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First training reaction…

So what are the racers looking for on first training? For many of the racers this is a chance to reacquaint themselves with the long course. Hans Olsson is one of the racers in the pack and after having won the two training runs in Val Gardena, confidence is fairly high. This year Olsson will also have a crack at the Super Combined so that he can get another run down the course on Friday before the race on Saturday. “Today I was just getting a feel of it, it was nothing special. You could see from inspection that the snow was pretty soft. There was not that much to test but I hope that it will be a lot harder for Saturday’s race. Olsson has used the last few days to do two days of slalom training. Not having done slalom since the Swedish Champs nine months ago, how does he feel: “Really shitty!” he laughed!

Does Olsson expect the course to get faster? I do not know, I guess it depends on the weather but I hope that it is going to be better. Right now it is so soft and warm on top, it was not good. I kind of like it when it is soft. For me it is OK but when it is that bad it is almost too bad.

For Johan Clarey the course produced everything he expected, even if it was not the right feelings: “I had a bad feeling but this was what I expected,” admitted the Frenchman. “I hope that it will be better with the snow tomorrow as I really do not like the soft snow but I am not too tired so it was OK. Does he find the course tiring mentally as well as physically? “yes but the snow is very soft so you can relax during the run . It has been more difficult in the past so we will see. If the snow is faster it will be very tough. I like the slope but as it is so long you have to be in very good shape. I am in good shape though so we will see on Saturday.”

With Val Gardena having been cancelled when he was leading, the race has now been moved to Chamonix, how does Clarey feel about this? “This brings me a small smile as I love Chamonix but when you know you are on the top, you are down and you do not have to do it again. It is done. I hope that I can do the same as I love the slope and it is in France and in front of my family and friends, we shall see. It is a good place to replace Val Gardena for me!”

For Didier Cuche, the opportunity to win in front of his home crowd “would be nice.” Cuche knows that this will not be easy as “you have to push and maybe not have a perfect run but a good run, you have to push and accept any little mistakes that you make. What the other guys do is also a problem!” First training is always interesting and Cuche felt that he did not ski well yet was quite surprised to be up on the leader board, he posted the second fastest time behind Peter Fill.

His advice for racers: “You have to keep fighting until the end and hopefully the green light will come on at the end!”

With there being a large gap between Giant Slalom races, a lot of the racers that are normally seen only on the GS circuit are taking time to do some speed racing. Kjetil Jansrud is one of the racers but also on the start list for the training runs are the likes of Phillip Schoerghofer, Alexis Pinturault and Ted Ligety.

With a bug going around the ski racing circuit, the latest to succumb is Aksel Lund Svindal but he claims he is now feeling better after picking something up while being at home for New Year.