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Olsson dominates training in Val Gardena

Hans Olsson has been on the World Cup skiing tour since making his debut at the end of the 2004 season.  It has always been known that he is fast yet in the two training runs; the 27 year old from Stockholm in Sweden has put down two markers that have been defining. Olsson won the first run by 0.35 seconds and then caned the rest of the field by 1.22 seconds. Talking with Didier Cuche after the Super G in Val Gardena, Cuche could not have been more delighted for the likeable Swede: “We have all known that Hans is a great glider and that is what you need to be here,” explained Cuche. While the snow may be soft and the light not great, Olsson won from 28 in the first run and 4 in the second.

After the first training run Olsson felt that the run “went well. I wanted to jump high but because it wasn’t that fast due to the new snow, I hardly made the jump over the Camel Humps. I had a good feeling in the finish area, but feelings, as we know, can often be deceiving.” After his second run he added “I cannot explain my lead. I felt I skied very well but I can hardly believe I was so fast!” many of the other racers have been asking him to explain his secret he admitted after the Super G. He is certainly keeping his bards close to his chest!

While training is just training, there is no doubt that other racers are clearly rattled by the times that he has put down. Austrian Klaus Kroell is one of the racers that feels that Olsson will be the one to beat if he can ski the same way in the race: “It is clear that it will be very difficult to beat Hans if he skis like he did today,” explained Kroell after the training. “He is the one to beat on Saturday, but then again he must manage to ski another dream run like today.”

Training is one thing and the race is another thing.

As for the British racers all three of the speed team trained with Douglas Crawford the pick of the group comfortably faster than Ed Drake and TJ Baldwin. Crawford has possession of the spot at the moment.

What did Craig Branch say of the GB team? (more)

What did Dougie Crawford feel about his run? (more)