Skiers Praise PyeongChang Olympic Downhill Course - On the Scene

(ATR) World Cup ski racers offered positive feedback about the new 2018 PyeongChang Olympic downhill course, but most agreed it is not overly fast or demanding.

The top men’s racers skied the first of two training runs on the Jeongseon course ahead of this weekend’s crucial Olympic test event downhill and super-G races.Fifty-seven racers descended the recently completed 2852-meter downhill course at noon under sunny skies and in sub-freezing temperatures.

Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud clocked the fastest time of one-minute, 42.65 seconds, on a course relatively short by World Cup standards."It’s a little shorter than what we’re used to – probably ten seconds shorter, but it has a nice flow to it," said the Norwegian three-time Olympic medalist. "The jumps are big, so there’s a lot of action."

Like most of the racers, Jansrud commended the event organization."Everything here is ready to ski an Olympic downhill that I think it is fair for using the Olympic word in it. It’s a good Olympic downhill and they are way ahead of time," he said.

The Bernhard Russi-designed course features four jumps which propelled racers 30-45 meters through the air during Thursday’s training run. Skiers said the jumps were well prepared with smooth landings."The course is in great shape, to be on a smooth track and in the sun it’s fun to ski," said U.S. veteran Marco Sullivan. "There’s four big jumps, but the speeds aren’t that high."

For most skiers, average speeds on the course were just below 100 kmph."They’ve maximized what they have with this hill. "I think it’s a great Olympic course – it’s not the gnarliest, hardest course, but it’s good for all the different nations running it [at the Olympics] who maybe don’t want to kill themselves. For the athletes, it will be more enjoyable than Sochi," Sullivan added.

Other racers said the course reminds them of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic downhill, including the firm snow conditions."The venue is really nice and the snow is amazing, it’s clear and cold and the snow is perfect for racing," U.S. skier Travis Ganong said.

Canadian Benjamin Thompson was the first racer out of the gate at the Olympic test event, a distinction he also had four years ago in Sochi."I’m pretty impressed with the track that they basically came out to the middle of nowhere and said ‘we’regoing to build a downhill here,’" Thompson said. "That’s a huge commitment on their part and it’s pretty interesting here."

Italian Christof Innerhofer was not satisfied with the course, emphasizing its lack of speed."It’s a little bit sad, the slope looks good during inspection, but we miss the speed," said Innerhofer, the Sochi 2014 downhill silver medalist.

"This is not downhill, we go 96 (kmph) almost in super-G – it’s not good for downhill, it’s not ok," said the Italian veteran.

"Olympic downhills should be easier because a lot of exotic nations show up," Ganong said. "Sochi was an exception – compared to Sochi, this is super easy. It’s definitely the easiest course that I’ve ever run on a world cup level, but it’s fun for sure."

There was only one crash today. Thomas Blondin Mermillod of France barreled through a gate and then flipped spectacularly through the air before landing hard. He skied away without serious injury and is expected to race on Saturday.

"We had a bit of wind in the morning, but overall conditions were good," said FIS race director Markus Waldner.

Racers and teams are commuting one hour every morning from Alpensia to the remote location of Jeongseon. Despite the lengthy trip, most raved about the Wi-fi offered on the new buses adorned with the words ‘Hello PyeongChang'.

The racers are back on the mountain for a second training run on Friday leading up to the weekend World Cup races.

Momentous Day for Ski Racing, PyeongChang

Substantial delays with construction of the first and only gondola at the future Olympic ski venue had cast doubt on whether the Olympic test races could be pulled off. Sufficient snow was also a concern, but sub-freezing temperatures along with the installation of a new snowmaking system allowed organizers to produce enough artificial snow.

FIS officially confirmed the races on Jan. 20 during the standard snow-control procedure. Working alongside the 1972 Olympic downhill champion Russi has been FIS technical consultant Guenter Hujara, who was instrumental in helping organizers to pull off the important races.

At the evening team captains meetings, FIS secretary general Sarah Lewis addressed teams, organizers and media."Today was a historic day for ski racing, for Korea and for the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games," Lewis said.

"Thank you for the successful Olympic training run," said PyeongChang 2018 sport manager Jon Byun.

"For the organizers to have reached already this level after the preparations had been hampered by many factors is a huge achievement," Lewis added.

Reported in Jeongseonby Brian Pinelli

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