L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Heel wins Super G in Val Gardena with Defago and Jaerbyn on the podium ... Paerson wins Super combined from Hosp and Suter ... Walchhofer retains King of the Hill in Downhill, Miller 2 and Osborne Paradis 3 ... Gut wins Super G in St Moritz from Suter and Fanchini

'The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams' (Eleanor Roosevelt).

There has been a lot of media frenzy over the last couple of days: Who are these guys from Britain?  Lots has been known about Finlay but the way that Roger Cruickshank has cut the time he is behind the winner of each training run has been impressive.  Back in December 2004, Roger finished his first training run over six seconds out, in the third training run he had cut the deficit to 2.78.  So does this give him a chance in the Combined?  Realistically no.  Roger is using the combined to gain more experience on the Downhill course.  Finlay Mickel used the same tactic in St Moritz two years ago and came away with 5th fastest in the downhill section of the race.  Roger has experienced his first bit of notoriety and fame as his performance in the final training run, he finished 30th, means that he had done enough to qualify in the fastest 15 runners that are required to go to the public bib draw, he goes 19.

Today's run was good as he started to use the feel that he has generated over the last few runs to good advantage.  Not having put slalom skis on until this morning for some time, Cruickshank will be looking for a consolidating and experience gathering day in the Combined.

The days main story revolved around the fact that a lot of racers decided to give the final training run before the combined a miss.  With the Downhill start list being dictated by the training run times, the likes of Didier Defago, Silvan Zurbriggan and Giorgio Rocca will all start outside the top 30.  Despite being in the top 30 Downhill racers on the World Cup, Defago insists that this will not be too much of a handicap.

Austrian interest in the event focuses on the prodigious talent of Benni Raich and Michi Walchhofer along with Mario Matt.  Kurt Engl takes the fourth spot as a former downhiller and good slalom skier.  Mario Scheiber took part in the training but drops out for the race.  Scheiber trains with the other allrounders but was only brought to Bormio for the experience.

Over the years the Norwegians have had a remarkable amount of success in the Combined yet Kjus and Aamodt are starting to feel the years catch up with them.  Trond Huso of the Norwegian press service ANB explained that when Kjus has a cold before an event you can never count him out: Guess who was complaining of a cold this morning!  Aamodt meanwhile, has admitted that he would like to continue for at least another 4 years!

Other challengers for the title? Who can count out Miller? The American starts 23 in the downhill and given a clean run, free of the wind will be up there challenging come the slalom tomorrow night.  Silvan Zurbriggan, Switzerland, is with an outside chance of adding to the silver he won in the slalom in St Moritz.  Expect fireworks from Giorgio Rocca as well.  This is as close as the Italian gets to racing at home.  Livigno is just over the hill and Rocca will be looking to try and stay with in touching distance in the downhill before blitzing the opposition in the slalom.

Cruickshank? The RAF Officer will use this as an experience.  He has shown that he can mix it with the big boys on the Stelvio course: the start list around him reads:

13: Aksel Lund Svindal (Nor) - the next generation from the Norwegian factory

14: Patrik Jaerbyn (Swe) - World Cup racer and man with lots of experience

15: Pierrick Bourgeat (Fra) - Slalom world cup winner

16: Daniel Albrecht (Sui) - Young Swiss star for the future. Finished 4th in Super Combination at Wengen.

17: Michael Walchhofer (Aut) - Current downhill World Champion.  If Roger can get close to his time, this would be fantastic.

18: Lasse Kjus (Nor) - Multiple Olympic, World Championship medal winner as well as World Cup race winner.  Not to be counted out when looking for the Gold Medal winner.

19 Roger Cruickshank - 1 world cup race, 3 training runs at World Championships and Runner Up at the British Championships Downhill and Giant Slalom.

20: Bjarne Solbakken (Nor) - World Cup Super G race winner

21: Benni Raich (Aut) need we say more?

This is the company that Roger will have to start getting used to.  In his own words he is now "in the club of top racers."  There is also the small matter of Bode Miller at 23!  What ever happens Roger will use the experience to good use with his own personal mission on the road to Turin 2006!

The race starts at 11.45 CET (That's 1045 in the UK!)