The speed track in Copper Mountain (USA) presented itself from its best side in the past two weeks and the Austrian women were able to make the best use of the great conditions before they continued on to Lake Louise for the first speed competitions of the season. Styrian Nici Schmidhofer, who celebrated her ski comeback at the beginning of October after a serious knee injury and had to get used to the altitude and downhill skis in Copper, was also there.
“Surprisingly, I was able to adapt to the speed very quickly, but after I had a very short preparation time in the fitness area this year, the physical strain at an altitude of over 3,000 meters was the greater challenge. I paused a day or two to manage my strength, but it makes me feel very positive that my knee showed no reactions at all, ”said the 32-year-old happily.
On Sunday the speed women landed in Calgary (CAN), before having a quiet day and then the first of a total of three planned downhill training sessions will take place on Tuesday. If the weather cooperates, the women will start the speed season with a double descent on Friday and Saturday, followed by a Super-G on Sunday. Nici Schmidhofer would like to improve from training to training with this extensive program and only then decide whether a racing comeback will already be possible.
“With the successes I was able to celebrate here in recent years, I have fond memories of Lake Luise and I also feel very comfortable on this track. I see Lake Louise as another week of training because with three downhill and seven super-G days I still have very few kilometers of slopes in my legs. I won't decide until Thursday whether it makes sense to start the races, ”explains the speed specialist.
After two weeks in Copper Mountain (USA), Nici Schmidhofer also traveled to Lake Louise (CAN) .
Sofia Goggia was fastest on the first training run ahead of Ilka Stuhec and Joana Haelen. Christina Ager was fastest Austrian in 8th with Ramona Siebenhofer in 10th, Christine Scheyer 11th and Mirian Puchner 12th. Nici Schmidhofer was 46th, 5.37 off the pace. Mikaela Shiffrin was 17th from a start number of 31.
First run training times