Wengen: Veterans excel, Larsson injured in training

The Lauberhorn race track at Wengen, Switzerland at more than two and three-quarter miles long, is longer than the Daytona International Speedway. It wears racers down.

The best skiers in the world run the Lauberhorn in a little over two and a half minutes.

The opening training run went to veterans familiar with the course. Wednesday’s training winner, Didier Cuche, who has run the track 10 times in World Cups. Add in training runs and any additional training the Swiss might schedule on their home hill and one has to assume he knows the nuances of the nuance filled track pretty well.

Slovene Andrej Jerman was second in the trainer, and he’s actually made the trip down the track in 11 World Cups. Swiss Didier Defago, with seven Cup trips to his credit was third.
The Lauberhorn race track at Wengen, Switzerland at more than two and three-quarter miles long, is longer than the Daytona International Speedway. It wears racers down.

The best skiers in the world run the Lauberhorn in a little over two and a half minutes.

The opening training run went to veterans familiar with the course. Wednesday’s training winner, Didier Cuche, who has run the track 10 times in World Cups. Add in training runs and any additional training the Swiss might schedule on their home hill and one has to assume he knows the nuances of the nuance filled track pretty well.

Slovene Andrej Jerman was second in the trainer, and he’s actually made the trip down the track in 11 World Cups. Swiss Didier Defago, with seven Cup trips to his credit was third.

With a combined also slated on the weekend agenda the start list was the longest of the season with 97 starters anxious to find a comfort level on the course. Five skiers elected not to start and three didn’t finish, among them Swede Markus Larsson. Two skiers following Larsson, Thomas Mermillod Blondin of France and Jono Brauer of Australia, were flagged off course, then restarted accounting for times five minutes longer than the other racers.

Larsson, a slalom skier entered for combined purposes, was not conscious after the fall at the end of the course and flown by helicopter to the hospital in nearby Interlaken. The extent of his injuries were not immediately known..

Under the current regulations the second seed of seven racers starts in the first seven slots and included four Americans and a Canadian. Scott Macartney was the first out of the starthouse perched above the tree line where the memorial for Lauberhorn founder Ernst Gertsch rests. TJ Lanning was the third starter, Canadian Jan Hudec the fourth, Steven Nyman fifth and Marco Sullivan seventh. Of them, only Sullivan finished among the top 30. At the finish Canadian Manuel Osborne-Paradis led the North Americans in fifth ahead of Bode Miller in eighth.

U.S. Head Men’s Coach Sasha Rearick watched the proceedings from roughly 100feet up a tree to gain a longer perspective. He reports the course is in excellent condition.

“It is in absolutely perfect shape,” he said. “They have done an awesome job of preparation. Every single turn is injected and for the most part – a few of them are a bit slick – but for the most part it’s grippy. It’s in fantastic shape. On top there’s not a whole lot of snow. There’s grass outside the course, so it’s a bit bumpy up there.”

He said his charges had been training off-site and were “just working in,” during the first official training run on the famous course. “I can’t tell you much until we get the video down and get a look at it.”