Aspen Women's GS- Preview

It is Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving. Those of us on the road this holiday will give thanks and eat turkey with our teammates and friends rather than our families. It has been like this most years of my coaching career, and this year is no different. It is one of the things that make our teammates like family. Why it becomes so hard to let go of them and of the sport as we get older. The bonds that are created by having holidays together are tight.
Tomorrow, the men will take their second training run in Lake Louise and the women will travel to Aspen and settle into their housing, and get ready for free skiing on the race hill on Friday. According to Aspen Valley Ski Club Director, Jeff Kai, the hill is in great shape with man-made snow and injection they did last night. From all that he has said it sounds like the conditions will be excellent
The race hill in Aspen is officially called Lower Ruthie's by the FIS and it has a few places to watch carefully. The first is the bottom of Spring Pitch, which is basically the last bit of Aztec. The ladies need to charge down Spring Pitch and nail the last few turns on the pitch to carry speed as the course bends to the left onto Summer Road. This area is make or break. Someone who can take a little more risk earlier on the pitch will be able to carry more speed across the road as long as she can execute the turns cleanly as the bottom of the pitch approaches and the compression there does not cause a problem. The decision making here along with execution can define their run. After the road the girls will enter Strawpile. As you can tell by the name, this section has large rolls and terrain features. Side-hills, drop-offs. The good terrain skier with some guts will do best through here. After Strawpile things are pretty mellow to the finish. All of this action with injected snow will cause some errors to be made. Both in judgement and execution. The decisions made during inspection and before the start will make a mark on this race, as will the execution of these decisions.
Course Setting:
Last year, both courses were set within 2 turns of minimum which tells me the courses can be set open. Plenty of room between gates. A lot of carving and a lot of fun.
The first run will be set by Guenther Obkircher(AUT). Guenther is a long-time men's coach on all different levels in the Austrian system. From Development to World Cup and back down. Now he is with the Austrian Tech girls. Zettel, Schild, Kirchgasser and Brem are his best. Liz Goergl is not in his group but was 3rd in Aspen last year. Watching him set here in Vail all week, it looks like he will set 26-28 meters for distance most of the time and open it up a bit at the finish. His girls have been skiing well all week. He will try to stick to his own identity as a course setter so his team sees things that they are used to seeing. I would expect them all to have good first runs.
The second run is set by Stefano Costazza(ITA). The same will go for him and will help his athletes. Costazza set in La Molina, Spain last season and set 44 turns, within 4 of minimum. The run he set was won by Zettel, Moelgg was 2nd and Maria Pietilae-Holmner was 3rd. For Americans, Julia was 12th. We watched the La Molina race last year on TV in our apartments near Innsbruck, AUT, the weather was very funky. Warm and very windy with injected snow that was failing under the strength of Mother Nature. This does not discount the results, they are as real as any others. But it does ask the question as to the relevance of the course setter with regard to results in that type of situation.

THE SKIERS:

Tanja Poutiainen(FIN)- I saw Tanja a bit this week and I did get to watch her ski. As I mentioned earlier in the week she was very detail oriented and solid. I watched her free skiing and saw she was making strong transitions and working hard on clean initiations. Great stuff from a great skier. She was happy, relaxed and polishing her approach. She basically said, "One race at a time..." Sounds like any professional athlete anywhere who has been winning. She was second in Aspen last year and will easily be in the mix this week.
Kathrin Zettel(AUT)- She had the flu during the Levi slalom and could not race. She then had to fly here after recovery. The Austrians seem to be keeping her on low volume and few repeat days. They seem concerned with her health and hydration. I will go on a limb and say that she will be less likely to be a factor in Aspen. Recent illness, air travel, jet lag, low volume, the dehydration that flu brings on? It will be tough for her to get it done.
Tina Maze(SLO)- Tina looked very strong and clean in all of her runs in Vail this week. I have been impressed with her skiing,speed and consistency. I would not doubt if she competed for a podium in Aspen.
Denise Karbon(ITA)- I think she is the best female GS skier in the world. I will bet on her every time. She was absolutely crushing the pitch here in Vail today which ends with a bend to the left like in Aspen. She won the first run in Aspen last year and had a problem on the 2nd run, finishing 15th. The only negative for her in Aspen is there might not be enough pitch for her over the duration of the hill.
Kati Hoelzl(GER)- She was fastest here yesterday in some timed runs with girls present from Italy, France and the USA. No other top 7 girls were present for the timed runs. She is a good skier and can compete. The Germans have also been in Vail for about a week.
Tessa Worley(FRA)- She won in Aspen last year, she is a fighter and she seems to be skiing pretty well. Repeat wins are hard to come by on the World Cup but I do think she can be competitive.
Michaela Kirchgasser(AUT)- She has been coming on in GS, her coach is setting, she has seemed very happy and relaxed around Vail all week. I don't know how much pure speed she has in GS, but she is an excellent skier and has an advantage with the course setting. They have been here since the 17th. Look for her in the top 10 by the end of the day on Saturday.

AMERICANS:

Lindsey Vonn- Last year, Lindsey had her best GS result finishing 4th in Aspen. She was 7th after the first run with a mediocre start number. Now she starts 8-15 and is skiing GS better than ever. She is another month on her new equipment since Soelden. She has had unbeatable training in Vail since returning from Levi. She has had her own lane at times, full length, prime real estate. Today she looked very strong and was going on a tight line while making clean turns. I would expect an excellent performance from her. She also seems to be used to her new skis and very happy with the whole equipment package.

Julia Mancuso- At his point I can only hope she does well. The few runs I saw were not exceptionally fast.

Megan McJames- As I have said in previous blogs, I love the way Megan skis. She makes a very nice transition and clean initiation as long as she has time to do so. I think the course sets in Aspen will give her the time. I also think that Colorado snow and Park City snow are very similar. She grew up on this stuff and it does help. So will the home crowd. I am very high on Megan's chances.

Sarah Schleper- Home snow and she was 13th last year in Aspen. Pretty good stuff and a chance to repeat that type of performance.

Jess Kelley- Jess is a great technical skier who needs to find her groove. To get herself in gear and just get after it. She is highly trained after years on the ski team and numbers of years on the World Cup, she needs to put aside any drama and just go.

Stacey Cook- My personal favorite as I was her coach at Mammoth before I moved on to the ski team. Stacey even lived at our house and remains one of my wife's best friends. Stace won the time trial the ski team held for selection. She has scored World Cup points in GS in her career so it is not a shock she won the spot. But her rank is 113 on the FIS list which means she will start near the back. The circumstance cannot drive her performance, she needs to take chances and make it work from back there. She is playing with house money and needs to ski like it.

CANADIANS:

Simard will sneak into the top 30 on the start list so she has a chance. Gagnon is a great young skier with a good number but unless she is able to make major changes from Soelden, I don't think anything earth shattering is going to happen.

DARK HORSES:
Look for Viktoria Rebensburg(GER) and Stefanie Koehle(AUT). I just think they are both excellent skiers and competitors and will eventually break through.

The Podium? This one seems tougher. But I think I am going with Karbon for the win, Poutiainen 2nd and Vonn 3rd. Her first World Cup GS podium.

Getting Ready for Aspen

I woke up this morning on our 7th consecutive day of perfect weather in Vail. Clear and cold, as it should be. We have a day off today after some excellent days of training which included 2 days of slalom on the injection. While we were unsure our Mission Ridge Ski Team athletes could handle it, they did handle it and handled it well. It is something that they have never even seen in person, let alone tried to ski on. I am sure they were nervous and intimidated about it. The first day we did sections of ten turns and the injection was still a little rough. So we had some better grip. But as it got skied on more, it got slick. This was the second time Ski Club Vail injected this section because it snowed last week. Anyway, injecting over injection with very cold temperatures can often produce skating rink type smoothness. And after skiing on it for a couple days, that is what we got yesterday. Dane Spencer and I were talking and we both felt it was similar to Flachau in January, 2005. It was a legendary injecting situation and was a very slick surface. Dane actually hurt his back on the third turn because he spun out a little on the ice. At Flachau, the organizers and FIS decided to re-inject after it had snowed and it then got extremely cold. Pretty much the same situation we have here and it showed. All of that said, we set 33 turns on the injection and the kids tried their best. They learned a lot about slalom yesterday and about themselves. They learned that their flaws will be exposed on this type of snow and they learned to fight to stay in the course on every close call. Hopefully they also understand ski tuning a little better. And they will be able to watch World Cup through much more educated eyes. I am very impressed with the group as a whole in their adjustment to the situation we put them in! Great job!
So I am sure you must be thinking that this all must have a point. The point is that the USA girls have been training here on excellent conditions. Hard injection, hard man made snow and ice. A great hill with excellent rolling terrain to train on that has been prepared with care and focus. The Austrian tech girls are here. The Swiss have made a day trip here. The Slovenian girls are doing their work here as well. They are all in good shape as far as I am concerned with their choice in venue for training. Right now they are all smiles and focus. Confidence and low stress in the feeling around here right now.
I was talking to Guenther Obkircher yesterday. He is the slalom group coach for the Austrian women and a long time friend going back to a FIS trip in 1998 I took to Austria with some Western Region athletes. He was out there on the hill for his first time yesterday and was thrilled with the hill and the preparation. He set some GS and we watched some of his girls. Kirchgasser looks pretty good on that hill.
The other thing is that the hill here in Vail has some similarity to Aspen. A steep pitch that flattens suddenly as it bends to the left as well as some rolling terrain on a moderate pitch at the bottom. It mimicks the Spring Pitch area and then the Strawpile section on the Aspen World Cup hill. On top of that, Guenther sets run 1 at the Aspen GS. He will set here all week so Zettel and Kirchgasser will get to ski his courses on a similar hill. He will get a chance to set some visually similar sections to what he will set in Aspen. I am liking their chances at this point, a week away.
Thanks again to Ski Club Vail and Vail Resort for having us here and all of their hard work!
Get well, Resi!!!!!!!!!!

Lake Louise Snow Check Approved

Men's World Cup DH is the coolest thing on earth. The start is almost always at the top of a ski area, and ends at the bottom. At the top there are amazing views. In between there are turns, rolls, flats, jumps, sidehills. Whatever you can think of. It is the ultimate challenge. Fastest to the bottom wins, end of story. It's like when I was a kid growing up at Stratton and we would all line up on Sunday afternoon at the top of the ski area and race to the bottom down Wanderer...or even better, Work Road/Wanderer. It was flat but fun and had some jumps and a lot of tucking. Just legs burning at the bottom trying to get your skis as flat as possible. So much fun trying....and winning. It's the same thing for the big boys on the World Cup and it all starts in 11 days in Lake Louise.
The area around Lake Louise is absolutely beautiful. Huge peaks, enormous trees and solitude. If is truly breathtaking. The World Cup is housed in the Chateau Lake Louise which compliments the surroundings. I took my family there during the races last season and they had a ball hiking and skiing and checking out the pioneer era history of the area.
With Lake Louise passing their snow check today, the game is on. World Cup DH is only 11 days away. Lake Louise has 3 training runs, the men will be heading there soon.
The track at Lake Louise is widely considered very easy by Men's World Cup standards. And I would agree with that opinion if you base downhill only on guts. It is not only about that in Lake Louise. It is still a fast track with a lot of terrain, tricky turn sections,tactical adjustments as well as some jumping. You can be the ballsiest downhiller in the world and not win in Lake Louise. All the skills are tested. Guts, gliding, turning skills, tactical awareness,jumping. It is a strong and fun opener. A lot plays into it. The flat light of late November, stormy winds, the cold canadian weather. The three training runs themselves can take a mental and physical toll. I saw Andrew Weibrecht, at the end of a potentially top 15 run, totally bonk on a dead-flat straight glide section above Claire's Corner and almost hit the fence. He corrected and held it together but ended up outside the points. I can only point to stress and fatigue from the 3 trainers for the cause.

The hill opens with a straight shot schuss down the start chute onto a flat with a little compression. Then it bends to the right with some rolling terrain in a very narrow section. It breaks over into the super-g start and down another steep shot with very little swing. Another compression bending to the left into an open meadow and on to the steeper, turnier sections. Add an off-kilter left-footed take-off jump and the technical prowess and tactical awareness come into play. Then the downhiller's Downhill begins again. Big sweeping turns down a good pitch through a compression and into a narrow flat chute. Just pinning it as hard as possible. The trail bends to the left and then another straight shot crossing under the lift and into Claire's. This is where I saw Weibrecht sit on his bindings. Then Claire's, which is a turn to the right where you need to get way out near the fence as you are carrying good heat and finish your turn early enough to stay on line. There is another big roll/jump just below Claire's. Then a highway to the finish.
This section near the bottom is typical of Lake Louise. It is not visibly intimidating but there are tricks everywhere. If you don't have a good mental grasp of the plan, and/or you don't execute the plan you leave there with an empty feeling. A feeling of what should have been. This race has left a lot of excellent racers scratching their heads.
I am currently in Vail training with the Mission Ridge Ski Team, my home club. The training is fantastic and I would like to thank Ski Club Vail and Vail Resort for having us here. It could not be better!

The Life...It's not all Wengen and Kitzbuhel.

Wow, 5 days since the last blog. I am addicted.
First, I want to thank PSIA-NW and specifically Kirsten Huotte for the opportunity to speak to your group. It is a passionate and knowledgeable group. Thanks for the hospitality and great venues. Also thanks to Gonzaga University, Mt. Hood Community College and Seattle Pacific University for allowing PSIA-NW to host at your campuses and in such well-equipped facilities.
But really, what am I writing about today? It is Friday, I feel like I need to get something up before the weekend. What to write? I got an email from Ted Ligety the other day briefly outlining the schedule for the Men's World Cup Tech group and then a more detailed one from WC Tech Coach, Peter Korfiatis. It got me thinking. We got to go to all of these beautiful places when I was with the team and all of my neighbors at home are always amazed by the "glamour" of the job. Mammoth, New Zealand, Portillo, La Parva, Vail/Beaver Creek, Wengen, Kitzbuhel, Schladming, St. Anton, Alta Badia...you get the idea. All the big resorts, all the time. Well, I will give you a brief look into the other side.

The WC Tech group was in Europe from October 15th. Saas-Fee for training, then drive to Soelden, race on the 25th, pack up and drive to Haus, Austria (about 3 hours). Train 2 days there, pack up again and drive to Patsch (about 10 minutes outside Innsbruck). Some conditioning work, some recovery work, press conferences and some socializing for 3 days. Most people don't know but Innsbruck is a great city with a lot to do. And excellent Thai food! 2 restaurants, owned by the same people. Thai-Li and Thai-Li Ba. Thai-Li is a tiny restaurant in the Alt Stadt and Ba is a large open glass room in the Galleria. About 2 blocks outside the Alt Stadt. Anyway, great food and good relaxation.
Then pack up again and hit the road to NE Germany. Wittenburg indoor ski dome (they will host a Europa Cup SL in November). This is about a 9 hour drive through flat, grey and often foggy Germany, fun. Train 3 days of SL there, which can be trying...very flat and somewhat boring after a while. Then hop a plane up to Taernaby, Sweden and train for 4 days in the dark, northern Sweden wilderness. Then drive to Levi and the heart of Lapland. The self-described "North Pole." No fun task as the roads are all snow covered and ice rutted, it is always dark, reindeer and moose all around and almost constantly dark this time of year. It can be a stressful, long drive. Then arrive in Levi, free ski on the race hill and let it rip on the "Levi Black" piste.
Pack up and fly home. Which means a flight out of Kittala, to Helsinki, Munich, Atlanta (Delta hub) and finally to Seattle for Peter. Pete will finally see his bride of 5 months after a month on the road in Europe;totally spent and jet lagged upon getting home. He will enjoy this time like none other but not for long. Soon it will be off to Colorado for a little tune up and Beaver Creek World Cup and back to Europe!

Sounds fun, doesn't it? And I can tell you from long experience, this is all done out of love of the sport, a sense of loyalty to the athletes and a strong patriotic feeling. There is not much money in it for a US Ski Team coach. The American ski coach in Europe can be a celebrity,if the boys perform. But an exhausted one.