Lindsey and The Lake

Even with an awful weekend in Aspen, Lindsey Vonn still leads the overall World Cup standings. And the rest of the girls should feel relieved they are still so close. Maria Riesch is not far behind but Zettel is already 169 points out. She is in the lead because she is by far the best Downhiller in the world and is also the best Super-g skier; even if she handed the race to Lizz Goergl in Lake Louise. Lindsey had that race won and mysteriously lost over .5 seconds on the bottom flat. And they are on the same ski brand.
Looking back at the DH races at the Lake, Lindsey was obviously the heavy favorite. She won by large margins of victory in the past and it just kept coming. The 2 wins in Lake Louise make it 8 for her just at this venue. The combination of sweeping turns, cold snow and long glide sections make it the perfect hill for her. She consistently executes the fall-away section as well or better than anyone, every time. And then keeps her head about her in the very fast Gunbarrel and even more importantly, exiting Gunbarrel. There is a camera switch there so it is difficult to see on TV sometimes. But the trail bends to the left at almost 90 degrees at that point and there is usually a little against the grain turn there and if the girls fall asleep, thinking it’s over, then they can chisel that one and begin dumping speed the rest of the way. I believe this is what happened when Lindsey lost the Super-G. She had a large lead with good speed and no mistakes coming into Gunbarrel. But there is a little bounce in her right leg in that corner, and with the very cold snow temps and sharp crystals, the friction can slow you down quickly.
As I mentioned earlier in the week, Downhill 1 was a big day for the North American contingent. The girls stacked themselves in the points. And many of them expressed sentiment that they were very happy to have another crack at it on the following day. And some of them certainly took advantage. Brydon backed it up with another podium, Britt Janyk locked down another top 10, Alice McKennis followed up her first-ever points with her first top 10. Cookie moved up to 11th, solidifying herself in the top 30 on the WCSL. Julia was 12th, and don’t get me wrong, I think Julia is still a great ski racer, but she needs these small victories to build her confidence as the calendar steams on toward Whistler. Kelly Vanderbeek was 13th and Larisa Yurkiw finished 16th for the Canadians. Leanne Smith was 23rd and Chelsea Marshall was 25th. The American girls scored 186 World Cup points on this day. That is a huge number and has to help morale as the girls bounce back from the Aspen troubles and head to Europe.
The Super-G was an interesting race. Fishnet showed how difficult it can run. If you were not sound technically there, you killed speed or just did not make it. It looked as though the FIS injected that section to save it from falling apart. No one likes that change in snow, but it happens a lot and the teams know it in advance and the girls all see it at inspection. Nonetheless, it increased the degree of difficulty. Congrats to Larisa Yukiw again for scoring in SG and to Shona Rubens. It was a nice, solid and professional run out of Britt Janyk. This week is the best she skied in years. She was in the front of the boots, driving the skis and looked physically strong in every turn. Aside from a sloppy jump at the bottom, so was Kelly Vanderbeek. My only problem with watching her is that I keep waiting for her edge to grab and slap her to the ground. She just constantly looks like she lacks control over the front of her skis. And my last mention is to Keely Kelleher. 20th place in the Super-G for her personal best World Cup finish! Congratulations Keels and build some momentum!

General comments and observations on the women’s races.
There was far too much hanging on to the turn from the entire field. Finish the turn earlier and get on to the new one, all of you! The more you hang on, the later you switch. The later you switch, the harsher the pressure. The harsher the pressure, the more you slide or grind. And, when you switch too late, you lose snow contact and we all know that is slow.
What terrain are you looking at? Almost everyone was getting bounced around like crazy, especially in the SG. Everyone needs to inspect terrain better and look for it when you are approaching it. And I am not talking about jumps and big breaks. I am talking about small rolls, ripples and bumps. These are the ones that knock you out of your tuck or just bounce your skis around.
I am amazed that the FIS allows 2 DH races at the same venue at the World Cup level. I understand it after a cancellation has happened but to do it at the opener just puts the entire field behind because you know that Lindsey Vonn is going to win if she executes. If I were a nation with a big voice like Switzerland or Austria, I would be screaming about this schedule.
Last, I want to give a big hand to Sarah Schleper. She had a tough go at Aspen, basically holding on and skiing tentatively. She blamed only herself. She went to Loveland to the NorAm on the injection and skied inconsistently on day 1 but acknowledged that she needed to get pressure on the ski higher in the turn and get off sooner. She did that on the second slalom day and got herself a podium and a nice 6.80 result losing by just .08. Good luck in Are!

Choices

We all make choices. With skiing, and more specifically ski racing, we make choices about many things. Training venue, training conditions, travel days, days off, using or not using an opportunity that is presented. When you look at the contrasts in these choices, they do not seem like much. Like they will not make much of a difference. But when you look at a sport that is measured in hundredths of seconds, and probably should be measured in thousandths, these decisions make all the difference. Between 1st and 2nd, 3rd and 4th, 30th and 31st. All the placings that really matter in World Cup and all ski racing usually are decided by very small margins. So when to fly, where and when to train, when not to train, what to eat and when, hydration, sleep, when to do conditioning and what time to do so all play a role. What can inspire? What can call to question? All these things make a difference. This is what the coach does in approach to a race. To make these choices but also to take advantage of relationships, call in favors. To give their athletes the best possible chance to take advantage of their opportunities. When you do all of these things well, all you have done is give your athletes the opportunity to excel. You are not and are never guaranteeing anything, but you can help them succeed by making better decisions.
All of that being said, we are just days away from free skiing day on Friday in Aspen. Teams are spread throughout North America training and making decisions. There are some things I would most likely take into consideration. The first is geographic proximity to the race. Why? Short travel time into the race, similar snow temperatures and texture, more control over days off, avoidance of air travel to name a few. So if you were going to race in Aspen why would you fly from Europe and go to Canada to train? It's like flying from the USA or Canada and prepping for Alta Badia in Norway! But yet teams do this. And even here in Colorado you have differences. Vail is closer to the same elevation of Aspen than Loveland or Keystone. It is even closer geographically. Sleeping at higher elevations has a negative effect on recovery. Even if by only 1000 feet. My opinion is that everyone who has trained at Vail this fall is at an advantage at Aspen. Does it mean that the people training here will prevail in Aspen? No, of course not. But it does give them an advantage.
In talking to Jeff Kai, the Program Director of the Aspen Valley Ski Club, the race hill is well prepared with excellent man-made snow and they injected the hill today. The temperatures have been great here and the water will take very well. They have 2 more days to prep the surface and make it smooth for the ladies' race. I do not think it will be overly slick as their plan has been good. With good but not extreme temperatures and night and good care of the hill.
So who has trained here a lot? Poutiainen, Maze, Drev, Hoelzl, Vonn, Zettel, Kirchgasser, Schild, Leinonen. Maria Riesch just got here so she is fighting some jet lag and training. Mancuso maybe did 2 days here in the last couple weeks, Schleper? I haven't seen her here. Hometown and all... Decisions, I am not criticizing, just observing. And I am sure there is a valid reason for every single decision made and it does not make them incorrect. But it does allow for 2nd guessing.

Lake Louise and Aspen... here we come!

We are 5 days from the GS free ski on the race hill in Aspen for the girls. The boys arrive in Lake Louise on Tuesday. A lot is about to happen here in the ski racing world in North America.
World Cup DH staff and skiers are making their way to Lake Louise from their training venues in order to arrive there before the first Team Captain's Meeting on Tuesday evening. The World Cup DH boys are headed to Lake Louise Tuesday to start the first training run on Wednesday. Three training runs are scheduled for Lake Louise, primarily because it is early season and everyone can use a few extra DH runs to figure out skis and other equipment issues. Not to mention figure out the line on the downhill. The boys and staff will settle in quickly on Tuesday afternoon, do some recovery work and start watching video almost immediately. Putting together archived video of previous races so the guys can see how they executed in the past and who executed better and what they might have done differently. Also, serious discussion happens, lead by the most experienced downhillers to help educate the younger guys and to analyze with the coaches what led to certain difficulties the previous season. The athletes at that level are the best analysts of their problems and successes. Of why results or lack of them happened. Along with the extra pairs of eyes the coaches provide, it ends up being a collaborative experience. As long as everyone is as objective as possible and set ego and feelings aside.
Lake Louise is considered a downhiller's downhill. Very fast in spots, a lot of tucking and tuck turns and the technical sections are still at high speed. Guts has it's role here for sure. But there are a few little glitches along the way that can cause consternation. The Fishnet and C turns always pack a little G force and the Gunbarrel coming off a steep pitch to a flat, narrow section has a nice compression. The trail then bends to the left and crosses under the chair before making the turn to the right in Claire's Corner. Then it rolls and glides to the finish. But Claire's can be tricky and guys can blow the race there by going in too straight, or even worse, applying left ski pressure too late. As one of my favorite cliches goes, "You can't win it here, but you definitely can lose it."
There are 3 training runs in Lake Louise which seems like a ton of time to figure things out. But teams work hard to get the line right on day one. At least as close to perfect as possible to try to adjust for the next day. With 7 cameras on the hill during training, the US Ski Team staff will be knitting video camera views together to watch full runs of each athlete as well as everyone else who was top 3 in any split. Or run winners. So after everyone gets back to the hotel, eats lunch (late) and does their dryland and recovery, they sit down to another hour or 2 of video to make a plan for the next day's attempt.
One of the cooler things about Lake Louise is that the girls race on the same track the following week. The FIS and race organizer do some things to change it. They attempt to soften the surface (usually without success) and they set some different gates that control speed in different places on the hill. Maybe they lower the start a little. But it is essentially the same track and Lake Louise is the only place that happens in DH.
I am in Colorado and most of the women's teams are here in Vail. They are here getting ready for the tech starts in Aspen. We had the good fortune to share the hill with Lindsey Vonn, Tanja Poutiainen(FIN), Tina Maze(FIN), Michaela Kirchgasser(AUT) and Kathrin Zettel(AUT) today among other solid World Cuppers. Lindsey had her own space and was fine tuning for the Aspen GS. Maybe testing some skis, ramp angles or mounting points.
Tina trained GS next to us with Sanni Leinonen(FIN), Ana Drev(SLO) and a few others. Tine Maze looked great on the hill. I have seen her ski a lot over the last 8 years and she looked very strong today. Physically as well as technically.
Kirchgasser and Zettel trained slalom and were very solid and relaxed. If they take that kind of skiing into the slalom at Aspen, they will be highly competitive.
And last, Tanja Poutiainen was free skiing on both sets of equipment.
And I want to make a few points about what I saw.
1. She was definitely trying to feel out some canting and ramp issues. The good thing about her is that her service guy speaks German and she speaks Finnish, so they speak English to each other. Much easier for me to understand.
2. When she skied GS she skied in her GS stuff. GS boots, GS poles, GS helmet, etc. When she skied on slalom skis it was the same deal. Slalom boots, slalom helmet, slalom poles. Attention to detail, over and over and over again.
3. She is in a great mood after her good start early but is keeping it all in perspective. Saying things like: "It's a long season." " I only think about the next race." All one day at a time type stuff. Watch out, she is skiing very well, making a very strong weight transfer when free skiing to create bend in the new turning ski with total control of the where and when.
So here we are, 3 days from the first training run of the first DH of the season and 6 days from the Aspen GS. A lot going on to get ready. I am sure the equipment adjustment game is on. The high and dry Colorado snow, even when injected, is totally different from the it's European cousin. Much drier, more easily carvable, better grip. So edges can be less aggressive, cants can be adjusted, ramp angles can change, or even pick a different pair of skis. To adjust for the .01 that gets you the win or into the flip.
More coming! Ladies' Aspen preview should be up by Thursday and the Lake Louise DH should get a preview after training run 2 or 3. Thanks for reading!

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!!!!!!!!!!

Levi Women's Preview, Size Matters.

While certainly not the only ingredient for success at Levi, size has played a role in the results over the years in Levi. As has been mentioned in the previous blogs, Levi is a flat hill, with a long flat out of the start and another long one at the bottom after a steep, then moderate middle pitch.
When you put the hill profile together with the course setters, you get a recipe for carving style slalom and higher speeds. Just the pure impact of the gates at higher race speeds gives the advantage to the bigger girls. They can pound through the block with less disruption, then can carve slightly larger radius turns and are will not likely be required to be too quick on the pitches. And it just goes to common sense that they would be able to grip better on a slick surface.
Both course setters have set close to the minimum turns at other venues and both have very tall slalom skiers on their squads.
The result history backs this up. Last year's winner was Lindsey Vonn, 2007 was re-scheduled to Reiteralm, AUT. 2006 was won by Marlies Schild who is fairly tall as well. Prior to that, the Levi race was a women's only event in the late season with 2 races per visit. Those races were won by Kostelic, Paerson, Poutiainen and Maria Riesch. All of whom have size on their side. Last year, Maria Pietilae-Holmner was 2nd and Riesch was 3rd. The only really "small" girl with a podium on this hill is Kathrin Zettel (AUT) who is truly tiny. But I would argue is one of the best carvers of a slalom ski on the women's tour.
So does that mean that only the bigger girls have a chance? No, of course not, it is a ski race and we all know that anything can happen. Start numbers, fog, wind, snow, rain, a funky course set. The possibility of anything happening is part of the fun. "That's why they play the games" as one NFL analyst is prone to say.

FRONT RUNNERS:
Maria Riesch (GER): 3 podiums with 1 win in the last 6 starts in Levi. With good product on her feet, I think she is a contender again. Her coach sets run 1. She should get out to a good start and could hold on if the conditions are good on run 2.
And don't forget, she is the reigning World Champ in slalom.
Maria Pietilae-Hlomner (SWE): Maria was 2nd last year in Levi. I do think racing in Scandanavia will help the Swede this weekend. She is good enough and will have a top 7 start number. For her to get a win here she will need to ski a perfect race. Full speed, no mistakes, smart tactics.
Sarka Zahrobska (CZE): I think Sarka is a good slalom skier with a lot of opportunity to win this season. I just don't think it is here. She is a notoriously slow starter to the season and has had very little success in Levi.
Kathrin Zettel (AUT): As I mentioned earlier, she is a great skier. One of the best carvers of slalom turns on the women's tour. Very consistent and very quick. She truly needs to risk to overtake some of the bigger girls on this hill but she can do it.
Sandrine Aubert (FRA): Watch out for her. Very tall girl and coming off a roll at the end of last season. She won the last 2 World Cups and was leading the World Champs SL after run 1. I am sure the pressure was just too much racing at home in France but she showed her ability on a tough hill in Val d'Isere and went on after that to put up the 2 wins. I think she is primed to move into the slalom elite along with Maria Riesch, Mrs. Vonn, ET AL.
Anja Paerson (SWE): I know this is not the most popular opinion, but I just don't think she has much left in the tank. She won her first World Cup in December 1998 in Mammoth and has been going at it in 4 events pretty much ever since. 11 years is a long time on that tour, plus factor in 4 event skiing in the winter and all the days on snow in the preparation period to be ready to ski 4 events. I am not buying into her as a contender in slalom anymore. She might be able to steel herself for a push for one last Olympics, but I have been watching her fade a little at a time the last couple of seasons and slalom is usually the first to go. I will continue to count her out until she gets the job done.
Tanja Poutiainen (FIN): Never count out the home country! The Levi fans, while only about 5,000 in number, are extremely vocal. They are very loyal and proud of the home team as well as highly lubricated. They will push her to a good finish. I do think she can win and is riding high after the win in Soelden.
OTHERS TO WATCH:
Frida Hansdottir (SWE): A strong end to 2009 and racing in Scandanavia. She could get something done.
Ana Jelusic (CRO): She has a top 5 here in the past but her lack of size will work against her. It puts her in the high risk/reward category.
Therese Borssen (SWE): Again, a strong finish to the season last year and some decent results in the past at Levi. Scandanavian racing is different and there is some history for the Swedes, Norwegians and Finns getting strong results above the Arctic Circle. The snow is just different and the light is very, well...not light.
A few others to look for are Fanny Chmelar(GER), Susanne Riesch (GER) and Sanni Leinonen (FIN). The 2 German girls and very big and strong with their coach setting run 1. And Susanne had her first big World Cup breakthrough on this hill in 2006. Both Fanny and Susanne will start in the top 15. Sanni is at home and is a crowd favorite.

AMERICANS:
Lindsay Vonn: It is tremendously hard to pick a winner. There are so many variables involved as mentioned above. Plus, add that Lindsey recently switched ski companies late in the prep period. I am not sure she really knows what the skis will do. But, that being said, she is very professional and very focused in all areas and can certainly figure that out quickly. Her dedication will be on display throughout the season in 5 disciplines as she fights to retain the overall World Cup globe and earn an Olympic gold or two on the way. I do think Lindsey will defend her Levi win from last season and win this one too.
I do have one criticism however. And I do know that there are bigger things out there this season than the Levi slalom in mid-November. She had to come back to the states after Soelden to do the promo tour. I hope she got herself back to Europe early enough to fight the jet-lag.
In 2006, when Soelden was canceled, we took our team home to the USA and had training on our "private" slope in Keystone. We had injection for slalom. To shorten the story, the boys never could sleep through the night once we arrived in Levi. The jet-lag was the worst any of us had ever had. And we did not recover in time for the race. 3 of the 4 boys did not qualify while Jimmy did well, finishing 15th.
I think Lindsey got over there earlier than we did in that scenario and can find a way to overcome that issue.
As I said before, I do have confidence in her to get it done and win it again.

Resi Steigler: Resi will be racing on her 24th birthday. It is my birthday too but not my 24th! I think she has a great chance to start her comeback in slalom if her start number is decent. It is a great hill for her as she can take that full-attack style to the hill and make it cleanly to the finish.
Hailey Duke: Hailey had a great season last year. She is sitting in 28th on the current World Cup Start List in slalom which is great news for her. The only negative is that she is not 100%. She is nursing an ankle injury.
Sterling Grant: Sterling has a great opportunity with a high 30s or low 40s start number. The snow usually holds up very well in Levi so she will have a shot at getting a second run.
Kaylin Richardson and Sarah Schleper round out the American effort in Levi but with very poor start numbers, I do not expect a lot.
Julia Mancuso: As far as I know, she is not starting in Levi. No comment on that, yet.

CANADIANS:
With Anna Goodman leading the way and starting in the low to mid-20s, it will be tough for them to get a lot done. Anna had her best result at Levi last season finishing 23rd. She had a solid year last year and did her best racing toward the end of the World Cup season. At this point, I do not know who else will be racing but based on world rank I can only guess that Marie-Michelle Gagnon and Brigitte Acton will be their other starters.

The podium?
Vonn, Poutiainen, Aubert.

More to come, stay tuned!

Soelden: Women's Preview

Look on the calendar and it is 3 days away. What is going on in Soelden? What are the teams doing? How are they acting? What is happening with hill prep? And who are the girls to watch?
Soelden: The weather is iffy and all the coaches and athletes know it. The FIS is acutely aware of their situation. The forecast is for a cool night tonight and very cold tomorrow night. That is the good news. The bad news is that there is a slight warming trend into the weekend. With barely freezing temperatures at night and warm and sunny during the day. Will the hill break down? Probably. But FIS will try to get a preemptive strike against mother nature by trying to freeze the piste as hard as they can!
FIS will inject the hill, possibly twice to take advantage of the cold night on Thursday. They have already done it once and will likely do it again so there is water in the hill and near the surface on Thursday. If is gets warm on Friday, they will cancel the free ski on the race hill to try to preserve the surface. If this weather forecast holds true, the hill will break down in the afternoon of the women's race and likely re-freeze for Sunday. Leaving a very bumpy, icy surface in the morning on Sunday and a broken down, rutted, bumpy and dark 2nd run for the boys.
The athletes are tapering their training down, making some last minute ski selections if necessary, going to press conferences. Some are trying on new uniforms. The coaches are scrambling around getting boots and skis measured, suits plombed and figuring out how to get the athletes to the bib draw on time through the crazy traffic in Soelden. 20,000 fans on a glacier with only 1 way in and out? Tough traffic.
MY 7 FAVORITES:
Katrin Zettel(AUT): I think she is the favorite. She has great start position and a good draw will nail it down. She has steadily improved since October 2005. She was 5th that year, 3rd in 2007 and won last year. Same course setters as last year, which will help her cause.
Tanja Poutiainen (FIN): Very solid skier with good history on the hill and with the course setters. Top 5 in 4 of the last 5 races in Soelden. The down-side? If she wins the first run, she will not win the race. Not a great leader going into run 2. I also think she misses her former coach, Michael Bont.
Andrea Fischbacher (AUT): 3rd last year. 5th in 2005. She is not that consistent but when she is confident she can let it rip.
Tina Maze (SLO): 2 wins on this hill. Very up and down from year to year. From all reports out of Slovenia, she is on her game so look for a big show from her. A lot of time on snow this summer but only in Europe on glaciers? Good for Soelden, maybe not so good later in the year?
Niki Hosp (AUT): Part of the famous 3-way tie in October, 2002 with Maze and Flemmen. It was her rookie year on the World Cup and I think she can regain that form. A lot of Men's team coaches were switched to the Women's side in Austria this year and I think it has helped her skiing. From all reports she is healthy again. Start number will hurt.
Denise Karbon (ITA): My favorite female GS skier with Lara Gut out of the field. I think that when Denise is on, she will win. She can get on a roll and keep it going like no other. She is traditionally strong on men's hills, as Soelden is. And if they get the surface very hard, it is even more in her favor. My pick to win.
Viktoria Rebensburg (GER): Young up and comer and I think a dark horse to win this race. I think she has a real chance of making a big splash this season in GS.

THE AMERICANS:
Lindsey Vonn: Great all around skier. Very professional. Hard working. I cannot say enough positive about Lindsey's approach to the sport and to her professional life. Her GS has improved a great deal in the last year and a half but I think the podium is asking a lot of her in GS. 7th-10th place is my guess, and I think she should be happy with that with the late ski company switch. Remember what comes with that. Every time she looked down, put her skis on, picked up her skis, walked into the ski room for HER ENTIRE LIFE, the skis said Rossignol. Now they say Head. New service man. Should it matter? No. But sometimes it does. It will be interesting to watch.

Julia Mancuso: She definitely lost her way after the magical 2006 season.
She was 2nd in the Soelden GS in 2007. The word on the street is that she is "rededicated." We'll see, but I wouldn't bet on her. Not this early in the season with only one top 5 on this hill in her career. Start number will not help.
Sarah Schleper: I hope Sarah can find her old form. She was out for a while and has now had a year to get back into the fold and get moving up the WCSL. She is 44 on the WCSL and 41 on the FIS list. Tough move from there to the top 30 if the course starts to break up.
Resi Steigler: Resi stands in 37th on the FIS list. It means she only needs to move up 7 spots to get a 2nd run. She has been out of World Cup GS for a long time and Soelden is a potentially rude welcome back. I think this is a race for Resi to get her feel back and be used to starting World Cup GS again. She can do it, but it is a stretch.
Megan McJames: Megan is an excellent young skier. Tons of talent and a technically solid skier. She really has great potential in GS. The main obstacle in Soelden is her start number. While she holds 36 on the WCSL, this is a double bummer. First of all, skiers outside the 30 are seeded by FIS points. Her FIS rank is 63. To add a little insult to that, 31-35 ranked on the WCSL are protected to starting right after 45 if ranked worse than 45 on the FIS list. This is a problem in that she did not score enough WC points to get into the 30 AND did not get good FIS point scores at Europa Cup and NorAm Cup to start earlier on the FIS list. Or, she did not get the opportunity to do so? Regardless, Megan has a tall order to get into the 30. Hopefully she finishes 29 or 30, gets a clean 2nd run and can reproduce her 14th place from last year. She is certainly a good enough skier to do it.
Jess Kelley: Healthy? Starting 55 or so? Tall order for Jess. She will need to toughen up and get it done. Simple as that.

THE CANADIANS:
Sorry, not this week. Not starting any girls in the top 30 is bad news in Soelden. Christina Lustenberger at 32 is the best number. But Marie-Michelle Gagnon at 38 is their best shot at scoring points. She is their best skier and only 20 years old.

Other skiers to look for: Kathrin Hoelzl (GER), Michaela Kirchgasser (AUT) and Tessa Worley (FRA). All 3 of these girls are very strong competitors and have the mental toughness to compete on a tough hill like Soelden.

Alpine Race Consulting will be presenting at Mt. Hood Community College and Seattle Pacific University this weekend at the PSIA-NW Fall Seminars. Men's preview tomorrow!