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Watching racers whizz by way of the Tofana schuss at prime pace may very well be the signature picture of the snowboarding world championships.
Wedged between two large partitions of rock close to the highest of the ladies’s downhill course, the schuss, or “chute,” hurtles skiers down the mountain at greater than 130 kph (80 mph).
It’s the place one misplaced edge or mistaken transfer can imply the distinction between a gold medal and a horrific crash.
The schuss can be a giant a part of an infinite array of spectacular surroundings in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the resort generally known as the “Queen” of the Italian Dolomites.
The pure fantastic thing about Cortina will probably be of particular significance at these championships, with organizers hoping that the photographs from the slopes beamed world wide to TV viewers will make up for the lack of fans amid the coronavirus pandemic.
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After final 12 months’s World Cup finals in Cortina have been worn out due to the unfold of COVID-19, organizers requested the Worldwide Ski Federation to postpone the worlds to 2022. However the request was denied as a result of that may have put the competitors too near subsequent 12 months’s Beijing Olympics.
“We didn’t have an alternate,” organizing committee president Alessandro Benetton stated. “Up within the mountains we are saying, ‘You’ve bought to construct the fireplace with the wooden that you’ve got.’ We’re wanting on the glass as half-full. We’re hoping it’s a giant media occasion.”
As a part of a nationwide ban on followers at sports activities occasions in Italy, no spectators will probably be allowed in Cortina when the championships open Monday with the ladies’s mixed race.
“Certain, we will probably be missing some ambiance,” Benetton stated. “However we’re hoping that will probably be compensated by the TV protection — much like the best way Cortina was placed on the map by the 1956 Olympics.”
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ATHLETE SAFETY
As a part of a strict anti-virus protocol, medals will awarded to athletes on the slopes within the end space straight after races finish — versus at a medal plaza on the town through the night as per customized.
Apart from fixed testing for the coronavirus for everybody in attendance, color-coded bubbles have been set as much as maintain totally different teams aside: a purple bubble for groups (athletes, coaches, group physicians, bodily therapists, ski males) and different race personnel; a blue bubble for organizational workers, volunteers and regulation enforcement personnel; a yellow bubble for the media; and a inexperienced bubble for visitors and dignitaries.
MEDAL FAVORITES
Two-time Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin will probably be a prime contender within the opening occasion, the ladies’s mixed. Former general World Cup champion Lara Intestine-Behrami has gained 4 straight World Cup super-G races and will probably be an awesome favourite for that race on Day 2.
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The lads’s super-G may also be contested Tuesday with Olympic champion Matthias Mayer among the many contenders.
The signature downhills will probably be held on the center weekend, with American racer Breezy Johnson among the many contenders for the ladies’s title on Feb. 13 and Mayer going up in opposition to Swiss rival Beat Feuz for the coveted males’s gold medal a day later.
Italian teammates Marta Bassino and Federica Brignone are aiming for glory on residence snow within the ladies’s large slalom, with general World Cup chief Petra Vlhová trying to defend her GS title from 2019. Shiffrin will then go for a fifth straight slalom world title.
INJURIES
A number of massive names will probably be lacking due to damage.
Olympic champion Sofia Goggia broke her proper knee in a fall final weekend — a devastating approach to finish her run of 4 straight victories in World Cup downhills.
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Additionally final month, defending general World Cup champion Aleksander Aamodt Kilde tore ligaments in his proper knee in a crash.
OLYMPIC TEST
The championships will probably be a giant check run for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics.
A brand new males’s pace course will probably be used for the primary time. It is referred to as Vertigine, which interprets as “vertigo.”
The slalom races will probably be contested on the steep Druscié A piste, which was the place Austrian nice Toni Sailer gained certainly one of his three gold medals on the 1956 Olympics.
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Extra AP sports activities: https://apnews.com/apf-sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports
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Andrew Dampf is at https://twitter.com/AndrewDampf
Copyright 2021 The Related Press. All rights reserved. This materials might not be printed, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed with out permission.
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