Are: Can U.S. racers stop the Paerson Express?

U.S. women’s head speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser isn’t ready to hand sizzling Swede Anja Paerson the gold medal in downhill. He’s got two thoroughbreds in his stable of racers for Sunday’s event who are more than capable of stopping the Paerson Express at these World Championships.
     Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow sit 2-3 in the World Cup downhill standings — ahead of Paerson in fourth — and both already have earned medals in Are. Both had a good day of rest on Saturday to recover from Friday’s super combined, and slightly warmer temperatures forecast for Sunday should help speed up the course.
    All that may not bring the two-time Are gold medalist Paerson back down to earth, but someone is capable of slowing her down, right?
     “We’ll try,” Hoedlmoser said with a smile on Saturday night.
ARE, Sweden — U.S. women’s head speed coach Alex Hoedlmoser isn’t ready to hand sizzling Swede Anja Paerson the gold medal in downhill. He’s got two thoroughbreds in his stable of racers for Sunday’s event who are more than capable of stopping the Paerson Express at these World Championships.
    Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow sit 2-3 in the World Cup downhill standings — ahead of Paerson in fourth — and both already have earned medals in Are. Both had a good day of rest on Saturday to recover from Friday’s super combined, and slightly warmer temperatures forecast for Sunday should help speed up the course.
    All that may not bring the two-time Are gold medalist Paerson back down to earth, but someone is capable of slowing her down, right?
     “We’ll try,” Hoedlmoser said with a smile on Saturday night.
    The U.S. will start Mancuso, Kildow, Kirsten Clark and Stacey Cook in Sunday’s downhill. Heavy fog canceled all ski racing Saturday in Are, including the men’s downhill and the final training run for the women. Hoedlmoser said Clark and Cook were both scheduled to train Saturday, but he’s not concerned with their fitness for the course.  
    “They know where to go,” he said. “They had an inspection this morning, which was good. So it wasn’t totally worthless all day long,” adding that both have been refining their technique through video study.
    Mancuso and Kildow both have had plenty of contact with the technical WM Strecke course that measures 2,236 meters and drops 659 meters top to bottom. Racers will reach a top speed of 110 kilometers per hour.
    “The top starts with pretty cool 180-degree turn, then you go across a little sidehill into a chute which is pretty technical because there are a lot forces there and then you go into a traverse,” Mancuso said. “Then in the middle section, there are some sweeping turns which are technical and fast.
    “Then it goes around the corner and into the shadows off a big jump. Then there’s a big jump into the finish. It’s pretty technical, but it’s short so you have to nail every single section.”
    Mancuso said she continually flew too far on the course’s jumps in the super combi and would look to stay grounded longer Sunday. Hoedlmoser said that will be difficult.
    “She’s really light. She’s like a ski jumper, that’s why she flies so far,” he said. “Her jumping technique is actually really, really good. She’s an awesome jumper. There’s a reason all the ski jumpers are light. She’s going to tuck into the jumps as far as she can and just go for it.”
     Hoedlmoser said Kildow nailed the course in the super combined outside of a mistake shortly after the gate where she caught an edge. “That killed her speed. She just wasn’t over that ski and it broke loose,” Hoedlmoser said. “That’s an easy fix; it’s just body position. She’s going to carry so much more speed into the next sections, and at the bottom she was right in the hunt [in the super combined].”
    Hoedlmoser acknowledged that Saturday’s fog and slightly higher temperatures may make the course run a bit faster — and in turn may slow Paerson a bit.
    “We know Paerson has some wicked fast equipment here. But conditions have actually changed and I’m totally psyched about that,” he said. “[The course] should be a little faster and that’s just going to help out our girls, they’re fearless. And Paerson, when it gets a little too fast, she tends to back off if the jumps go a little too far.”

Hoedlmoser: Clark could pull off a surprise 
    U.S. veteran Kirsten Clark could change what has been a lackluster season by her standards by collecting the second worlds medal of her career on Sunday. Clark, who will turn 30 in a few months, delayed retirement and came back to the World Cup this year because last season didn’t turn out as well as she’d hoped.
    This season, she’s failed to register a top-10 finish in seven downhills but she can handle the pressure of a World Championships. She finished second in super G at St. Moritz in 2003, but the tore ligaments in both knees and broke a wrist in a crash the next season and hasn’t fully regained her past form.
    “You never know with her. She’s been around long enough that if she decides to put one down she can be in there,” Hoedlmoser said. “If the equipment is right, there’s definitely a chance.”
    The weather forecast calls for clear and sunny conditions for the women’s race, which Hoedlmoser said should help Clark “go out and charge.”
    “She’s been skiing with Lindsey and Julia the whole year, and they’ve had so many training runs together and she was right in the hunt with them,” he continued. “She knows she can be there. She’s totally capable of doing it.”