Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud on his way to the fastest training run of the day in Lake Louise. GEPA

LAKE LOUISE, Canada – The men’s World Cup speed season got rolling Wednesday with the first of three downhill training runs in Lake Louise, Alberta. In recent weeks, the Canadian resort enjoyed low temperatures and was able to bring all snowmaking efforts to the racecourse, which is in prime condition, according to FIS reports.

Despite light snowfall and low visibility, today’s training run was the first opportunity for racers to ski a course set by new FIS Speed Race Director Hannes Trinkl. A former speed skier for Austria, Trinkl earned a victory and second-place finish in Lake louise in 1999 and 2002. He modified the downhill line used by FIS Speed Race Director Helmuth Schmalzl, and the skiers seemed to appreciate the change.

Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud, a double medalist in Sochi and overall hopeful this season, got the season off on the right foot, clocking the fastest run of the day with a time of 1 minute, 54.21 seconds. Meanwhile, Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis, who won the super G in Lake Louise in 2009, was second quickest, just over a half-second off the pace of Jansrud.

“The new course set has been awesome, it’s not faster yet it feels a lot more like downhill and allows you to tuck a lot more,” said Osborne-Paradis after the training run. “That’s what I like. It’s quite different, with more doubles and open gates in some areas. Tactically, it has been set very well where there is some great singles on the flats that slow you down so that the speed is really not much higher while the whole course skis a lot more like a downhill,”

There was great news for Olympic gold medalist Matthias Mayer, who not more than six weeks ago was sidelined due to a tear of the MCL in his right knee as well as a spinal contusion. Evidently, it will be a quick comeback for the Austrian, who finished the day in third place, 0.71 seconds behind the Norwegian.

Steven Nyman, wearing Bib 46, led the way for the Americans in 15th position, while Travis Ganong finished a bit further back in 22nd. Also finishing the run were Wiley Maple in 26th, Bryce Bennett in 28th, Marco Sullivan in 30th, Jared Goldberg in 62nd and Tanner Farrow in 75th. Andrew Weibrecht, Tommy Biesemeyer and the temporarily injured Ted Ligety did not start.

First training runs are certainly not always the best predictors of what can be expected on race day, but today carried extra importance, as the weather forecast for Thursday and Friday might pose some challenges. Luckily, the predicted storm should move on from Lake Louise Friday, and a beautiful sunny weekend is expected for the first speed races of the season.

Release courtesy of FIS

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