Alpine skiing-Shiffrin and company head into the unknown

Alpine Snowboarding – FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom – Zagreb, Croatia – January 4, 2022 Mikaela Shiffrin of the U.S. in motion throughout her first run REUTERS/Antonio Bronic/File Picture

Jan 24 (Reuters) – When the celebs of Alpine snowboarding similar to American Mikaela Shiffrin arrive in China’s Yanquing mountain space for the Winter Olympics there shall be one query on their minds — ‘What sort of course will we be competing on?’

Twice Olympic champion Shiffrin and Marco Odermatt of Switzerland, the general chief within the males’s World Cup, know the place their competitors will come from however have little clue about what sort of racing to count on.

Not one of the world’s most interesting rivals have ever seen, not to mention raced, on the observe, so there may be an unprecedented lack of awareness for skiers, coaches and ski technicians in regards to the course which can maintain 13 straight days of intense competitors.

The observe has by no means been used for World Cup races and the COVID-19 pandemic meant that deliberate check occasions final yr needed to be cancelled with the one competitors held on the course being minor occasions with a handful of Chinese language skiers.

Meaning when the course is opened for follow on Feb. 3, three days earlier than medal occasions start with the lads’s downhill, there shall be a scramble to course of the knowledge gained and incorporate the information into ski set-ups and tactical plans.

The course has been designed by the skilled Swiss Bernhard Russi, gold medallist in downhill at Sapporo in 1972, and shall be coated solely with synthetic snow.

“All people thought Beijing is flat and Beijing has no mountains and that is not true. It has actually all the pieces,” Russi advised Reuters.

“It has steep components, lengthy turns, fast turns, it has some velocity sections and for me personally I like that now we have three, 4 actual massive, massive jumps.”

Racers have been learning video and photographic photos to get a clue as to what awaits them however finally know that the one reliable information will come from the follow runs.

STAY CALM

“It’s important to keep calm as a result of no one is aware of and it’s the identical for everyone,” says Austrian downhill racer Ramona Siebenhofer.

“If you get data, you’re not even positive if it’s true since you simply don’t know.”

So some surprises could be anticipated at a Video games which can rewards these capable of alter on the fly and adapt their racing to the situations.

All eyes shall be on 26-year-old Shiffrin, who has prompt that she could compete in all occasions, having branched out from her early years as a slalom skier.

She faces a powerful problem from Slovak Petra Vlahova, the present World Cup slalom chief.

Italy’s Sofia Goggia, the defending downhill champion, is favorite to retain her title however might face an actual problem from compatriot Federica Brignone within the Tremendous-G whereas American Breezy Johnson has hopes within the downhill.

The races kick off with the lads’s downhill the place there is no such thing as a clear favorite with Pyeongchang 2018 winner Aksel Lund Svindal now retired.

Italy’s Dominik Paris leads the World Cup standings whereas Sochi 2014 winner Matthias Mayer of Austria, who additionally gained Tremendous-G in 2018, needs to be a powerful contender together with Norway’s Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, the winner this month at Wengen.

Odermatt has appeared robust in large slalom and Tremendous-G however like all his rivals he shall be ready anxiously to search out out simply what awaits on the slopes of Yanquing.

Reporting by Simon Evans; Enhancing by Ken Ferris

Our Requirements: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.