Around the Web: Albrecht, Buechel and Hermann Maier

A photo in Blick shows Daniel Albrecht, smiling, on a home trainer cycling machine. In a separate article photo he stands clasping hands with teammate Carlo Janka. These are, Blick says, the first published photos of Albrecht since his Jan. 22 crash at Kitzbuehel. He remained in an induced coma for three weeks while medical officials worked to stabilize his condition. While it is still too early to determine if he will be able to return to the World Cup, he is apparently well on his way to recovery.

Blick also reports Marco Buechel, the second oldest man on the World Cup circuit, will return next season with his eye on the 2010 Olympics. He has already participated in five Olympics and 10 world championships. The Liechtensteiner has been racing World Cup since 1991 but told Blick, “I love this sport and still feel fully efficient.” He is the oldest winner in World Cup history having won a super G at Kitzbuehel in January 2008 at 36 years and three months.

Speaking of old guys, the Austrian Standard is reporting 36 year old Hermann Maier has had arthoscopic surgery on his right knee. A mirco-fracture of bone was discovered and a free floating piece of cartilage removed. Maier has not yet decided, the Standard says, if he will race next season.A photo in Blick shows Daniel Albrecht, smiling, on a home trainer cycling machine. In a separate article photo he stands clasping hands with teammate Carlo Janka. These are, Blick says, the first published photos of Albrecht since his Jan. 22 crash at Kitzbuehel. He remained in an induced coma for three weeks while medical officials worked to stabilize his condition. While it is still too early to determine if he will be able to return to the World Cup, he is apparently well on his way to recovery.

Blick also reports Marco Buechel, the second oldest man on the World Cup circuit, will return next season with his eye on the 2010 Olympics. He has already participated in five Olympics and 10 world championships. The Liechtensteiner has been racing World Cup since 1991 but told Blick, “I love this sport and still feel fully efficient.” He is the oldest winner in World Cup history having won a super G at Kitzbuehel in January 2008 at 36 years and three months.

Speaking of old guys, the Austrian Standard is reporting 36 year old Hermann Maier has had arthoscopic surgery on his right knee. A mirco-fracture of bone was discovered and a free floating piece of cartilage removed. Maier has not yet decided, the Standard says, if he will race next season.

Italian racer Massimiliano Blardone tells Reuters his national team is suffering from a lack of funding. “Our federation has many strong skiers, but it doesn’t manage to market the value of the athletes in the best way,” the giant slalom ace is quoted. “We hope that next season we can get some good training in because at a federal level it is quite difficult, as everyone knows,” he concluded.

By way of contrast, Skionline.ch reports the Swiss federation has just signed a two million franc agreement with Alpig’s AG a major player in the Swiss energy industry. Swiss Ski president Urs Lehmann said, according to Skionline, Alpig will serve to replace Audi, which has diminished its participation.

According to All-Sport news agency, Russian skiing champion Natalia Matveeva tested positive for the blood booster EPO at a World Cup event in Canada in January.

The agency quotes Mateveeva’s coach Tatyana Revina as saying, “It must be a mistake because I know Natalia does not use any doping. We will just have to wait for the B-sample to by analyzed in the next day or two.”

According to the AP a land swap between the state of New Hampshire and the federal government will enable the state-owned Cannon Mountain to expand by about 100 acres. The swap will allow the transfer of the former Mittersill ski area, adjacent to Cannon and the agreement calls for no development outside of the existing footprint of Mittersill’s trails and lift line. Mittersill has been closed since 1989.

There has been no indication yet if the eruptions at Mount Redoubt south of Anchorage, Alaska will cause concern for the conducting of the U.S. Alpine Championships at Alyeska, just up the inlet. Experts report at LiveScience more eruptions could be coming.