creates less resistance. Zettel got 4th and she is small, but she is seriously a better technician than most girls. A big shout-out to Anna Goodman of Canada with her first top 10! After 2 wins in Loveland at the NorAms, that should really boost her confidence as we move on. And to Hailey Duke, back in the second run! Boise’s own can build on that!

Racing on the Face de Bellevarde, not nice.

Val d’Isere hosted this same race series last season on the Face de Bellevarde and again hosted on the Face in February for the World Alpine Ski Championships. There is one name that appeared at the top of the list in both GS races and the Super-G in the December races. The name is Janka, Carlo Janka. After the can he opened on everyone in Beaver Creek last week, I will go out on a limb to say he will continue to own the World Cup and open up his overall lead; which is already 105 points as of today. He could conceivably win all 3 races in Val d’Isere and add another 300 points onto his total.
Add to it that the hill on the Face de Bellevarde favors the type of skier Janka is. He can do it all. The SG there favors guys who can ski GS at the World Cup level. The top 4 at the World Cup SG last December was: Janka, Kucera, Ligety, Raich. All of them have very strong career GS resumes. And the World Championship SG was won by Cuche, with Ligety on his way to a podium finish before he took that power –slide all the way down the pitch. The GS on the Face allows the slalom/GS hybrid type guy to shine, or at least someone with solid slalom skills. The World Championship GS went like this: Janka, Raich, Ligety, Hirscher, Blardone. Everyone in that group is a skilled slalom skier except Max, who loves steep GS races to match his intensity and hop and slide style. The December GS saw Janka win and Blardone in second, Gauthier deTessieres(FRA) in 3rd with a charging 2nd run to move up to 3rd. Aksel was 4th and we know he has all the skills. And the Super Combi was Raich, Grange and Hirscher. The World Champs Super Combi went to Aksel with Julien Lizeroux second and Natko Zrncic-Dim(CRO). We saw “Nacho” display his skills again in Beaver Creek. He did the same thing in Wengen last year. But these were all DH combined races. I just don’t see him pulling it off on a GS-like Super-G like the Face de Bellevarde.
Your Super-G course setter is Hans Flatscher(SUI), the Combi Setters are Andy Evers(AUT) for SG and Reto Schlaeppi(SUI) for the slalom portion and Peter Korfiatis(USA) for GS run 1 and Christian Leitner(FIN) for the 2nd run of GS. They all have their own interests and all but Pete are very experienced World Cup course setters. They will be dictated to by the severity of the hill and difficulty of making minimum turns for GS and Super-G. Reto will have some freedom to move around the hill and set something in the normal ranges. The GS at 450 meters of vertical with no flat sections presents the most problems. First of all, I measured with my watch a couple of times while there in February and got 440 meters. Even that small difference in vertical gets you down to 48 turns from 50 turns which makes a huge difference when you are trying to squeeze in turns. That would allow you to spread each turn out 1 meter all the way down. Anyway, the FIS measured as they did and it is possible that my watch is off. So to get 50 turns, there needs to be a clear strategy and Peter will have a couple of days to plan it out. Pete has only had 1 other World Cup set. It was the GS in Sestriere which is a very fun hill to set on with no problem making the minimum turns. The only real way to get it stretched out to close to normal (and here I am talking 24-25 meters) is to try to meander around the hill as much as they will let you and eliminate the delays. Last year we saw sets as small as 19 meters in some places on this hill. It is relentless and steep. It has not one flat area to make up gate count. Look for very tight (18-20m) out of the start and gradually relaxing the distances as the set continues to the main pitch. And even there you need to keep your head because it is very steep and probably icy there too. It will be a lot of work to get the gate count up to minimum and have the race have any flow at all. It will be a chore. If Pete does a good job, look for Herr Leitner to match it or move it over. Christian has a ton of experience and might reset the whole thing. Also, Finland is missing the great Kalle Palander and Marcus Sandell has not expressed that he will race in Val d’Isere. So it is possible that Leitner will be without an athlete in the second run. There is certainly no guarantee that Jukka Leino will qualify. If that is the case, who knows what Leitner will do? The slalom portion of the SG Combi is not an exceptionally difficult task for the course setter. I set the slalom for the Super Combi at World Championships last year and made minimum turns with a few to spare. The hill is very wide and still steep but with a few big rolls. So there is a flat spot on which to traverse out from the start to the middle of the trail and then edge back to skier’s right, then back to the left a little. Hans Pieren, FIS Technical Race Director, will try to keep the setter to the right to stay out of the potential GS track. And to have the gates closer to the TV platforms. But you can do what you want in order to make a nice set and a good race, within reason. Reto should have some leeway. If you work the hill, there should be little problem making minimum turns. And I have said many times in the past; if the hill is difficult enough, don’t set anything tricky. Just let the hill and the athletes shine!
CANADIANS
The Canadians start L-P Helie, Ryan Semple, Robbie Dixon, Mike Janyk and Manny Osborne-Paradis in the Combi. It is pretty obvious that they start Robbie and Manny to get them an extra shot at the Super-G hill. Mike is almost strictly a slalom skier these days and will likely leave himself too much time to make up after the SG portion of the day in the Super Combi. I can get behind Louis-Pierre for some points but that is about it in the Combi race. The GS boys are all good enough to get it done on this hill. The loss of Johnny K definitely will be felt this week in all events.
AMERICANS
Starting just 3 boys in the Combi (Ligety, Miller and Weibrecht), it looks as though some tactical and budget oriented decision making went on this week. Obviously, Ligety has a chance to win the Combi with good success last year in Super G on this hill. Miller can win any race at any time. And Andrew has been on fire of late so it is clear to me why these guys are in the SC. Ligety, Miller and Weibrecht have the best developed GS skills of the group starting the SG so they are the ones who can score here in that discipline. And Ligety is the current GS World Championship Bronze Medalist on this hill.
Super Combi Podium:
Janka, Ligety, Raich. Some good dark-horses: Hirscher, Zurbriggen, Kostelic, Viletta(SUI)
As we look toward the SG, I still think Janka should win. Watch for Cuche to pull it together and challenge. But I still think the GS guys will do well in this Super-G. Any time Ted and Benni have been presented with a Super-G like this, they have done well or at least been in the hunt. Ted was 3rd in December last season and was in the game for a podium when he crashed. He was also in there in the SG in Lenzerheide which is similar. Benni has been in the top 5 in this Super-G and had a great finish in Lake Louise.
I think we could see Janka, Cuche, Raich for the Super-G podium.
And the GS? Janka again, followed by Blardone and Ligety. I think Aksel could be in the conversation but if his leg is still at all bothersome, this hill will bring that out. And the GS is the third race in 3 days. Sorry Bode fans, I just cannot reconcile my image of Bode’s movement patterns and attitude with this hill. I watched him live twice in GS last year on the hill and he will find it hard to get past the first interval timer without a major mistake.
I think it is entirely possible for Janka to sweep these 3 races for 6 wins in a row. The biggest foe for him is probably the Face de Bellevarde itself. It is a relentless, steep, icy face that requires the course setters to keep the boys turning the whole way. One bobble and it can be over. But he is the most likely to win in each situation.
Before you go, please read this. I have stood on the Face de Bellevarde and watched the best in the world look humbled, angered and even confused. The hill is simply difficult to the point of being unfair. The GS has to be set 4-8 meters shorter distance per gate than the most difficult World Cup GS races in order to fit in the minimum number of turns on the hill. Add to that what they did to the hill with the incredibly slick ice, and the recipe is for awful skiing. To put a product on TV that simply looks like it is, difficult. It is so far out of the ordinary that ski manufacturers all made new (slightly shorter) models to try to grab the advantage at World Championships. In my humble opinion, I would much rather see these races take place at the old venue in La Daille.
Good luck to all!

Levi: The Course Setters

As I wrote recently about the Levi course, it is not difficult. And really no stress to set on regarding making minimum turns. It is only 180 meters of vertical and has a long flat at the top. Only needing 54 (-3) 51 turns to make minimum and a lot of opportunity to put in flushes on the flats, there is really no problem making "the number." In the past, setters have been up around 60 turns without really setting tight. When I was there, and the rule was 55 turns without tolerance, the sets were 61 turns on run 1 and 60 on run 2. Both were over 11.5 meters the whole way with the combinations set at 5.5 to 6 meters.In fact, the 60 turn course was closer to 12 meters the whole way. Last year, the women's courses were 59 turns and 61 turns respectively and then men were 63 and 62 turns respectively. With all that said, it looks like we will see courses in the 11 to 12 meter range for both genders.
THE COURSE SETTERS
WOMEN:
Run 1: Christian Schwaiger (GER).
Schwaiger is the German women's technical coach after spending years as the men's Great Britain tech coach. Taking care of the Baxter boys, et al. As a course setter, I have only seen him set in person in training venues, but he tends not to get too caught up in novelties and funky combos. As well, he has some good slalom skiers in Maria and Susanne Riesch and Fanny Chmelar. All 3 are very tall, big girls. I would assume he is going to set to their strength, which would be the slightly bigger turn. It is really good news that Christian is setting in Levi for all 3 of these girls as they all have good histories on the hill. It gives them an excellent opportunity to be competitive on run 1 and build confidence. The last SL Christian set was in Aspen last season and the run was won by Nicole Hosp (AUT). That will not happen again as she tore her ACL in Soelden and is gone for the season. She is making noise about returning in Garmisch at the FIS World Cup Finals but that statement does not make sense in so many ways.
Run 2: Phillippe Willman (FRA)
While I know very little about Phillippe's course setting skills, I have spoken to a few women's FIS World Cup coaches about him and they all feel confident he will set a nice course. His history by the numbers is that he hits the minimum turns often. However, even if he sets 13 meters the whole way in Levi, he will still likely be over the absolute minimum of 51. Again, this is all good news for the bigger girls. Higher speed, less foot speed is necessary, hit the gates harder at higher speed so "size does matter." Both setters and the hill lean toward defending Levi champ Lindsey Vonn, Maria Riesch and the other Garmisch giants and Sandrine Aubert (FRA). The last time Phillippe set was in Ofterschwang, Germany. The race was won by Aubert, his own athlete. The run was won by Alexandra Daum (AUT). Hailey Duke of Boise, Idaho was 3rd and Marie-Michelle Gagnon was also in the mix, giving the Canadian camp some hope going into Levi.
MEN:
Run 1: Manfred Widauer (GER)
Manfred is new on the scene as a course setter. He was the German assistant tech coach last year and is now the Head Coach of the German Tech group. Felix Neureuther, Stefan Kogler and maybe even Dominik Stehle look to take advantage of this fact. Kogler and Stehle both got 2nd runs last season at Levi, and given the fact that they are really the only people who have skied Manfred's sets, they have an advantage. The Germans did train with the Americans in Coronet Peak, NZ this past summer so Ted, Jimmy Cochran and company have likely run some of his stuff too. According to the USA coaches there was nothing out of the ordinary or "freaky" going on with his setting. In my own experience, the first World Cup slalom set I made was very basic. With all the distraction of people measuring and Hans and Guenther telling you what to do, you tend to default to basics on your first World Cup set. Also, with little concern with making minimum turns, I expect something solid and basic with plenty of distance. Close racing for sure.
Run 2: Christian Hoeflehner (AUT)
Now this is a guy I know a lot about. He has been with the World Cup SL guys in Austria off and on since 2002. We came into the World Cup together and spent a lot of time together those first years when team USA and the Austrians were official training partners. Our friendship did not dissolve when the teams ended the agreement nor when he was promoted to Head Slalom coach. He is responsible for the dominance of the Austrian slalom machine. Herbst, Hirscher, Pranger, Raich, Matt. Watch out for a strong run 2 push out of these guys. Historically, "Hoefi" has liked to set out past 11 meters. The turn count of 63 last year sounds like 11 meters to me. Even though Herbst and Pranger are better at tighter courses, this hill just does not run well at 10 meters and Hoefi is aware of the aesthetics of World Cup racing. It has to play well on TV. He wants the product to look good and the boys to look good on television back in Austria. Last year, Grange won the run Hoefi set, Ligety was 2nd and Bode was 3rd, just .01 behind Ted. JB won the race. Grange also won a Super-Combi slalom run set by Hoeflehner. Huh...
As an aside, I doubt much if Bode is ready for this race and there is a persistent but yet unconfirmed rumor that his knee is bothersome and he will not start in Levi.