Longer, Straighter Skis Debut; Kasper Talks Sochi; Vonn Still Hopes to Race Against Men

(ATR) Ted Ligety of the U.S. and Tina Maze of Slovenia won giant slalom races over the weekend as the 2012-13 FIS World Cup tour opened in Sölden, Austria.

Persistent snowfall, mixed precipitation and lingering fog made conditions difficult on the Rettenbach Glacier course for both skiers and organizers. However, races on Saturday and Sunday were both completed. The only major delay occurred during Saturday’s women’s giant slalom, when the afternoon run was delayed by one hour due to the uncooperative weather.

Ligety, the 2006 Olympic super combined champion, won Sunday’s men’s giant slalom by 2.75 seconds, the largest winning margin in the discipline in more than 30 years.

The event also marked the first time that both male and female competitors raced on new longer, straighter skis that will also be in use at Sochi 2014. The controversial change was mandated by the International Ski Federation in July 2011 in an effort to enhance racer safety and limit knee injuries during high-speed arching turns.

Numerous athletes and ski manufacturers protested the decision, but after races this weekend most competitors admitted they are beginning to grow comfortable on the new models.

"As long as the courses aren’t too turny and the snow isn’t too soft, they’re actually pretty good, but the safety factor hasn’t improved for sure," Ligety said of the new skis.

"It’s been a pretty easy change actually in downhill and super-G, but GS has been a little more of a struggle with the sidecut of the ski and different radius of the turn – it’s just a lot more physical than it used to be," said four-time overall World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn.

Three hundred and fifty accredited journalists covered the opening weekend of racing at the Tyrolean resort, which began hosting the kickoff event in 1993.

Attendance on the mountain at Sunday’s men’s race was reported at 12,000.

Kasper’s Thoughts on Sochi Test Events, Olympic Spectators

FIS president Gian-Franco Kasper spoke to Around the Rings about the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi during Friday’s Forum Alpinum.

This winter season, Sochi will host the inaugural World Cup ski jumping test event in December; World Cup cross-country, Nordic combined, freestyle skiing and snowboarding test events in February; and the Europa Cup Alpine Finals in March.

"Our experts will be there and since I am on the IOC Coordination Commission, we are very often there, but this winter I will likely only go to see ski jumping for one day," said Kasper.

"I cannot be there so much. Of course, we also have our Alpine and Nordic world championships in February."

The FIS boss also sounded off about a recent announcement from Sochi organizers and the IOC that the number of spectators at the 2014 Games will once again be reduced.

"I’m surprised that the number of spectators went down once again," he said. "There are many reasons for that – security, finances, construction problems.

"For instance, we are down to 4,000 at freestyle and 7,500 at alpine from the latest numbers and that includes the Olympic family and media.

"We will have 11,000 people accredited in Sochi, so if everybody wants to go to the downhill, then you can’t let them in. There would be no room for spectators, and this will surely affect ticket sales," added Kasper.

Asked if there is anything FIS will do about these challenges, he responded, "We can’t do anything more, the IOC has accepted this. If we would have known this from the beginning, it would have been fine – you can have small stadiums, no problem.

"But to go from such a high number, then reduce it because of the capacity of trains that go to the mountain valleys and whatever else is not acceptable.

"Everything has been cut by 50 percent and this will also cause problems for the media," continued Kasper. "The number of working media positions in the mountains has been reduced heavily."

Vonn Still Hopes to Race the Men

Olympic downhill gold medalist Vonn continues to make her intentions clear: that she would like to race against the men in a World Cup downhill in Lake Louise, Canada, in late November.

"This is something that I want to do for me personally, to see how fast I can really ski," said Vonn. "Lake Louise has been my favorite course on the World Cup tour and it’s where I feel I can be the most competitive with the men. That’s what I want to see: how I can stack up against the men."

This past weekend, the United States Ski & Snowboard Association issued a letter to the FIS proposing to further discuss the situation. A decision will likely come out of FIS council meetings this upcoming weekend.

"We will deal with this very openly," said FIS men’s race director Guenter Hujara. "There is nothing set in the rules or regulations that says that a woman cannot start in a men’s event, but how will we do the qualification and decide what is her starting position – all these questions have to be answered."

It was also announced in Soelden that Vonn, who finished third at last winter’s Olympic downhill test event in Sochi, has extended her contract with Head Sports for 10 more years.

"I have a lot of faith with Head as a company, and they’ve always been behind me," she said. "I’m looking forward to 10 more years of working with them. I don’t know if I will be racing for 10 more years, but I am definitely going to try."

Austrian Hirscher Receives AIJS Award

Last season’s overall World Cup champion Marcel Hirscher of Austria was chosen as the newest recipient of the Serge Lang Trophy for both his achievements on the mountain as well as cooperation and demeanor with the press.

Hirscher, 23, received more votes ahead of Switzerland’s Didier Cuche and Beat Feutz, and Lindsey Vonn.

The award is presented annually by the International Association of Ski Journalists (AIJS).

Audi Extends Agreement with FIS

In Soelden, it was announced that Audi, who has been the presenting sponsor of the FIS World Cup Alpine Ski Tour for the past decade, has extended their contract through the 2017 season.

The longstanding partnership also includes Audi as the title sponsor at the 2015 Alpine World Championships in Vail, Colorado and at the 2017 Championships in St. Moritz, Switzerland.

The FIS World Cup tour continues with both a men’s and women’s slalom in Levi, Finland the weekend of Nov. 10-11.

Written and reported by Brian Pinelli in Sölden, Austria

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