BEAVER CREEK – How much snow is too much snow for skiers?
For the best women’s downhill skiers in the world, turns out it’s 4 inches.
That’s what fell early Monday morning in the Beaver Creek/Vail area. Because of that, women’s downhill training was first pushed back one, then two and finally three hours Monday as the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships kicked off slowly at Beaver Creek.
Skiers want a track that’s going to be as fast as possible, so the training session was delayed while the snow was removed from the women’s Raptor course.
As it wasn’t an official race day – competitive racing starts Tuesday and runs through Feb. 15 – the crowd at Red Tail Stadium, or the Finish Stadium, was minimal. But what it lacked in size it more than made up for in volume, complete with the usual cowbells clanging as skiers flew into view and down the final straightaway to the finish.
It was definitely a pro-Lindsey crowd, and hometown favorite Lindsey Vonn had a solid finish, at least for training, when racers are still trying to get a feel for the course and tweaking most every little thing.
Although just training, that the U.S. had three skiers in the top seven out of 46 downhillers Monday is not a surprise. Vonn may be the hottest skier in the world – male or female – having won three of her last four World Cup races heading into the worlds. Cook and Ross are also among the favorites, along with Julia Mancuso of of Squaw Valley, California, and Alice McKennis of Glenwood Springs, who finished 12th and 13th, respectively. The women may be just as strong in super-G, which kicks off competition Tuesday, with Vonn leading the way, and the slalom and giant slalom with another local girl, U.S. teen phenom Mikaela Shiffrin of Eagle/Vail.
The U.S. men, who get in the groove starting Tuesday with men’s downhill training, are also stronger than they’ve been in many years – if not ever.
“Expectations are high,” Tiger Shaw, U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association president and CEO, said at the opening press conference Monday after women’s downhill qualifying. “We came in more prepared in hosting (the worlds). We have a lot of superstars, and some underdogs who are capable of winning, too.
“We come into the world championships with one of the strongest teams ever. That will make a difference. And hopefully it will make a difference in the pipeline ... Hopefully the younger people will say, “I want to be like one of (these) athletes.”
The 1989 and 1999 worlds also were held at Beaver Creek, creating high expectations for worlds No. 3 here.
“They already did a good job in 1989 and 1999,” Gian Franco Kasper, FIS president, said of expectations for an even better world championships this year.
“Our goal is to do more than ski racing,” said Ceil Folz, 2015 world championships organizing president. “The thing we worry least about is ski races. We’re looking forward to other things.”
That includes entertainment – there’s no shortage of events this year. And television, which is paramount to the event’s success, Folz said. NBC and affiliates NBC Sports and Universal Sports Network will cover all the races, providing 25 hours of coverage and, according to organizers, possibly reach upwards of 1 billion viewers. And the early race times – most are at 10 a.m. – bode well for the championships.
“It’s a good promotion for our sports. Those TV times will be in prime time in Europe,” Kasper said.
“We have confidence in the product,” Folz said.
bpeterson@durangoherald.com
