If everything goes according to plan, the first alpine event of the 2018 PyeongChang Games will be the men’s downhill held Sunday, February 11 (more specifically, Saturday, February 10 at 9p.m. ET). Arguably, it is the marquee event of the entire Winter Olympics, the downhill almost needs no introduction.

The track in Jeongseon is unique in that it lacks the high-speed, rattle-ridden nature of some of the classic venues on the World Cup in favor of large, sweeping turns, slower speeds, and big jumps. The Jeongseon track has faced some criticism from racers, saying the track is too easy for a real downhill, while others insist that what it may lack in difficulty only makes fast skiing more of a challenge.

“Downhill is [called] downhill because you must go 130-160 kph,” Italian Christof Innerhofer said after his first trip down at the test event two years ago. “When you see the speed and you see 96 kph, a lot of people will say, ‘What is this for downhill? I can do this, too.’ This is a little bit sad.”

“It’s not like Kitzbuehel,” added American Downhiller Bryce Bennett this week. “It’s not like Garmisch or Wengen, which are pretty difficult. Good skiing is really, really going to show here. It is easy but it’s challenging because it is a little bit easy. You have to approach it like that.”

With three training runs in the books down the Jeongseon Alpine Center, it’s been a mixed bag of sorts with three different pace setters, two different lengths, and changing course conditions all making the outlook for Sunday’s race far less clear-cut than what you might see at a regular-season World Cup.

Bennet airs it out on one of the many Jeongseon jumps. Image Credit: GEPA pictures/Andreas Pranter

After the opening training run provided ultra-reactive snow conditions and frigid temperatures, high winds forced the lowering of the second training run to the super-G start, with the third and final training tun on Saturday once again taking place from the full-length start.

One constant, however, has been Norway’s Kjetil Jansrud. The Attacking Viking was runner-up in all three training runs and also won the test event in Jeongseon in 2016. If this trend continues, look for the 32-year-old to seriously contend for downhill gold on race day.

The weather outlook is not the best for a Sunday race, however, with high winds expected through the start of next week. There are several contingency plans in place if the race cannot happen on Sunday, with potential race days on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday of next week all options dependent on weather and IOC schedule approval.

Who’s in the hunt?

“There’s 10 potential winners, and then add another five guys or more who could medal,” explained Norwegian superstar Aksel Lund Svindal after the final training run, and he’s not wrong.

Along with Jansrud and Svindal, Swiss reigning World Champion and current World Cup downhill leader Beat Feuz has shown some serious speed in-between his line experiments and will be eager to continue to ride his current wave of momentum to a career-first Olympic medal. Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr has shown flashes of greatness all season and his rock-solid technique combined with the winning time in the final training run solidly puts him into consideration for a dark-horse medal pick. Beyond that, take your pick of the top downhillers in the wold. It’s really anyone’s race to take and that’s what makes the Olympics so exciting.

The American Downhillers

There’s no denying that the American team took a serious hit this season with the injuries to Steven Nyman and Travis Ganong sidelining the duo for the Games. Both are World Cup winners and Nyman found the podium in the Jeongseon test event two years ago, finishing third. With two medal hopes out, who is willing to step up and carry the flag?

“I’m stoked with the progress the guys are making on the hill,” said head men’s coach Sasha Rearick. “It’s been tough to really judge exactly what’s going on because there’s been headwinds, tailwinds, and stuff like that so it’s been a lot of work for our staff to really do a full analysis of the hill. The big challenge is going to be getting yourself ready mentally and keeping the focus with potentially not racing over several days. The guys have been challenging each other and supporting each other in a great way.”

Bennett has been jiving with the Jeongseon track all week and has led the Americans in two of the three training runs with top-10 finishes in all three. Although it might be a stretch to say that Bennett is in the hunt for a medal, the 6’7″ Californian has been a rock-solid performer all season on the World Cup and just might turn a few heads in his Olympic debut.

“I’m feeling pretty good; I had three pretty good training runs,” Bennett said on Saturday. “I think today was a day to kind of get some nerves out and test out your plan a little bit. I didn’t execute perfectly but I think if I can put all the pieces together come race day, we’ll see.”

“There’s sections that I can take advantage of,” he continued. “The traverse up top, I can absorb this bump that’s throwing people farther down the hill and stay a little closer to the ground on the jumps and use (my height) to my advantage. It helps to be tall.”

The rest of the American contingent of Jared Goldberg, Wiley Maple, and Thomas Biesemeyer have all shown promise in the training runs as well with marked improvements day to day. Goldberg finished a solid eighth on Saturday and was en route to some impressive finishes in Wengen and Kitzbuehel in January before untimely crashes sent him out of contention. Could one of the American Downhillers spoil the favorites’ podium party on race day? Your guess is as good as mine.

To see full downhill training results, click here.

Who are your picks for the men’s Olympic downhill? Let us know in the comments below!