Around the Web

On this week's excursion around the web I found some great quotes and updates on Moscow, Marlies Schild, Silvan Zurbriggen, Hermann Maier, Kalle Palander, Bode Miller and the women ski jumper's position with the International Olympic Committee.

On this week's excursion around the web I found some great quotes and updates on Moscow, Marlies Schild, Silvan Zurbriggen, Hermann Maier, Kalle Palander, Bode Miller and the women ski jumper's position with the International Olympic Committee.

Swiss site www.skionline.ch quotes Austrian women's coach Hubert Mandl saying " (Nicole) Hosp is stronger in the speed disciplines than Vonn in the technical."
Bad timing. He was interviewed just before Lindsey Vonn won the opening slalom.
The site also has a report on the ramp construction for the promotional slaloms in Moscow, Jan. 2. The race will take place at Moscow State University, in the middle of the city, with the top ten slalom skiers after Val d'Isere's Dec. 14 race invited. Several stars are also scheduled to appear, including Bode Miller, Hermann Maier and Aksel Svindal.

Kitzbuehel's slalom will be on the same old hill, but with a new stadium and a 50square meter video screen. The start was raised up the hill a bit.

Austrian slalom champion Marlies Schild had another operation this past week on her blown knee. The 30-minute procedure included the removal of two pins to speed healing. Schild says she has "made friends with the situation," and reports she is progressing well, spending three hours a day on rehab.

The Swiss seem excited about the showing of Silvan Zurbriggen at Levi (fourth). It was his first race back after a devastating crash at Val Gardena last December. He had been told he would never again be a world-class athlete but trained with soccer pros before returning to the slopes and more routine training with the Swiss men.

Blick also provides a great quote from Bode Miller's Swiss coach Fritz Zueger. “I gave my life to skiing, I love this job. And if I may observe an ingenious ski (racer) such as Bode Miller very closely on the runway, I get chicken skin. And that is worth more to me than a large salary."

Hermann Maier will travel to North America after all, following speculation he might skip the events at Lake Louise and Beaver Creek in order to rest a back with a cracked disc. According to the Austrian based derStandard, Hans Grugger may not attend the North American events, as a bacterial infection is at work in his left knee.

Kalle Palander disputed reports of retirement. The injured Pallander will miss most, if not all of this season with a stress fracture of the right leg, but told derStandard, "Naturally I will ski (race) again."

They also note Bode Miller's three large "mega" motor homes are a substantial piece of Team America’s half-million-dollar budget. The motor homes, however, will be sold at season's end.

Eurosport reports Miller publically debased the FIS dope testing procedures as being, "obnoxious" and a "violation of rights." Eurosport has a video clip of the press conference, but it is "only available in certain areas," which apparently does not include the United States.

According to Jim Morris of the Canadian Press, International Olympic Committee media relations manager Emmanuelle Moreau said in a Wednesday email that women's ski jumping will not be held at Vancouver's 2010 Winter Olympics.
"The ICO would like to stress again the decision not to include women's ski jumping has been taken purely on technical merit. Any reference to the fact that this is a matter about gender equality is totally inappropriate and misleading."
A group of competitors is taking the Vancouver organizing committee to court April 20 in an effort to get the decision overturned.
"With too few athletes competing and no world championships until one year before the Vancouver Games, women's ski jumping does not reach the necessary technical criteria," Moreau added. There are about 142 female ski jumpers registered with the international ski federation.

According to Tim Dunbar of the New Zealand Press, skier Mark Bridgewater has been forced into retirement at age 23 because of a lack of funding after Volkswagen dropped its sponsorship with Ski Racing New Zealand.
Dunbar reports SRNZ general manager Simon Mills said there would be "no dedicated national team program this summer."
Some of the athletes will continue, but Bridgewater said a season in Europe would cost his family $50,000.

In more local news, it was nice to see a reconstruction project begun on the Harris Hill ski jump in Brattleboro, Vermont. The jump was founded in 1922 and hosted the U.S. National Championships in 1923.

And finally, back to the Skionline quotes, this one from Mario Scheiber regarding the end of his four-month marriage. "I was happy up to the conclusion. However, obviously, no more."

SkiRacing.com's Senior Editor Hank McKee searches the internet high and low to compile the best and worst of what's being said about our sport around the world. Look for "Around the Web with Hank McKee" every Thursday right here at skiracing.com.