|
 |
Technical downhill: Racers give thumbs up to Snowbasin course
By Ray Grass
Deseret News sports writer
SNOWBASIN — In order of approval, first came "technical" then, in different ways, "I like it."
Which is pretty much what downhill racers have been saying all along about the Olympic course — when they've been able to run it, anyway.
Up to this point, the only international runs were a couple of training runs before the World Cup downhill was snowed out. Both the men's and women's WC downhills had to be canceled.
But, after men's training runs on Thursday (Friday runs were cancelled because of snow and wind), Hans Knauss of Austria said: "I like this course because it is a technical course, and nice jumps. It is a real Olympic downhill."
U.S. skier Casey Puckett also called it "technical."
Kjetil Andre Aamodt of Norway, fifth in world DH points, said: "This is one of the best Olympic downhills. You must have a good day. There are so many turns, so many jumps you can't make little mistakes."
Klaus Kroell, another of the strong Austrian skiers, said: "The course is one of the most difficult. The middle course is mainly a super-G, and the jumps are very high and long."
No one spoke out against the course.
To win on this course, named Grizzly, will take all the strength, endurance and concentration a skier can expend.
As downhill courses go, this one is among the shortest at two miles long. The winning time is expected to be slightly more than a minute and a half, which means speeds will average more than 60 miles a hour — top to bottom, over jumps and through gullies and in turns that will compress a skier to half his standing height, all on snow as hard as a rock.
Racers will start from inside a western-style house on the top of Allen Peak, which overlooks the city of Ogden and the Great Salt Lake to the west, the rolling foothills and ski resort to the east and, on clear days, offer views all the way into Wyoming and Idaho.
Out of the house, skiers will get instant acceleration. By the time they make the three gates on Ephraim's Face, "They'll be hitting between 65 and 70 mph," said Tim LaMarche, race director at Snowbasin.
Ol' Ephraim was a notorious grizzly bear that roamed the area at the turn of the century. The name for the course and names on several sections were inspired by the old bear.
"It will be important to get a good, clean line to carry the speed over the next section — John Paul Traverse," he said as he critiqued the Olympic run.
Coming out of a left-hand turn at this point, racers will hit Flintlock Jump. This is where big air first comes into play. This is a jump that will pitch a racer up, out and far down the hill.
The center section of the course will be the most technically challenging. The hills, valleys, dips, jumps, bumps, sidehills and sweeping turns will keep a racer guessing.
A long sweeping left-hand turn upon landing will put skiers into Bear Trap.
"This section is not going to win any races, but get caught in the wrong line and a skier will lose a lot of time and a race," said LaMarche.
The next section is a valley called Hibernation Hole. Racers will enter from the right, cut through the valley to the left and then line up for Arrowhead Jump. This is one of the fastest sections. Racers won't have much time to set up for the jump, so if timing is off even a little, they'll come out of the landing low and slow.
There will be three turns in Three Toes (a nickname for Ol' Ephraim) that will be very demanding and lead into a long traverse into Trappers Loop, which is a section of rollers and compressions and a sidehill sweep into Muzzleloader Jump.
This is not a huge jump, but again, a little right or left of the true line and the next section, Off Track Canyon, will be extremely difficult to ski cleanly. Three more turns puts the skier in Slingshot and Buffalo Jump, the last of the big jumps.
"Good speed and timing are crucial here," said LaMarche. "If they're not set up right for Slingshot, then they'll come into Buffalo the wrong way. From here on there's a big compression up the side of the hill, then a right-hand turn into Rendezvous Face and the finish. This will be the fastest section and the steepest. They'll be hitting speeds in the high 70s.
"What we've done on the face is add a couple of little rollers. They can jump 'em or ski over 'em. Being winded and with legs that are very tired at this point, it will be interesting to see how they handle this terrain."
Winning time for the trial run on Thursday, put in by overall World Cup leader and gold-medal candidate Stephan Eberharter, was one minute, 39.07 seconds. America's Daron Rahlves, third in trials, had a time of 1:39.77.
Ultimately, LaMarche said he believes the race can be won "from Off Track to the Finish. This is where timing, aggression and stamina will play their biggest roles. It can definitely be won at the bottom and lost if they don't pay attention through Bear Trap and Three Toes."
The men's Olympic downhill will be skied on Sunday. The women will race on Monday. Start time for both races is 10 a.m.
|
|
February 9, 2002
|
