L a t e s t  n e w s ..... Vonn stuns slalom specialists to win in Levi with Pieitiae Holmer second and Maria Riesch in third.... Grange wins mens race from Miller and Kostelic .... Chemmy Alcott suffers clean break of ankle in training in North America, expected to be out till New Year .... Lindsey Vonn injures left knee in training Super G in Copper Mountain, no lay off details announced

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

Super G Race: Spare a thought for Alessandro Fattori, starting 4, the experienced Italian suffered the kiss of death from the DJ playing music at the bottom.  As Fattori hit the TV screens music at the bottom was Queen's hit "Don't stop me now," and as the line "I am on a collision course," sounded out, Fattori caught an edge and went flying into the catch fencing!  Fattori was held in the fencing for some time but walked away from the crash and walked out of the finish area a little dazed but OK.

Thursday Training: Kristian Ghedina blitzed the field in the second training run for the 48th running of the Saslong Race.  Ghedina finished an incredible 1.48 seconds ahead of Bruno Kernen and Fritz Strobl in 2 and 3.  Many of the racers played the tactical game and as in the case of Hannes Reichelt, if they felt they were not going to get a good bib then they pulled up before the finish to scrub some time off.  Getting the optimum start spot is vital at Val Gardena as the amount of time the sun spends on the course can affect the state of the course: Start to early and the course is in good nick but the light is bad and you cannot see the bumps as well as you should be able to, conversely start later and while the light may be better the course will have been cut up more.  Finlay Mickel was happy with his run that saw him come in in 21st spot meaning he will start Saturday's Downhill in 10th spot.  "I had been hoping for between 15 and 20," he told Racer Ready after the run "but this is ok."  Mickel went on to say that he had places that he needed to work on down the course, especially the compression and Ciaslat but "if I can make up a second on race day, that would put me 7th on today's times.  It's tight but exciting!"  Friday sees the racers take on the Super G.

Wednesday training: Kristian Ghedina won the opening training run in Val Gardena.  The joint record holder of victories in Val Gardena (four wins, tied with Franz Klammer) did not think that he had skied that fast yet his time was the quickest at the bottom.  Ghedina was ahead of Walchhofer and Hoffmann with Deneriaz (two time winner) in fourth and Daron Rahlves in fifth.  The first training run is normally a loose run as the racers look to see how the course is running.  Finlay Mickel, going 6th and just after Bode miller, said after the run that it was a chance "to look around " and that he was not too concerned about the time.  Mickel was placed 31st yet admitted that he would need to "step up a gear for tomorrow". As Mickel watched in the finish as the later starters on the training run beat his time, he acknowledged that seeing the later runners get faster times would have a bearing on how he attacked the final training run in the morning.  With the start list for Saturday's race being determined by the results from the training run on Thursday, Mickel will be only too aware of how a result in the race can be ruined by a bad training run.

Bode Miller again managed to take centre stage with the media after the first training run.  Whilst the American press were slamming him for a "disappointing run," he finished 17th but there was nothing to gain by going full pelt and he had stood up after the last gate, Miller was then told to take the long walk around to his motor home, something that annoyed him!  Talking to reporters afterwards, Miller then complained that nobody from other sports had contacted him regarding his comments about drug abuse.  Miller stated in October that he felt that a level playing field was needed when it came to drugs and if this meant that all drugs were legalised then so be it.  FIS have arranged a meeting between Miller and Pernilla Wiberg to discuss this but the meeting has not yet taken place.  Another point of contention for Miller is the amount of prize money available to the racers.  With the race winner taking home around €23,000 and tenth place just over a thousand, Miller feels that FIS could be doing more on this.  Sarah Lewis, Secretary General of FIS, explained that this was up to the local organising bodies who run the races to improve.  Miller feels that FIS are selling the races to the highest bidder but not putting money back into the racers.  Miller has an ally in Kristian Ghedina, a 17 season veteran.  Ghedina, however, has said that when he started there was no prize money so the racers should feel lucky they get anything at the moment.  A few years ago the top racers tried to sort something out but it came to nothing, Ghedina said "Maybe Miller should try and get the top racers together again?" Watch this space!