Women alpiners test Val d'Isere World Champ site

Val d'Isère and the French Ski Federation (FFS) invited the world's top 30 FIS ranked skiers, plus one skier per nation registered with the FIS, to ski timed training runs on the Rhône-Alpes slope on Solaise, the mountain where the women's FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 events will be held. Along with the French women's team, teams from Italy, Germany, USA, Spain, Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland accepted the invitation to test last weekend and early this week.
VAL D'ISERE and the French Ski Federation (FFS) invited the world's top 30 FIS ranked skiers, plus one skier per nation registered with the FIS, to ski timed training runs on the Rhône-Alpes slope on Solaise, the mountain where the women's FIS Alpine World Ski Championships 2009 events will be held. Along with the French women's team, teams from Italy, Germany, USA, Spain, Slovenia, Austria and Switzerland accepted the invitation to test last weekend and early this week.
    The Rhône-Alpes slope has undergone considerable changes, especially in the lower section, since it was tested in competition during the 2007 French national championships. The World Cup events that were to serve as the official test races last December had to be cancelled due to lack of snow. With great snowfall later in the season, however, this week's speed training sessions were held in ideal conditions.
    FIS Chief Race Director for the women, Atle Skaardal together with Jan Tischhauser, FIS Race Director, also inspected the slope on the weekend and expressed their satisfaction with the modified courses and work done by the team in Val d'Isere to enable the teams' training. One of the topics under review included the staging of the women's super combined slalom during the championships on Solaise rather than the men's Bellevarde slope. A possible course could be set at the foot of the Mur Firmin below the virage Russi, which would allow for more flexibility for the men's downhill preparation on the Face on Bellevarde. A decision will be made shortly.