Are: Training stopped half way

By Published On: March 10th, 2009Comments Off on Are: Training stopped half way

In the upper reaches of Sweden, near the Norwegian border, weather is different.

It’s cold, even in March. And it’s’ wet with the mountains there squeezing out moisture gained from a sweep across the North Atlantic and refreshed by a myriad of frozen lakes.

It’s a tough place to live and an even tougher place to play.

The World Cup is gathered at Are, Sweden for the culmination of its season. So far, the weather gods are winning.

The women’s training run set for Tuesday was canceled outright early in the day. The ladies already had a trainer in the books and the priority was with the men, as usual. While there has been no storm, a thick fog seemed to form before the eyes and hung in pockets on the upper reaches of Olympia course. The fog threw up a tent and prepared to camp for a while.

Race officials got 14 of the 28-man field down the track before calling a time-out. They hoped for a re-start in the late afternoon and didn’t get it.

If it matters to you, and it shouldn’t, Werner Heel had the lead at the time and the Canadians were continuing their ways from Kvitfjell with Robbie Dixon sitting second and John Kucera fourth.In the upper reaches of Sweden, near the Norwegian border, weather is different.

It’s cold, even in March. And it’s’ wet with the mountains there squeezing out moisture gained from a sweep across the North Atlantic and refreshed by a myriad of frozen lakes.

It’s a tough place to live and an even tougher place to play.

The World Cup is gathered at Are, Sweden for the culmination of its season. So far, the weather gods are winning.

The women’s training run set for Tuesday was canceled outright early in the day. The ladies already had a trainer in the books and the priority was with the men, as usual. While there has been no storm, a thick fog seemed to form before the eyes and hung in pockets on the upper reaches of Olympia course. The fog threw up a tent and prepared to camp for a while.

Race officials got 14 of the 28-man field down the track before calling a time-out. They hoped for a re-start in the late afternoon and didn’t get it.

If it matters to you, and it shouldn’t, Werner Heel had the lead at the time and the Canadians were continuing their ways from Kvitfjell with Robbie Dixon sitting second and John Kucera fourth.

Both U.S. guys had gotten a start. Ted Ligety, the first down the hill, finished 12th and Marco Sullivan eighth. They were off driving Audi’s on a frozen lake before any decision was made about continuing the training run.

“The snow was absolutely perfect,” said Sullivan with his usual enthusiasm. “It’s fast, grippy and the course is running great. It’s really aggressive at the top. There’s some good jumps and some super high speed turns. It’s a fun hill. It’s pretty similar to the course we had at the 2007 World Championships here, but it’s just a little straighter at the top.”
 
It’s pretty much for fun now anyway. The downhill title is all but decided. Michael Walchhofer (the 14th starter and finisher in the so far aborted training run) holds a big enough lead (73pts) that he need only finish in the top 10 to ice his third Cup downhill globe. In nine downhills this season he has accomplished the top 10 six times, putting the odds in his favor. But he has not cracked the top 10 at Are, ever. His best downhill result here is 15th at the 2007 Worlds. He was 11th in World Cup action in 2006.

Klaus Kroell, the one man who can catch Walchhofer, has never raced at Are, but if momentum counts, he’s been on the podium in four of his last five races. Downhill is a two man race. The rest of Finals event will be more fun.

What could be more fun than Hermann Maier going for a sixth super G title? He leads the standings but there are seven men within 100pts of him. Aksel Svindal is just 19pts back, Didier Defago 21. Svindal won a couple of gold medals (’07 Worlds) at Are and a World Cup downhill to boot. Are has not been Defago’s cup of tea in the past, but neither had much of any place else before this season. The men haven’t race a World Cup super G since Kitzbuehel nearly two months ago.

The GS title is between Didier Cuche, Benjamin Raich and Ted Ligety. Cuche holds the best cards with a 52point edge on Raich and 73 on Ligety. Raich is the only Austrian in the hunt for the overall title, so he is unlikely to take any big risks to win this race, and Cuche is too polished to not finish making the task all but impossible for Ligety.

Slalom, the final event of the Finals, is likely to have huge implications for the overall, but Jean-Baptiste Grange has a 50pt stranglehold on the title over Ivica Kostelic. Grange, though, hasn’t won a race since Jan.6 or been on a podium since Jan. 25. He was 27th and 29th in GS and slalom at Kranjska Gora last week. He is primed to be taken down, but Kostelic may not be physically up to the job with a bad back that is not healing.

The most incredible race is for the overall title. No male has run away with the standings this season. Where Hermann Maier once accumulated 2,000 pts and where the average since then has been about 1,700, the top guys on the list have 837. Raich and Kostelic lead (they are tied) with Svindal eight points back. Svindal is likely to get the lead either in the downhill or super G and could hold it through the GS. Grange, currently sitting fourth will need to reawaken. Fifth place Cuche could easily make a push and make up the 74points he’s behind. Carlo Janka and Didier Defago will likely make it closer by the time the slalom comes around as well, but the battle should wage around the top five skiers.

While we looked up all this stuff, officials in Are voted to complete the training run tomorrow, before the race.


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About the Author: Pete Rugh