World Cup Rewind: An age-old analysis

The light at the end of the training tunnel was artificial. Racing above the Arctic Circle is an interesting prospect. Twilight is such a deceiving light. At Levi, Finland, where the 2006-07 World Cup season just opened and the sun don’t shine, Momma Nature threw in a little fog, just to make the visibility a little softer.
    The Levi Black race hill was well-lighted. Hard to run a ski area that far north without lights, so the organizers have had some experience. But for a racer with less-than-perfect eyesight, the light alone had to provide some challenges. Not to mention the first-race jitters and all that goes with opening a five-month campaign.

Editor's Note: Hank McKee will play "Monday Morning Quarterback" each Monday during the ski season, recapping the World Cup weekend that was, the studs and duds, what happened and why, and the ramifications for the chase for the crystal globes. As the season progresses, perhaps "Professor McKee" will dish out some A's and D's as performances warrant. Enjoy skiracing.com's first installment of World Cup Rewind.

THE LIGHT AT THE END of the training tunnel was artificial. Racing above the Arctic Circle is an interesting prospect. Twilight is such a deceiving light. At Levi, Finland, where the 2006-07 World Cup season just opened and the sun don’t shine, Momma Nature threw in a little fog, just to make the visibility a little softer.    
    The Levi Black race hill was well-lighted. Hard to run a ski area that far north without lights, so the organizers have had some experience. But for a racer with less-than-perfect eyesight, the light alone had to provide some challenges. Not to mention the first-race jitters and all that goes with opening a five-month campaign.
    The results sheets reveal the Austrians were well prepared to start the season, claiming both wins and four of six possible podium placings. Atomic skis did even better, with both wins and five of six podiums. Of those finishing with points, 10 were Austrian, which is no surprise. But eight were Swedish and eight more were German, which can raise an eyebrow a touch. But the Austrians split their scorers evenly between the genders. Six of the eight German point earners were female. Five of the Swedes were female.
    The Italians posted five point scorers, the homestanding Finns four and Canada, bless ’em, had three (all male) point winners. The United States, Slovenia and Norway each placed two, while once-powerful Switzerland joined Japan, Poland and Croatia with one athlete. On Monday, the Swiss tabloid Blick makes more mention of Bode Miller than of any Swiss skier. The writers aren’t even bothering to trash them anymore.
    It’s always exciting to see advances from the back of the pack. The early races are when a strong off-season usually surfaces. In the women’s event, four skiers with bibs over 32 made it to the top 20, the most notable being German Susanne Riesch with a fifth-place finish in her second World Cup start. Five of the men’s top 20 started 34th or later, including sixth-place finisher Jens Byggmark. Don’t underestimate the 17th-place finish of Jukka Leino, starting 65th, either. And, kudos to Canada’s Patrick Biggs for making the top 20 from the 53rd start.
    Popular wisdom has been that slalom is a young person’s discipline, something to do with quickness and reflexes. There have been some pretty significant exceptions, of course. Ingemar Stenmark comes immediately to mind. But young and strong has been thought to be the group with the best slalom chances. Certainly the results of the women’s World Cup race in Levi would not disprove the young-and-strong theory. More than half the field of the women finishers was 22 or younger. Just five of the racers were 26 or older. One can taste the change in the wind.
    But the men’s finishing field had just three skiers 22 or younger: Swede Byggmark, who broke into the top 10 with that sixth-place finish, Austria’s quadruple world juniors medalist Romed Baumann and Frenchman Steve Missillier. On the other side of the ledger, Thomas Grandi (eighth) and Alois Vogl (21st) are both 34. All told, seven guys among the scorers were 30 or older. The average age of the 28 finishers was 27.25.
    We make no judgment, just pointing it out.
    The Austrian women swept their podium, and it had been 16 years since the team had done that in a slalom, but it shouldn’t be that unexpected. The three women on the podium finished 2-4-6 in last season’s final slalom standings (Marlies Schild, Kathrin Zettel and Nicole Hosp, respectively). With 2006 standings winner Janica Kostelic sitting out the season and third-finishing Anja Paerson fighting back from knee surgery, the sweep wasn’t any giant leap away from predictions.
    Likewise in the men’s results; Raich is perhaps the greatest skier of the current generation. Jury’s still out on that. But he did finish third in last year’s slalom standings. Giorgio Rocca, the third-place finisher at Levi, won the slalom title last season, so he’s hardly a surprise. Even Markus Larsson — though there was some speculation about a missed gate (video replay proved inconclusive, not enough evidence to overturn the ruling on the field) — isn’t such a reach, having finished last season’s slalom standings in ninth. Stephane Tissot, fourth at Levi, was sixth at the end of last season.
    All right, maybe we will make a judgment: Experience counts. Even in slalom.