Around the Web: The iceman has arrived

“I didn’t throw up, but I was pretty nervous,” said Jan Hudec, about his forerunning duties at Lake Louise, according to Canadian journalist Eric Francis of Sun Media.

Hudec is in the final stages of recovery from a tear of his previously reconstructed right ACL as well as a fracture of his left thumb during the training run January 8, 2008 at Wengen, Switzerland, ironically, the site he expects to make his return at this season.

Carlo Janka is the big news around the European radii of the World Wide Web.

There was some fun stuff around the ski web this week:

“I didn’t throw up, but I was pretty nervous,” said Jan Hudec, about his forerunning duties at Lake Louise, according to Canadian journalist Eric Francis of Sun Media.

Hudec is in the final stages of recovery from a tear of his previously reconstructed right ACL as well as a fracture of his left thumb during the training run January 8, 2008 at Wengen, Switzerland, ironically, the site he expects to make his return at this season.

Carlo Janka is the big news around the European radii of the World Wide Web.

www.Skionline.ch, hit the nail on the head when it signed young Mr. Janka to provide an athlete blog. Not only is he now among the tour leaders, he continues to update regularly. Some good stuff in there about Janka and his take on newfound fame. “Many media became attentive to me, which for me is rather new. But at home I am still Carlo and the people around me do not change either.”

With his win in the Vald ‘Isere GS, Janka earned a trip to see Manchester United play courtesy of an agreement with manager Guisep Fry.

Newest hero Janka is apparently a pretty quiet guy. Blick’s Marcel W. Perren reports Marco Buechel saying, “Compared with Janka, Finland Formel-1-Champion Kimi Raikkönen is an absolute temper bundle and chatting ashes.

Janka’s being called “iceman,” for his coolness under pressure. His coolness has cost him in the past. He overslept one of his first international competitions at Engadin a while back.

An update on Britain’s Finlay Mickel injured in a crash at Beaver Creek from the BBC and Anna Thompson. She quotes coach Mark Tilston saying, “This is obviously very disappointing for Finlay. The prognosis is that Finlay will be on crutches for six weeks.” He fractured his right leg.

Mark Simmers, chief executive of Snowsport GB, said it was particularly frustrating for Mickel, as “he has battled so hard to recover from his injury problems last season.”

A couple of little tid-bits: Daniel Albrecht will skip Val Gardena and attempt to relaunch his season after disappointing early results; Didier Cuche is auctioning off a helmet each week with proceeds going to charity.

And from the Eurosport forums: “Did I miss something or did Eurosport come up with a blinding @#kup by not including the 2nd leg of the La Molina slalom in their program schedule but showing it anyway, or did they not show it at all. I thought it was supposed to be highlights this evening, but that turned out to be the men’s GS. Trying to work out what Eurosport intend to show, say they are going to show, and then, actually put on air, is a very bemusing affair. It doesn’t seemed to so much ‘planned’, as thrown together during their tea break!” – from skifan

Tell it like it is skifan.

Back to Canada and the busy Eric Francis who reported on Emily Brydon and her appreciation of the Lake Louise work crew. “It was a winter storm warning and I said, ‘That won’t stop the Sled Dogs’,” said Brydon of the 480 aptly named volunteer course workers who toiled tirelessly overnight to clear the course of endless snowfall. She concluded, “They did Canada proud.”

The “tests” of the 2009 World Championship site of Val d’Isere were not confined to the slopes. The transportation system was also a consideration. With the competition slopes all facing town center the anticipation the mountain village will be chocked full is high. The international ski federation (FIS) expects a record participation in Val d´Isere. President Gian Franco Kasper says messages have been received from 68 nations regarding participation. It will be the first World Championship on French ground since 1962 in Chamonix.

It hasn’t all been sunshine and flowers. The organizing committee is on its third leadership as Jean Claude Killy and Jean Paul Pierrat have both withdrawn from the top position. The total budget is about 70 million euros, with 35 million of that invested in the infrastructure.

And, we have to admire the phrasing, even in translation, from Blick a commentary on Hermann Maier. It notes that he once skied “like an indestructible monster of another planet,” and that off the piste he was “A combat drunkard and an apron chaser.”

Today, the article continued, Maier is a transformed human. “With the Herminator I have to do definitely nothing more,” it quotes Maier.