Russian skiers developing for 2014 Sochi Games

KRASNAYA POLYANA, Russia — Russian skiers appear more frequently on the World Cup ski circuit in Europe these days, their presence hard to miss at the upcoming Alpine test events for the 2014 Sochi Olympics.

While a handful of Russians will compete in the men's downhill and super-combined this weekend, more than 10 women will race the following weekend in the same World Cup events.

After the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, the Russian Alpine Ski and Snowboard Federation hired two experienced Slovenian coaches to guide a budding program.

The women's coach is Marjan Cernigoj, who spent 13 years with the U.S. Ski Team. He was head women's coach from 1998-2003. Urban Planinsek coaches the men after guiding the Slovenia team from 2006-10.

The goal is a respectable showing on home snow in 2014 — but that's not all.

"They did hire us to get as good results as possible in Sochi, but this team is still extremely young. Most of the girls will be 21 or 22 by then, so we're really looking very, very far past 2014," Cernigoj said in an interview with The Associated Press. "Of course, there is pressure from the Russian federation. But it's healthy pressure, so it's no problem."

The veteran racer of the team is 27-year-old technical specialist Alexander Khoroshilov, who is preparing to race in his third Olympics

At the Vancouver Games, Khoroshilov competed in all five events, with his best finish 21st in super-combined.

Sergei Maytakov, 22, won a second-tier Europa Cup giant slalom last month. Stepan Zuev, 23, finished fifth in a Europa Cup slalom in January.

Another veteran is Slovenian-born downhiller Alek Glebov, who was sidelined two years with an injury. He started racing in January and makes his World Cup return this week in Sochi.

Glebov switched nationalities in 2010.

"My grandfather and father are Russian," he said. "My mother is Portuguese and my grandmother Croatian, so I'm not too Slovenian. But I live there because the family lives there. But I always had a wish to (race) for Russia."

Because there are no slalom or giant slalom events, the only other Russian men besides Glebov competing this week are Ivan Muravyev, Andrey Bystrov and Evgeniy Lisitsa — all three making their World Cup debuts.

"On the speed side the guys are without experience, so I'm helping them a little bit," Glebov said.