World gets up to speed at Copper Mountain

By Published On: November 22nd, 2014Comments Off on World gets up to speed at Copper Mountain
Athletes mingle at the bottom of the Speed Center at Copper Mountain, which hosted full-length super G training Friday. Mintz/SR

Athletes mingle at the bottom of the Speed Center at Copper Mountain, which hosted full-length super G training Friday. Mintz/SR

COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — What a difference two weeks make. With significant snowfall and an arctic cold front moving through the Rocky Mountains, the grassy slopes of the U.S. Ski Team’s Speed Center at Copper Mountain have been rapidly transformed into a winter wonderland, complete with full-length speed training.

For the record, the Speed Center, which is now in its fourth season of operation, went off without a hitch in 2012 and 2013 with top-to-bottom training on Nov. 1. In 2011, the project’s inaugural season, warm weather and operational delays held things up through Nov. 10. Undoubtedly, 2014 has been the most challenging early-season period for the venue with the full-length speed track finally operational on Nov. 20 (although nearly full-length and partial-length took form earlier in the month).

But now, for the droves of international racers who recently arrived, the conditions at both Copper and nearby Vail’s Golden Peak couldn’t be much better — and they couldn’t be much closer to the upcoming North American races.

So, who’s been making good use of the I-70 Corridor this week? A better question is, “Who isn’t?”

On Friday, the Americans at Copper trained alongside the Swiss, Germans, Italians, French and Norwegians, hosting the likes of Lara Gut, Viktoria Rebensburg, Dominik Paris, Alexis Pinturault and Kjetil Jansrud, to name a few. Everyone involved has had high praise for the job the U.S. Ski Team and Copper Mountain (plus Mother Nature) have done in turning things around so quickly.

“The training at Copper is essential for us, especially this year, where we focused on GS in New Zealand — and in Chile, we got great training but not a lot of volume — it was essential we get on a full downhill track,” said U.S. men’s head coach Sasha Rearick.

Rearick pointed out the track at Copper is not only up and running, but thanks to the work of Tommy Johnston and the Copper crew, it’s also been dramatically improved with more varying terrain than in past years.

“That’s something we need to practice as a team,” said Rearick. “We’ve got some easy turns, some glide turns, some air, but we also have a lot of rolls — not just one roll, but two or three in a row. Getting that is huge for us.”

As for hosting the international athletes, Rearick says it helps the U.S. team in a couple ways. Firstly, it serves as a good reality check. Having the Italian Paris, who is one of the best glide-turn skiers in the world, on course with the Americans helps set a benchmark and identifies areas where improvement is needed. Secondly, by supplying high-quality training to their competitors in November, the favor is reciprocated when the Americans return to Europe later this winter. The men’s tech team recently had an opportunity to train against the Swedes — an arrangement made possible by leveraging the Speed Center, says Rearick.

One curiosity of this training block is the relationship between Ted Ligety and Pinturault, who are now both skiing on Head equipment. The giant slalom contenders will train GS and super G together this week.

“Ligety and (Pinturault) have a good relationship,” Rearick said. “Now that Pinturault is on Head, there is more of a professional cohesion. I’m sure they’re talking much more than they did in the past. For sure, they are still competitors, but there’s a professional relationship.”

Another athlete the Americans will have their eyes on this week is the Norwegian speed specialist Jansrud, who picked up a two medals — one of them gold — in Sochi and hopes to carry that momentum into the season with his sights set on the overall chase.

“Copper is a great venue for us,” said Jansrud. “Before they built this, we didn’t have any place to go for full-length downhill training prior to Lake Louise. For sure, it’s a huge advantage. As you can see, most of the top-ranked athletes in the world are trying to get in here.”

“It’s perfect,” said Germany’s Rebensburg. “It’s such a good piste for speed training. We can’t get any better speed training than here, and it’s really close to the races (in Aspen and Lake Louise), so I really love coming here.”

With 15 years on the U.S. Ski Team under his belt, Marco Sullivan has experienced every type of prep period imaginable. And with a track record that includes two podiums at Lake Louise, where the men are set kick off the speed season next week, the team veteran, as much as anyone else, is hoping to charge into the season. But he doesn’t believe the Speed Center, one way or another, necessary translates into better results for the Americans at the season opener.

“It’s definitely been more challenging than what we’ve had the last two or three years,” Sullivan said. “We did get good training over on Main Vein, which up until three years ago, that was where we always trained speed early season. It’s definitely a little late, but everyone’s in the same boat.”

“Copper did an unbelievable job with the weather challenges,” said USSA Alpine Director Patrick Riml. “When you see how much real estate is open in the mountain right now, it’s incredible. We got it done, what we needed to, what we planned to. … I don’t have any concerns (with the venue in the future). This was a very unusual year.”

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About the Author: Geoff Mintz

Geoff Mintz is a former alpine ski racer who cut his teeth at Ragged Mountain and Waterville Valley, N.H. After graduating from Holderness and UVM, he relocated to Colorado, where he worked on the hill prior to pursuing a career in journalism. Mintz served as associate editor for Ski Racing Media from 2011 to 2015. He later reconnected with his local roots to manage all marketing and communications for Ski & Snowboard Club Vail before resuming work at SRM as editor-in-chief.