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).

Brits go quick in the speed guns...

The second day of training at Lake Louise saw Chemmy take an impressive 4th quickest time through the speed gun yet 43rd quickest down the length of the course.  Finlay Mickel over in Beaver creak, carried on his excellent form from Lake Louise in taking 25th on the one training run conditions have permitted.

Mickel's self belief on the technical course saw him very confident through the turns and this was also demonstrated in the speed that he carried.  8th quickest was the result at the speed gun, quicker than Daron Rahlves who was 4th and only two and a half kmh slower than Kristian Ghedina who was fastest through the gun.  The run was "won" by Fritz Strobl with Maier in second and Miller in third.  Rumours abound in Beaver Creak that Maier is not amused that Miller has been so quick.  The fact that Rahlves and Miller share the same serviceman who serviced Eberharter's skis for the last few seasons will not have gone unnoticed by the Austrian.  Eberharter recently described him as the best serviceman ever.

For Mickel this form may not be good enough for him to get a top 30 start number as with there only having been one training run it may mean that the World Cup Start List decides the starting order and not the result of the training run.  With the managers meeting being used to discuss this prior to the second Super G this evening, this could work either for or against Mickel.  As things stood, the managers were split evenly both for and against the rules being observed.  The rules state that if only one training run takes place then the World Cup Start List comes into effect, however, if the managers agree then the training run can be used as the qualifying run for the top 30 finishers.

The second training run over in Lake Louise saw Chemmy take an incredible 4th fastest speed through the speed gun yet mistakes at the top (64th through the first split) meant that she was playing catch up.  17th quickest through the 3rd split hauled her back up but Chemmy was left in 43rd overall.  If a third training is not possible then although Chemmy is ranked in the top 30 on the World Cup Start List, she will start outside the first 30.  With the course being described as icy, this may not be a bad thing.

The run was won by rising young Austrian Katja Wirth with Michaela Dorfmeister second and Renate Goetschl in third.  Anja Pearson, looking to win back to back overall titles was 30th and Janica Kostelic, looking to win back the overall in 32nd.  Brigitte Obermoser who won the first training run was 9th.

Chemmy starts the final training run with bib 6.  Finlay starts the second Super G of the season with bib number 41.  Mickel will be looking to improve on his 53rd in Lake Louise.  Mickel scored his best result of last season in winning the French National Super G title last season, ahead of Antoine Deneriaz! 

The men's Super G will be live on Eurosport at 18.00 with highlights also on Channel 4 on Sunday at 8am or record the extended programme on Monday at 04.10!

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