After Wengen comes Kitzbuehel. These are the two Super Classics on the World Cup tour. Wengen gave us an immense spectacle, fantastic racing in awesome conditions for the Downhill. The length of Wengen against the speed and required bravado for Kitzbuehel and the racers require guts and bravado in abundance. With the weather expected to turn for the worst over the course of the three days set out for training, this could be the only opportunity the racers get to see the course at speed.
Initial thoughts from the racers were that the snow conditions would mean that a new course record could be set. The snow conditions are super fast and the time set in 2001 by Fritz Strobl could be in danger. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde set the pace from bib 1 and his time of 1.55.92 was good enough for joint third fastest time behind Christof Innerhofer and Steven Nyman. Matteo Marsaglia equalled the time set by Kilde from bib 57 to further emphasise the durability of the course.
Hannes Trinkl, the course setter from FIS, had looked at the exact setting of the gates when Strobl won and tried as hard as he could to replicate this. The racers felt that it was not the course setting that was the reason for their belief of a new record could be set come Saturday but more the quality of the snow. This was the fastest snow for years, the racers were in agreement over.
So what will stop a new record being set? In essence the weather has now turned and three days, including Tuesday, of unfavourable weather is now expected. With more fresh snow on the track, this will slow the course down.
First training runs are always a little tentative. Few of the racers were going all out for a race time, there is nothing to win from posting a super fast training time, it does not give you a better start number, all it does is raise your own hopes and expectations. Many of the racers were very wary of the kick that many of the jumps were giving and these worries were passed on to the race organisers. Another point that many of the racers explained was that there was an illusion that when going through the bumps down the course, you were not going fast. This too proved to be just an illusion.
With Olympic qualification places up for grabs, Kitzbuehel and Garmisch in ten days provide the last opportunity to book that ticket for the Olympics. There will be some nervous racers over the next ten days if there is no more training in Kitzbuehel.