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WEDNESDAY, 11 27 13 | VAILDAILY.COM | FREE

Raptor makes its debut

Switzerlands Lara Gut the fastest in training on Tuesday as the women christen new course. A23-26

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Leanne Smith, of the United States, soars through the Gauntlet section of the new World Cup Raptor course during the first day of downhill training on Tuesday at Beaver Creek. Smith was the fastest American woman, finishing 17th overall with a time of 1 minute, 45.06 seconds.

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ZOSIA SKIBA
Stone Creek Charter School Partly cloudy High 35; low 22; Weather, B12

COMMENTARY I will, however, hypothesize the following in as politically and economically neutral a way as possible: We just might be, perhaps, very fortunate people indeed. VALLEY VOICES, A6

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Vol. XXXIII, Issue 165

A12 A22 A20 A23

Sports
Vail Daily | Wednesday, November 27, 2013 | A23

WORLD CUP

Switzerlands Gut fastest during training

Womens eld takes a look at Raptor course
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK After her rst training run on the Raptor course on Tuesday at Beaver Creek, Austrias Anna Fenninger looked like she was doing tai chi. She stood at the side of the nish area, extended her arms and turned them left and right at assorted times. The 24-year-old Austrian was rerunning Raptor in her mind. Yeah, you have the feeling in you and you have to do it again, Fenninger said. Its easier for tomorrow and the next time to go. Three days of downhill training for races have become standard for Beaver Creek World Cup events because early-season snow has a tendency to knock out a day or two of the practice runs, and International Ski Federation rules mandate at least one preliminary run to hold a downhill at a site. Normally, three full days of training becomes monotonous, but not for the women at the Nature Valley Raptor Ladies World Cup Week. With a brand-new course, the more training, the merrier. Its the rst training here and nobody knows the slope, Switzerlands Lara Gut said. Its like trying and see whats going to happen. But its a really nice course, and I think its going to be fun to be racing here (at the 2015 Worlds). Now, I just have to improve my skiing. Yeah, I was fast, but I didnt ski good. If I race like that, I have no chance for the race. And Gut actually recorded the fastest time of the day at 1 minute, 43.42 seconds.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Lara Gut, of Switzerland, holds her tuck while coming out of the Gauntlet section of the new World Cup Raptor course during the first day of downhill training Tuesday in Beaver Creek. Gut had the fastest time of the day at 1:43.42.

WORLD CUP SKIING

Today X Womens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Thursday X Womens downhill training, 10:45, a.m. Friday X Womens downhill, 10:45, a.m. Saturday X Womens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Sunday X Womens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

GETTING TO KNOW YOU

The U.S. women got a sneak peak at Raptor last spring, but the racecourse is pretty much new for everyone. Ski racers are creatures of habit, building up encyclopedic knowledge during their careers of regular stops on the tour. Talk to veterans like American Julia Mancuso, Germanys Maria Hoe-Riesch or Slovenias Tina Maze, and they can take you meter-by-meter through courses like Val dIsere, France, or Cortina, Italy. There is no book on the Raptor yet. It was difficult, said Fenninger, who was second with a time of 1:43.90. Every time, if a course is new, youre a little nervous before the rst run. It was today, a little nervous, but I like this course. Its not easy to know

On the one side, you want to be a bit careful the rst time. But on the other side, you have to push because its dicult. Its tight turns and steep hills. You cant go down just easily.
Maria Hoe-Riesch
Germany ski racer
JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Anna Fenninger, of Austria, catches a little air while coming over a roll on the first day of downhill training on the new Raptor course Tuesday on Beaver Creek. Fenninger finished second for the day with a time of 1:43.90.
The trio has 10 World Cup wins combined, and nished fth, eighth and sixth, respectively, on the downhill points list last winter. That said, different racers take different approaches to training runs. On the one side, you want to be a bit careful the rst time, Hoe-Riesch said. But on the other side, you have to push because its difficult. Its tight turns and steep hills. You cant go down just easily. You have to nd the middle way. Keep in mind that the womens World Cup stop at Beaver Creek is also the rst speed event of the season, and different athletes have different agendas. There are a bunch of racers like Maze, the defending World Cup champion, who have been training technical events (giant slalom and slalom) exclusively. Maze, who was 14th Tuesday, was racing on downhill skis for the st time since an

every turn exactly the rst time. We have three training runs and thats nice. Liechtensteins Tina Weirather was third, 0.58 seconds off Guts pace. Training should always be taken with a grain of salt, but a Gut-Fenninger-Weirather podium would certainly not be out of the realm of possibility come Friday.

TRAINING, A26

A24 | Wednesday, November 27, 2013 | The Vail Daily

WORLD CUP

Racers test out Raptor course at Beaver Creek

Top women call new run technically, mentally demanding
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK As the rst few skiers tested out the newly nished Raptor course, it became very clear that this course was going to be a monster. Some of the worlds top women skiers took their rst runs on the newest addition to the womens World Cup circuit during the rst training day at Beaver Creek on Tuesday, and immediately pronounced the run, challenging, intimidating and demanding. It kind of has everything. Its fast and quick and has a lot of technical turns and intimidating little sections, said American Julia Mancuso after her rst run. Its pretty awesome.

Its really hard. Its relentless. It just keeps coming at you. Usually theres a tough section and you have a little break to recuperate, but this one is challenging from the beginning. You just have to keep thinking the entire way down. Theres a section that has some super-G turns, which will favor technical skiers, but then after that is another at that will favor downhill skiers.
Stacey Cook
U.S. Ski Team member

MEET THE RAPTOR

The course, which will also serve as the downhill in the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships, sits next to the mens Birds of Prey downhill course. It features a vertical drop of about 2,300 feet over the course of about 1.5 miles. From the gate, the course begins with a somewhat at start, easing into some rollers and jumps, after which it becomes decidedly steeper and more technical starting in the middle section. A portion called The Apex presents the steepest pitch, plunging skiers into the twisty Gauntlet and winding amongst some tree islands before the nish stretch. The middle section will undoubtedly make or break a skiers run, and its unforgiving nature requires that racers keep a good line throughout, be on their game technically and be willing to take a few risks. Its really technical, and you have to be brave, which suits me really well, Mancuso said. You can really carve the whole thing and go really fast. There are a lot of big turns, and there are a couple really big strong left footers that weave between the trees, those are difficult. It requires some quick turns that are tough. However, as the U.S. Ski Teams Stacey Cook pointed out, the course is varied enough that it doesnt favor a particular kind of

racer. Its really hard. Its relentless. It just keeps coming at you. Usually theres a tough section and you have a little break to recuperate, but this one is challenging from the beginning. You just have to keep thinking the entire way down, she said. Theres a section that has some super-G turns, which will favor technical skiers, but then after that is another at that will favor downhill skiers.

EARLY SEASON CHALLENGE

Its still early in the winter, and racers only have a few speed races under their belts. Consequently, many racers called the Beaver Creek course a particularly challenging addition to the early season. Octobers World Cup opener in Soelden, Austria, also offers a more technical course, while next weeks Lake Louise race is fast, but much more straightforward. Lake Louise is a pretty simple downhill, but this one you have to be very tactically strong. Its a very challenging November race for us, Cook said. There are a lot of technical elements that weve never faced this early into the season. The nature of the course caught some by surprise, including defending World Cup champion Tina Maze, of Austria.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

World Cup ski racing staff and volunteers work hard on steep slopes to remove excess snow off of the Raptor course prior to the first day of womens downhill training Tuesday in Beaver Creek. The course made its debut Tuesday, and the consensus from the athletes is that its a stiff test.
its my rst downhill after Portillo (Chile) training, so when I got this speed, I was (thinking), Oh, this is fast. Then, I slow down a little bit. I did two turns good and then I got to the same speed again and (thought), Oh, s---. It was not fun. But I think its normal for the rst day. Keep an eye on the top downhillers over the next couple days as the women get their bearings

Its challenging. I had many troubles today because its my rst downhill after Portillo (Chile) training, so when I got this speed, I was (thinking), Oh, this is fast. Then, I slow down a little bit.
Tina Maze
Austrian ski racer

THIS IS FAST
She called the rst run on the course hard for the early season. Its challenging, she said following her rst training run. I had many troubles today because

on the new course. By Thursdays training run, some fast times should be posted in preparation

for the race on Friday. The womens downhill race begins on Friday at 10:45 a.m.

Tuesdays complete downhill training results on Raptor

Daily sta report
1 GUT Lara SUI 1:43.42 2 FENNINGER Anna AUT1:43.90 3 WEIRATHER Tina LIE 1:44.00 4 MARSAGLIA Francesca ITA 1:44.19 4 STERZ Regina AUT 1:44.19 6 YURKIW Larisa CAN 1:44.27 7 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole AUT 1:44.38 8 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 1:44.43 9 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie FRA 1:44.47 10 CURTONI Elena ITA 1:44.53 11 FISCHBACHER Andrea AUT 1:44.55 12 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi SUI 1:44.60 13 STUHEC Ilka 14 MAZE Tina 15 SEJERSTED Lotte S. 16 PUCHNER Mirjam 17 BORSOTTI Camilla 17 SMITH Leanne 19 HUETTER Cornelia 20 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 21 COOK Stacey 22 GAUTHIER Marine 22 SUTER Fabienne 24 JNGLIN-KAMER Nadja 25 GOERGL Elisabeth 26 GISIN Dominique 27 HOSP Nicole SLO SLO NOR AUT ITA USA AUT NOR USA FRA SUI SUI AUT SUI AUT 1:44.74 1:44.83 1:44.84 1:44.96 1:45.06 1:45.06 1:45.10 1:45.12 1:45.14 1:45.22 1:45.22 1:45.33 1:45.38 1:45.44 1:45.45 28 WORLEY Tessa FRA 1:45.47 29 HRONEK Veronique GER 1:45.65 30 ROSS Laurenne USA 1:45.66 31 WILES Jacqueline USA 1:45.70 32 TIPPLER Tamara AUT 1:45.74 33 FANCHINI Elena ITA 1:45.93 34 RUIZ CASTILLO C. SPA 1:46.05 35 KAUFMANN-ABDERHALDEN M. SUI 1:46.27 36 MOSER Stefanie AUT 1:46.27 37 PIOT Jennifer FRA 1:46.36 37 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 1:46.36 39 BAILET Margot FRA 1:46.51 40 FORD Julia USA 1:46.62 41 VENIER Stephanie AUT 1:46.65 42 MERIGHETTI Daniela ITA 1:46.67 43 NUFER Priska SUI 44 FERK Marusa SLO 45 KOEHLE Stefanie AUT 46 GOGGIA Sofia ITA 47 FEIERABEND Denise SUI 48 MANCUSO Julia USA 49 COLETTI Alexandra MON 50 GAGNON Marie-Michele 1989 51 WENIG Michaela GER 52 KLING Kajsa SWE 53 BEDAREVA Maria RUS 54 YAKOVISHINA Elena RUS 54 AGERER Lisa Magdalena ITA 56 STUFFER Verena ITA 57 GOLENKOVA Valentina RUS 1:46.74 1:46.87 1:46.91 1:46.94 1:46.95 1:47.06 1:47.24 CAN 1:47.30 1:47.32 1:47.51 1:47.60 1:47.66 1:47.66 1:47.74 1:47.77 58 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 1:47.78 58 SCHNARF Johanna ITA 1:47.78 60 MIKLOS Edit HUN 1:47.81 61 SIEBENHOFER Ramona AUT 1:47.90 62 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 1:47.92 63 BRODNIK Vanja SLO 1:48.92 64 MARNO Anna USA 1:49.01 65 HECTOR Sara SWE 1:49.04 66 STRACHOVA Sarka CZE 1:49.23 67 SMALL Greta AUS 1:49.37 68 DETTLING Andrea SUI 1:49.43 69 ROTH Julia CAN 1:50.56 70 CHRAPEK Karolina POL 1:50.59 71 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena ARG 1:52.00 72 MIRADOLI Romane FRA 2:08.89

The Vail Daily

| Wednesday, November 27, 2013 | A25

WORLD CUP

Mancuso keeps eyes on Beaver Creek podium

The US Ski Teams veteran speedster looks to ski big this Olympic season
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK U.S. ski racer Julia Mancuso is looking for No. 8 this year (as in eight World Cup titles) and maybe another Olympic medal while shes at it. Things are looking up for the all-round veteran from Squaw Valley, Calif., this season as she enters the Nature Valley Raptor races this weekend. Despite a disappointing race at the rst World Cup stop in Soelden, Austria, in October, shes been looking good in training and is coming into the season healthy. I was a little shocked in Soelden when I skied so bad, but trainings been good, and Im just hoping to do good in the race (this weekend), she said earlier this week.

RECENT SUCCESS
She just might do that, too. In the past three years, she has been third, second and second in the super-G rankings and has been in the top 10 of the downhill results for the past four years. Then there are the Olympics. Mancuso is the owner of a gold medal in giant slalom at Turin, Italy, in 2006, and two silvers from the 2010 Vancouver Olympics in downhill and combined. This year, she hopes to appear at the Sochi Olympics, not only as part of her personal hunt for a medal, but as a bit of an elder statesman for the womens team. Lindsey Vonn is notably sitting on the sidelines at the moment, recovering from a partially torn ACL, leaving Mancuso and fellow team member Stacey Cook as the team veterans. Ive used my experience and what Ive learned to help guide (the rest of the team), she said. Its just about having someone you can look up to.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Julia Mancuso, of the United States, makes her way through a gate during the first day of downhill training on the new World Cup Raptor course Tuesday in Beaver Creek.
strong competitor, she tends to race especially well during big competition years such as this season. During this weekend at Beaver Creek, and in other World Cup competitions that follow, she said that Sochi is denitely on her mind. were not manufactured in her size, she said. Downhill is tough because its so much equipment (based), she said. Also, in order to win a downhill you have to take risks, and I wasnt quite comfortable taking risks last year.

LONG ROAD
Its Olympic season, so every race Im trying to improve and get in peak performance for the Olympics, she said. But its a long road, and its kind of one race at a time, just building condence. She said shes also optimistic about her downhill prospects for the season after working out some equipment problems she dealt with last year. Last year, she struggled to nd the right boots, but this year she is using a newer model similar to the ones Vonn uses. In previous years, the boots

ONE TURN AT A TIME

While sometimes in the shadow of Vonn, Mancuso has always raced and lived in her own fashion, making her a fun athlete to watch. Earlier in her career, she didnt travel with the rest of the team, instead driving around Europe in a motorhome. During the offseason, she lives in Hawaii, working out in the water and on the beach instead of in the gym or in the Southern Hemisphere like many of her teammates. Shes a self-admitted nature hippie, which might explain her constant sunny attitude when it

Its not even about winning every race. Its more about winning your racing, which is doing the best you can do. For me, I take one turn at a time. Its between me and the mountain, and I want to make my peace on that run and feel the wind on my face. If a competitor is having a better run, they gured it out. At least I can be happy with what I did on that run, leaving knowing I did my best and had a great time doing it.

Julia Mancuso
U.S. ski racer

comes to ski racing.

WINNING YOUR RACE

Its not even about winning every race. Its more about winning your racing, which is doing the best you can do, she said. For me, I take one turn at a time. Its between me and the mountain, and I want to make my peace on that run and feel the wind on my face. If a competitor is having a

SKIING BIG
Mancuso is a likely contender to get a spot on the U.S. Olympic team this year and thats saying a lot because the U.S. womens speed team runs extremely deep. While shes consistently a

better run, they gured it out. At least I can be happy with what I did on that run, leaving knowing I did my best and had a great time doing it. Managing Editor Ed Stoner contributed to this article. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at mwong@vaildaily.com and 970-748-2927.

Todays start list for second set of downhill training

Daily sta report
1 SCHNARF Johanna 2 GOERGL Elisabeth 3 SUTER Fabienne 4 STERZ Regina 5 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina 6 FENNINGER Anna 7 JNGLIN-KAMER Nadja 8 SMITH Leanne 9 MERIGHETTI Daniela 10 WEIRATHER Tina 11 MANCUSO Julia ITA AUT SUI AUT SPA AUT SUI USA ITA LIE USA 12 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie FRA 13 COOK Stacey USA 14 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 15 GUT Lara SUI 16 ROSS Laurenne USA 17 MOSER Stefanie AUT 18 STUHEC Ilka SLO 19 STUFFER Verena ITA 20 MAZE Tina SLO 21 GISIN Dominique SUI 22 STECHERT Gina GER 23 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 24 MARSAGLIA Francesca ITA 25 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi SUI 26 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth NOR 27 FISCHBACHER Andrea AUT 28 FANCHINI Elena ITA 29 KAUFMANN-ABDERHALDEN M. SUI 30 REBENSBURG Viktoria GER 31 WORLEY Tessa FRA 32 GOGGIA Sofia ITA 33 DETTLING Andrea SUI 34 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 35 PUCHNER Mirjam AUT 36 HUETTER Cornelia AUT 37 TIPPLER Tamara AUT 38 BRODNIK Vanja SLO 39 NUFER Priska SUI 40 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 41 HOSP Nicole AUT 42 VENIER Stephanie AUT 43 PIOT Jennifer FRA 44 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 45 FERK Marusa SLO 46 MIKLOS Edit HUN 47 WENIG Michaela GER 48 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole AUT 49 CURTONI Elena ITA 50 AGERER Lisa Magdalena ITA 51 MIRADOLI Romane 52 FEIERABEND Denise 53 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 54 HRONEK Veronique 55 YURKIW Larisa 56 YAKOVISHINA Elena 57 BAILET Margot 58 WILES Jacqueline 59 KOEHLE Stefanie 60 GAUTHIER Marine 61 KLING Kajsa 62 FORD Julia 63 HECTOR Sara FRA SUI AUT GER CAN RUS FRA USA AUT FRA SWE USA SWE 64 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild NOR 65 STRACHOVA Sarka CZE 66 GAGNON Marie-Michele CAN 67 MARNO Anna USA 68 BEDAREVA Maria RUS 69 COLETTI Alexandra MON 70 LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica SWE 71 GOLENKOVA Valentina RUS 72 CHRAPEK Karolina POL 73 ROTH Julia CAN 74 DUERR Lena GER 75 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena ARG 76 SMALL Greta AUS

A26 | Wednesday, November 27, 2013 | The Vail Daily

WORLD CUP

Slovenian Maze prepares for World Cup defense

After record season, Tina Maze eyes Olympics
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Slovenian Tina Maze nished 18th at the season-opening giant slalom in Soelden, Austria, in October, and judging by the reaction, one might have thought that the world had stopped spinning on its axis. Yes, it was the rst race of the season. Yes, 18th puts a skier in the points. But after the season Maze had in 2012-13, the sky possibly could have been falling. Pretty much everything Maze did last year was perfect. The 30-year-old Slovenian won 11 World Cup races, three World Championship medals (gold in super-G and two silvers in super-combined and GS) and amassed a record 2,414 World Cup points. I was surprised about 18th place, Maze said after Tuesdays rst training run on Beaver Creeks Raptor course. I wasnt ready for the top there. I was counting on top six. Top three would have been good. But I wasnt so condent. I feel so much better now. I was disappointed, but like I said, You have to go down the mountain, if you want to go up again. This is Mazes world now. After a record-setting season, everything is scrutinized. Shes a rock star, literally. She recorded her single, My Way is my Decision, before last seasons race at Soelden. It had 400,000 hits on YouTube in the rst three days after its release. The cameras are all the time around me, she said. Its a new thing. Usually, they didnt make so many pictures of me, but they do now. No, I dont like being a star. But that comes with obliterating the rest of the eld last season. Maze topped her nearest rival, Germanys Maria Hoe-Riesch, by 1,313 points. Mazes margin of victory was actually more points than Hoe-Riesch scored last year (1,101).

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Tina Maze, of Slovakia, holds her edge while coming through the Gauntlet section of the new Raptor downhill ski course Tuesday on Beaver Creek Mountain.
After the tough nish at Soelden, Maze was back on the podium two weeks ago in Levi, Finland, with a bronze in slalom. Again, its not like she was slow there last year. She was second behind American Mikaela Shiffrin, whom Maze sees as a challenger not only in slalom, but, in the long-term, as a contender for the overall. Theres also a mental reset for her this season. Replicating a 2,400-plus point season is likely impossible. Its a new situation for me, Maze said. Thats why in Soelden, I was like, What? Why is all this pressure on me now? And I was like, This is not normal. You cannot live like this. You need to forget about what you did, what last year was like. As an all-around skier, Tuesday was her rst day on downhill skis since offseason training in Portillo, Chile, in August. Between training on a new course and clicking into downhill skis for the rst time in three months, she wasnt too happy with her run. She did nish 14th with a time of 1 minute, 44.83 seconds, 1.41 seconds off the pace of Switzerlands Lara Gut. in, and here its more technical. Thats why I had more troubles today. Nonetheless, especially with the Olympics in Sochi, Russia, on the horizon, in February, her goals are high for 2013-14. Keep in mind that she won silver medals in both super-G and GS during the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver, British Columbia. I think the most important goal is (the) Olympic Games, Maze said. But, of course, there are many races before that, and I want to ski on the level I was skiing last year. Its not about points or medals or records. Its about skiing my best and fast and clean and attacking the course. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

A NEW YEAR
Maze repeated often her new mantra of You have to go down the mountain if you want to go up again, during interviews Tuesday. It is a new year. She said she got a little time off in the spring and then it was back to work, though with a few changes. She has a new coach in Walter Ronconi, who previously has worked with Italys Massimiliano Blardone. Then theres equipment. Shes changed helmets. It may not seem like much, but it was an adjustment. Maze also has new slalom skis because she needs to be faster in that discipline.

SOCHI ON THE HORIZON

Maze did note that this season is different in scheduling than in previous years. The womens tour usually starts with three technical events Soelden, Levi and Aspen, the last which is usually this weekend before the ladies get their rst go at speed events at Lake Louise, Alberta, next weekend. When I come to Lake Louise, that was my rst training of downhill after Portillo, Maze said. But that downhill is much easier. So it was easier to come

From page A23

TRAINING

offseason camp in Portillo, Chile. Gut won the season-opening GS in Soelden, Austria, but skipped the slalom in Levi, Finland, two weeks ago. She has spent the past two weeks training downhill at Copper Mountain.

AMERICANS IN THE MIX

A bunch of the media talk on Tuesday was about the one who is not racing, naturally Lindsey Vonn. She re-injured her right

knee last week during training at Copper. She originally hurt that knee in a crash at the World Alpine Ski Championships in Schladming, Austria, back in February. While its a disappointment for her and the fans that she is out this week, life does go on for the tour. Of course, its always bad to lose somebody, Gut said. If Julia (Mancuso) wouldnt be here or Maria (Hoe-Riesch), its always sad. But its the World Cup. Its not like a tennis game where two people are playing.

Leanne Smith topped the Americans in 17th. Stacey Cook was 21st, followed by Laurenne Ross (30th), Jacqueline Wiles (31st), Julia Ford (40th), and Mancuso (48th) among others. Wiles, a 21-year-old from Oregon, was one of the days big bib-jumpers. She was wearing No. 58. Canadas Larisa Yurkiw, however, was the biggest bib-jumper, racing the No. 55 into sixth place. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

Tina Weirather, of Liechtenstien, passes throught the Gauntlet during downhill training Tuesday on Beaver Creek Mountain. Weirather finished third for the day with a time of 1:44.00.
JUSTIN MCCARTY JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Sports
Vail Daily | Thursday, November 28, 2013 | A25

Cook logs top run on Raptor training Day 2

Ladies nding their downhill legs on new World Cup course
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

WORLD CUP SKIING

Today Womens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Friday Womens downhill, 10:45, a.m. Saturday Womens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Sunday Womens giant slalom, 9:45 and 12:45 p.m.
The rst training, when you dont know the slope, youre just going to see what it is and check it out with a lot of reserve. Second training, you maybe change something, try something and try to ski, not just slip down. And third training, some girls are just skiing like a race and others try to take it easy. Im just planning to ski fast in the race. Training is not that important, said Gut. However, it was already apparent who was doing well and who had a better feel for the tricky course. A right turn that required skiers to lean heavily on their left foot was giving some racers trouble. Weirather said it was a course that never let you relax. After 20 seconds (of ats,) you get into the pitch, and it falls off like a waterfall, she said of the course. Then after that, there are a lot of turns. Its really tough and you have to ski really well on your outside ski and have the right timing. And then you get into the compression ats, then you come to the nish jump. You have to concentrate the whole time.

BEAVER CREEK U.S. Ski Teams Stacey Cook came off the new Beaver Creek Raptor course on Tuesday slightly cowed by the technical course. On Wednesday, the second training day of the Nature Valley Raptor Ladies World Cup Races, she came off the course with a different outlook and, incidentally, the fastest time of the day, clocking in at 1 minute, 42:03 seconds. I really wanted to dial in the line yesterday, but theres just so much to it that it took today as well, she said of the course, which features a series of steep, tight turns more reminiscent of a giant-slalom course than a downhill. I think I have the line now. I know what skis Im going to ski on, and Im going to just keep looking for speed tomorrow. Thats exactly what training days are for (the ladies have one more training day today before the race on Friday), but Cook admitted that this particular course required a change of tactic. Yesterday, I was kind of just put off by it. I said, Its so turn-y. This is not a downhill. I realized I needed to come to terms that this is what it was, she said. So today, I had to have a little more super-G technique and really enjoy the turns rather than resenting them. Its hard for a downhiller. Liechtensteins Tina Weirather took the second-fastest run with a time of 1:42:10. Switzerlands Lara Gut, who had Tuesdays fastest run, calmly ran the third fastest time at 1:42:12. Americans Leanne Smith and Julia Mancuso also nished in the top 20, and U.S. youngster Jackie Wiles placed in the top half of the pack. Fans should also keep their eyes out on race day for Austrians Anna Fenninger and Nicole Hosp to ski well. They nished on Day 2 in fourth and eighth place, respectively.

WORLD CUP

BEAVER CREEKS RAPTOR DEBUT

Beaver Creek has rewarded competitors so far with sunny skies, warm temperatures and good
JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Stacey Cook, of the U.S., finds a clean line along the Liberty section of the new Raptor downhill course during training on Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Cook had the fastest time of the day at 1 minute, 42.03 seconds.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

WELL SEE ON FRIDAY

While times overall were faster, most racers said they werent pushing the pace at all. Training days are generally used to work out equipment kinks and get used to the course, not to take risks, so fans shouldnt necessarily stake their race day predictions on training day results. Gut said shes withholding judgment on who the most dangerous competitors might be, responding, Well see on Friday.

Nicole Hosp, of Austria, speeds through a turn while running the Raptor downhill course during the second day of training on Wednesday in Beaver Creek.
course conditions. The inaugural Raptor races seem to be a success so far, and American skiers expressed their approval at having a World Cup stop on their own turf. Its exciting to be here. Theres going to be a lot of family and friend support here this weekend. Were psyched up for a new World Cup course at home, said Smith. Europeans enjoyed the conditions as well, adding that they were excited to ski on Colorados famed snow. I love being here because it means the season is really starting, said Weirather. I really like the snow here. It makes it really fun to race.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Anna Fenninger, of Austria, takes a corner during the second day of downhill training on the Raptor World Cup racecourse.

A26 | Thursday, November 28, 2013 | The Vail Daily

Even without Vonn, US speed team looks strong

Womens squad is strongest its been in years, even with missing members
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK While most cameras were turned on Olympic downhill champ Lindsey Vonn this week after she bowed out of the Nature Valley Raptor World Cup Races with a partially torn ACL, the rest of the U.S. womens speed team quietly continued on with what they hope will be another record season. Despite two notable team members missing Vonn and Alice McKennis, who has been recovering from a fractured tibia since this past season the U.S. still boasts one of the strongest teams in years. McKennis is expected to be back and skiing sometime this season, although exactly when is up in the air. Vonn also hopes to compete in the Olympics, and said in an interview with Matt Lauer on the Today show on Wednesday morning that she plans to get on skis later this week and wants to race next weekend in Lake Louise, Alberta.

WORLD CUP

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Leanne Smith is part of a very deep American speed team, which could make some noise at this weekends races on the Raptor at Beaver Creek.
season. If you look at the results we had last year, every single one of (the womens World Cup team) was on the podium. We have a very, very strong speed team, said womens head coach Alex Hoedlmoser. With the depth, its pretty much amazing. Right now were missing those two who can be on the podium all the time, but the quality of the team is still there. Besides Mancuso, theres twotime Olympian and downhill veteran Stacey Cook, downhill podium regular Leanne Smith, and up-and-comer Laurenne Ross, who didnt go to the World Championships last year, but took second in the downhill at last years World Cup Finals. Of course, on the technical side, dont forget slalom wonder Mikaela Shriffin. the U.S. will bring six or seven athletes to the Olympics for each event and decide during training runs who will compete. The next generation of American speedsters looks promising as well. The crop of young up-and-comers includes Julia Ford, Jacqueline Wiles, Anna Marno, Katie Ryan and Katharine Irwin. This creates an interesting dynamic on a team where everyone is doing so well that its hard to get an Olympic spot, but team members said every person has a mature understanding of the situation. Of course youre bummed (if you dont get a spot), but in ski racing if you miss out, thats your own fault. You cant blame anyone else, said Mancuso. Everyones really embraced that, and we know that. If youre the fastest, youll race. For fans, that means theres a lot to look forward to for the Winter Olympics. Its very exciting, said Hoedlmoser. Ive been with this team now for 17 years, and Ive seen it all. At some point, we were one injury away from not having a team, and we started building up from scratch. Now, we have a very strong team.

AMERICAN SKIING COMES OF AGE

Still, when it comes to who will represent the United States come February, coaches have some serious talent to choose from. As U.S. Ski Team member and giant-slalom gold medalist Julia Mancuso said, the season goes on. Were denitely missing two of our teammates, which always kind of sucks, especially because all of us are in the top 15, and we had a big presence last year. But we cant wait for our entire team to be back, she said. Last season, the mens and womens U.S. Ski Team made some serious noise in the world standings. As a whole, the team won ve FIS Alpine World Ski Championships medals to become the rst non-European country to win the nations medal standings. In World Cup results, the womens speed team placed all six athletes on the podium, four for the rst time and won the nations standings for downhill for the fourth straight

SPOTS FOR SOCHI

At the Sochi Olympics, the U.S. can start four women in each event. Mancuso and Cook are likely shoo-ins for the speed events. There could be three or four skiers vying for the two remaining spots, and thats not even including Vonn if she returns in time. Hoedlmoser said that its likely

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Julia Mancuso is probably a shoo-in for downhill and super-G for the Americans come the Olympics in February. But who will join her? The U.S. speed team is in the enviable position of having a lot of choices.

Complete downhill training results for Day 2 at Raptor

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 COOK Stacey USA 2 WEIRATHER Tina LIE 3 GUT Lara SUI 4 FENNINGER Anna AUT 5 STERZ Regina AUT 6 STUHEC Ilka SLO 7 AUFDENBLATTEN F. SUI 8 HOSP Nicole AUT 8 SUTER Fabienne SUI 10 GOGGIA Sofia ITA 1:42.03 1:42.10 1:42.12 1:42.33 1:42.52 1:42.59 1:42.67 1:42.73 1:42.73 1:42.76 11 GOERGL Elisabeth AUT 12 HOEFL-RIESCH M. GER 13 GISIN Dominique SUI 14 SMITH Leanne USA 15 MAZE Tina SLO 16 FISCHBACHER A. AUT 17 SCHMIDHOFER N. AUT 18 MARSAGLIA F. ITA 19 MANCUSO Julia USA 20 JNGLIN-KAMER N. SUI 21 SEJERSTED L. S. NOR 22 PUCHNER Mirjam AUT 22 MOSER Stefanie AUT 1:43.05 1:43.13 1:43.23 1:43.24 1:43.32 1:43.50 1:43.54 1:43.65 1:43.68 1:43.73 1:43.77 1:43.81 1:43.81 24 STUFFER Verena ITA 1:44.03 25 KAUFMANN-A.M. SUI 1:44.08 26 TIPPLER Tamara AUT 1:44.14 27 MARCHAND-A. M. FRA 1:44.16 28 MERIGHETTI D. ITA 1:44.22 29 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 1:44.27 29 DETTLING Andrea SUI 1:44.27 31 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 1:44.32 32 NUFER Priska SUI 1:44.46 33 WILES Jacqueline USA 1:44.47 34 HUETTER Cornelia AUT 1:44.66 35 FERK Marusa SLO 1:44.72 36 BAILET Margot FRA 1:44.82 37 MOWINCKEL R. NOR 1:44.84 38 HRONEK V. GER 1:44.86 39 PIOT Jennifer FRA 1:44.91 40KLING Kajsa SWE 1:44.97 41 WENIG Michael GER 1:44.98 42 ROSS Laurenne USA 1:45.00 43 GOLENKOVA V. RUS 1:45.05 44 KOEHLE Stefanie AUT 1:45.08 45 GAUTHIER Marine FRA 1:45.12 46 VENIER Stephanie AUT 1:45.19 47 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 1:45.20 48 RUIZ CASTILLO C. SPA 1:45.23 49 FANCHINI Elena ITA 1:45.25 50 MIKLOS Edit HUN 1:45.30 51 SIEBENHOFER R. AUT 1:45.32 52 WORLEY Tessa FRA 1:45.33 53 AGERER Lisa M. ITA 1:45.51 54 MIRADOLI R. FRA 1:45.68 55 FORD Julia USA 1:45.71 55 YURKIW Larisa CAN 1:45.71 57 COLETTI Alex. MON 1:45.84 57 SCHNARF J. ITA 1:45.84 59 FEIERABEND D. SUI 1:45.96 60 GAGNON Marie-M. CAN 1:45.98 61 BEDAREVA Maria RUS 1:46.27 62 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 1:46.28 63 YAKOVISHINA E. RUS 63 BRODNIK Vanja SLO 65 STRACHOVA S. CZE 66 MARNO Anna USA 67 HECTOR Sara SWE 68 SMALL Greta AUS 69 ROTH Julia CAN 70 SIMARI B. M. ARG 71 CHRAPEK Karolina POL 72 LINDELL-V.J. SWE 1:46.49 1:46.49 1:46.98 1:47.22 1:47.70 1:47.79 1:47.92 1:48.71 1:49.30 1:49.32

The Vail Daily

| Thursday, November 28, 2013 | A27

Bouncing back from racing injuries ... all the way

Gut and Weirather among those on a road well traveled
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

WORLD CUP

BEAVER CREEK Face it, if youve been on the World Cup, and dont have the scars to prove it, you just havent been trying. Ligaments, knees, legs, ankles, shoulders, arms and concussions, ski racing has its inherent risks. With the skiing worlds most-talked-about right knee rehabbing in Vail with a possible return to the tour next week in Lake Louise, Alberta, as Lindsey Vonn told Matt Lauer on the NBC Today show on Wednesday, there are successful comeback stories on the Raptor racecourse in Beaver Creek. Both Liechtensteins Tina Weirather and Switzerlands Lara Gut are rising stars in both downhill and super-G. Both are trending well here two days into training Gut was rst on Tuesday and third on Wednesday, while Weirather has been third and second, respectively. Both are all but teammates as Weirather from tiny Liechtenstein trains with the Swiss. And both had injuries that sidelined them for the Olympics in 2010. Of course, you know that, Gut said of risk. We crash bad once or two times in our life, but we ski, I dont know, 250 days for a year. Its not that much.

2007-10. Even by skiing-injury standards, thats wrenching. There are a lot of tough days, but there are also good days, Weirather said. The most important thing was that I was always really in love with skiing, and I have so much passion for it, I could never imagine to not ski anymore. So I just tried everything I could, and I had good people around me helping me There are still bad days when you think you can never reach your goals and never get back where you wanted to go. But then you just have to keep on moving and trying.

MIND GAMES
Being physically healthy is one thing. The brain also has to be ready as well. A racer can know that her knee or hip is ne, but believing that on the course during race conditions is entirely something else. It takes time, Gut said. I remember starting racing World Cup after my injury it was more than a year after my injury. The beginning, I was ne, but I wasnt fast. Then, one day, everything was back. I was fast and I was on the podium. I dont think you can describe it. It was instinct. One day its not in your mind anymore. Yeah, I had that a lot, and I still have days like that, Weirather said. Its a long time since my injuries and I still have days like that. I think its still important to have those days because there are also the days that save you a little bit because you cant always go 100 percent. Sometimes, you listen to your feelings and your body and when it says its not possible, you have to accept it and try the next day to go hard again. Gut burst back into the win column in Zauchensee, Austria, on Jan. 9, 2011, in super-G , about 18 months after the injury and three years after her rst win. Three of her four World Cup wins, including the 2013-14 opener in Soelden, Austria, have come after the injury.

WELCOME TO PURGATORY
That is the mentality a ski racer has to take. Once one skis while worrying about an injury, well, thats when injuries happen. Not exactly ancient now at 22, Gut was 17 years and 233 days old when she go her rst career win in St. Moritz, Switzerland, on Dec. 12, 2008. She was the next for Switzerland, a nation obsessed with skiing. Gut dislocated her hip during offseason training before the 2009-10 season, and there went an entire season, including the Olympics. It was horrible, Gut said. It was the rst time I had to wait. Until there, everything came easy. Then, I had to start from zero. It was challenging, but Im thankful now that I could do that. I know what I want now, and Im doing it because I want it. I think now I am stronger than before. But I have to work at it every day. Meanwhile, Weirather was going through her own version of purgatory. She managed to tear the same ACL three times during the span of

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

A SLOW JOURNEY
The path has been even slower for Weirather. The podiums came early, which was reassuring. The longsought-after win, nally arrived on March 1, almost six years after her rst ACL injury. I was pretty good when I was really young, like 17, and then I had many injuries in a row, three big injuries in a row, said Weirather, who is now a grizzled 24. It took me pretty long to get back. I had to learn a lot about myself, my body and my mind. I think I know myself much better now, and I hope I can perform more consistently.

Lara Gut, of Switzerland, passes a gate while running the Raptor World Cup downhill course Wednesday in Beaver Creek. Gut missed the 2009-10 season by dislocating a hip, just one of many injuries World Cup racers face. Tina Weirather, of Liechtenstein, negotiates a curve on the Liberty section of the new Raptor World Cup course during the second day of training Wednesday in Beaver Creek. From 2007-10, Weirather injured the same ACL ligament in her knee three different times, but shes healthy now and in the mix for this weekend.
JUSTIN MCCARTY JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Todays start list for the nal day of ski race training
Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 MIKLOS Edit 2 HUETTER Cornelia 3 FERK Marusa 4 KAUFMANN-A.M. 5 STUFFER Verena 6 MOSER Stefanie 7 ROSS Laurenne 8 MERIGHETTI Daniela 9 JNGLIN-KAMER Nadja 10 SMITH Leanne HUN AUT SLO SUI ITA AUT USA ITA SUI USA 11 GUT Lara 12 STERZ Regina 13 GISIN Dominique 14 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina 15 MARCHAND-ARVIER M. 16 COOK Stacey 17 MANCUSO Julia 18 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria 19 WEIRATHER Tina 20 MAZE Tina 21 FANCHINI Elena 22 FENNINGER Anna 23 AUFDENBLATTEN F. SUI AUT SUI SPA FRA USA USA GER LIE SLO ITA AUT SUI 24 FISCHBACHER Andrea 25 GOERGL Elisabeth 26 SUTER Fabienne 27 STUHEC Ilka 28 FANCHINI Nadia 29 SCHNARF Johanna 30 SEJERSTED L. S. 31 MARSAGLIA Francesca 32 WORLEY Tessa 33 GOGGIA Sofia 34 DETTLING Andrea 35 HAEHLEN Joana 36 PUCHNER Mirjam AUT AUT SUI SLO ITA ITA NOR ITA FRA ITA SUI SUI AUT 37 TIPPLER Tamara AUT 38 BRODNIK Vanja SLO 39 NUFER Priska SUI 40 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 41 HOSP Nicole AUT 42 VENIER Stephanie AUT 43 PIOT Jennifer FRA 44 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 45 WENIG Michaela GER 46 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole AUT 47 CURTONI Elena ITA 48 AGERER Lisa Magdalena ITA 49 MIRADOLI Romane FRA 50 FEIERABEND Denise 51 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 52 HRONEK Veronique 53 YURKIW Larisa 54 YAKOVISHINA Elena 55 BAILET Margot 56 WILES Jacqueline 57 KOEHLE Stefanie 58 GAUTHIER Marine 59 KLING Kajsa 60 FORD Julia 61 HECTOR Sara 62 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild SUI AUT GER CAN RUS FRA USA AUT FRA SWE USA SWE NOR 63 STRACHOVA Sarka CZE 64 GAGNON Marie-Michele CAN 65 MARNO Anna USA 66 BEDAREVA Maria RUS 67 COLETTI Alexandra MON 68 GOLENKOVA Valentina RUS 69 CHRAPEK Karolina POL 70 ROTH Julia CAN 71 SIMARI BIRKNER M. ARG 72 SMALL Greta AUS

Sports
A34 | Friday, November 29, 2013 | Vail Daily

Lara Gut the favorite as training ends

Swiss racer impressive on Thursday
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

WORLD CUP

BEAVER CREEK Its just training, of course. But there is no one who wouldnt want to trade places with Switzerlands Lara Gut in the Raptor womens World Cup eld going into todays downhill at 10:45 a.m at Beaver Creek. She authoritatively put herself in the role of favorite with Thursdays nal training run. Yes, its just training, but its hard to ignore that she put down a time of 1 minute, 40.76 seconds 1.18 seconds ahead of Austrias Tina Weirather during the nal dress rehearsal. No points have been on the line, but Guts training times have plummeted from 1:43.42 to 1:42.12 to 1:40.76 during the last three days, for nishes of rst, third and rst, respectively. Yeah, clearly, (Gut) did a lot of things right to be that far ahead, said Leanne Smith, the top American on Thursday, in ninth place. So, denitely (thats) something to look at. Were all going to be watching her in video tonight. It doesnt mean that anyone else cant do that. The 22-year-old Gut, naturally, downplayed it. I dont know. I dont care, Gut said. Tomorrow, everybody has to do something. Its not that if Im the favorite, theyre going to say, (Im) a second behind. Shes on the podium. Everybody starts everything from zero. And in a case of traditional gamesmanship, her competitors maybe tried to plant a seed of doubt. Yeah, shes ahead pretty much, but its just a training run and its not counting, said Germanys Maria Hoe-Riesch, who was sixth. But, yeah, its not always so easy when you have three really good training runs to do it again in the race. While strategies are different for training, what was impressive

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Lara Gut, of Switzerland, passes a gate during the third day of training on the Raptor World Cup downhill course on Thursday in Beaver Creek. Gut was the fastest for the second time in three days with a time of 1 minute, 40.76 seconds.

WORLD CUP SKIING

Today Womens downhill, 10:45, a.m. Saturday Womens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Sunday Womens giant slalom, 9:45 and 12:45 p.m. Tuesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Wednesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Thursday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Dec. 5 Mens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Dec. 6 Mens downhill, 10:45 a.m. Dec. 7 Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

TRAINING, A38

Romane Miradoli, of France, hits the deck during training on the Raptor World Cup downhill course Thursday in Beaver Creek.

Complete Raptor practice results for Thursday

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 GUT Lara 2 WEIRATHER Tina 3 STUHEC Ilka 4 SEJERSTED L. S. 5 FENNINGER Anna 6 HOEFL-RIESCH M. 7 SCHMIDHOFER N. 8 MAZE Tina SUI LIE SLO NOR AUT GER AUT SLO 1:40.76 1:41.94 1:42.44 1:42.57 1:42.72 1:42.88 1:42.90 1:42.96 9 SMITH Leanne 10 GISIN Dominique 11 HOSP Nicole 12 GOGGIA Sofia 12 MERIGHETTI D. 14 FISCHBACHER A. 14 COOK Stacey 16 MARCHAND-A. M. 17 GOERGL Elisabeth 18 PUCHNER Mirjam 19 TIPPLER Tamara 20 STUFFER Verena USA SUI AUT ITA ITA AUT USA FRA AUT AUT AUT ITA 1:43.10 1:43.12 1:43.20 1:43.22 1:43.22 1:43.27 1:43.27 1:43.33 1:43.39 1:43.54 1:43.55 1:43.58 21 SUTER Fabienne SUI 1:43.65 22 JNGLIN-KAMER N. SUI 1:43.69 23 AUFDENBLATTEN F.i SUI 1:44.03 24 STERZ Regina AUT 1:44.04 25 MOWINCKEL R. NOR 1:44.07 26 VENIER Steph. AUT 1:44.11 27 FANCHINI Elena ITA 1:44.17 28 HRONEK Ver. GER 1:44.20 29 PIOT Jennifer FRA 1:44.25 30 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 1:44.47 30 FERK Marusa SLO 1:44.47 32 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 1:44.48 33 WILES Jacqueline USA 34 YURKIW Larisa CAN 35 RUIZ CASTILLO C. SPA 36 KAUFMANN-A.M. SUI 37 DETTLING Andrea SUI 38 ROSS Laurenne USA 39 SIEBENHOFER R. AUT 40 AGERER Lisa M. ITA 41 NUFER Priska SUI 42 KOEHLE Stefanie AUT 43 FORD Julia USA 44 WENIG Michaela GER 1:44.55 1:44.56 1:44.65 1:44.69 1:44.71 1:44.72 1:44.81 1:44.98 1:45.15 1:45.24 1:45.28 1:45.32 45 GAUTHIER Marine FRA 46 BAILET Margot FRA 47 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 48 FEIERABEND D. SUI 49 MARSAGLIA F. ITA 50 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 51 BRODNIK Vanja SLO 52 COLETTI Alex. MON 53 ROTH Julia CAN 54 MIKLOS Edit HUN 55 MARNO Anna USA 56 STRACHOVA S. CZE 1:45.49 1:45.56 1:45.64 1:45.66 1:45.67 1:45.72 1:45.95 1:46.01 1:46.56 1:46.75 1:47.03 1:47.31 57 SMALL Greta 58 GOLENKOVA Val. 59 SIMARI B. M. 60 MANCUSO Julia 61 YAKOVISHINA E. 62 BEDAREVA Maria 63 CHRAPEK K. 64 MOSER Stefanie AUS RUS ARG USA RUS RUS POL AUT 1:47.45 1:47.94 1:48.36 1:48.70 1:49.26 1:49.33 1:49.41 1:56.99

The Vail Daily

| Friday, November 29, 2013 | A35

WORLD CUP

Who makes history?: A primer for todays race

Whos your pick?
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com
LIF 0 T1

T8 LIF

DH - MEN START

BEAVER CREEK Whoever wins today etches her name in history. Its the Nature Valley Ladies Raptor downhill today at 10:45 a.m. at Beaver Creek, and a racer will get to go down as the rst conqueror of the new racecourse. Trivia time: Can you name the rst winner of the Birds of Prey mens course back in 1997? (It isnt who you think.) Thats one of many things thats fun about today. Not only will someone became an answer to a trivia question, but shell have a leg up on the competition for the next womens downhill here at the 2015 World Alpine Ski Championships. Remember, folks, this is the reason the womens tour is here this week this is the trial run for the new Raptor course.

SG - MEN START SG - WOMEN START DH - WOMEN START GS - WOMEN START

GS - MEN START Russis Ride The Runway

LIF

Screech Owl
T9

Golden Eagle Jump

The Abyss The Gauntlet The Apex Lech-Zuers Schuss Predator Traverse Kestrel Banshee Bank
LIF 0 T1

Harrier Jump

Liberty

RACE DAY ALWAYS DIFFERENT THAN TRAINING

Since weve only had training on the racecourse, and race day is always different than practice, we will start to get true feedback on the Raptor. (In the interests of full disclosure, training feedback has been quite positive.) Is Raptor a all-around downhill like Birds of Prey? Which sections are the hard nuts to crack? Are there strategies to running this course? (Perhaps building speed on the top and being technically procient enough in the middle? Just a thought.) Game on, ladies, and the answer to our trivia is Italys Kristian Ghedina. (Nope, it wasnt Hermann Maier.)
LIF T8

Heckle & Jeckle

Red Tail Jump Peregrine Run Out PRESS CENTER STADIUM BUS LOAD ZONE TV COMPOUND

LIF

11

LIF

T9

COURSE MAP
about mid-30s at Beaver Creek, and feeling like its in the balmy 40s. Defending champion: Well, nobody. That would be the point of the day. But your 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships downhill winner was Italys Renate Goetschl over in Vail. And your last womens World Cup downhill winner in Eagle County was Swedens Pernilla Wiberg during the 1997 World Cup Finals. Downhill stats: The Raptor starts at 11,286 feet and descends to 8,956 feet. The competitors will drop 2,330 feet during the course of 7,700 feet, or 1.458 miles in roughly 1 minute and 41

2013 BEAVER CREEK WORLD CUP WEEKS

seconds or so. Look out for: Again, well nd out, but if Switzerlands Lara Gut is having a problem with Heckle & Jeckle down toward the nish of the course, thats probably going to be a trouble spot for everyone. Americans (Bib number): Leanne Smith (10); Laurenne Ross (15); Stacey Cook (18); Julia Mancuso (20); Jacqueline Willes (51); and Julia Ford (53). This is Willes rst World Cup start. Favorites: Well, Lara Gut (11), of Switzerland, has been crisper than crisp in training, and she already has one World Cup win under her belt this year. Slovenias Tina Maze (22) is the defending overall champ and was ranked No. 2 in downhill last year. (No. 1 was Lindsey Vonn, and shes obviously not racing this week.) Germanys Maria Hoe-Riesch (21) always ies under the radar in North America, and we still dont understand why. Cook won training on Wednesday and was fourth in the downhill points last winter. Liechtensteins Tina Weirather (17) has skied well this week and is on that upward career curve at age 24. Dark horses: Austrias Anna Fenninger (19) is always a threat. Italys Daniela Merighetti (13) hasnt been getting much buzz this week. Thats an oversight. Mancuso and Ross are also podium contenders for the home team. Media picks: (As always, no wagering.) Shauna Farnell, former Vail Daily ski-reporting goddess: Gut. Chris Freud, Vail Daily: Gut. Pat Graham, AP Denver: Heart says Cook, gut says Gut. (Pat made a funny.) Massimo Lopes Pegna, La Gazzeta Dello Sport, Milan, Italy: Maze. Melanie Wong, Vail Daily: Gut. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW

Heres the run-though on the womens downhill: Format: Get down the hill in one piece. One run. Number of racers: 60 Weather: Glorious. The website www.weather.com says 38 and sunny in Avon, which means

Its game time: Your start list for todays race

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 2 KAUFMANN-A. M. SUI 3 FANCHINI Elena ITA 4 AUFDENBLATTEN F. SUI 5 STUFFER Verena ITA 6 SEJERSTED L. S. NOR 7 MIKLOS Edit HUN 8 STERZ Regina AUT 9 RUIZ CASTILLO C. 10 SMITH Leanne 11 GUT Lara 12 MOSER Stefanie 13 MERIGHETTI D. 14 MARCHAND-A. M. 15 ROSS Laurenne 16 JNGLIN-KAMER N. 17 WEIRATHER Tina 18 COOK Stacey 19 FENNINGER Anna SPA USA SUI AUT ITA FRA USA SUI LIE USA AUT 20 MANCUSO Julia USA 21 HOEFL-RIESCH M. GER 22 MAZE Tina SLO 23 HUETTER Cornelia AUT 24 MARSAGLIA Fran. ITA 25 STUHEC Ilka SLO 26 FISCHBACHER A. AUT 27 SUTER Fabienne SUI 28 FERK Marusa SLO 29 GISIN Dominique SUI 30 GOERGL Elisabeth AUT 31 WORLEY Tessa FRA 32 GOGGIA Sofia ITA 33 DETTLING Andrea SUI 34 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 35 PUCHNER Mirjam AUT 36 BRODNIK Vanja SLO 37 NUFER Priska SUI 38 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 39 HOSP Nicole AUT 40 PIOT Jennifer FRA 41 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 42 WENIG Michaela GER 43 SCHMIDHOFER N. AUT 44 CURTONI Elena ITA 45 AGERER L. M. ITA 46 FEIERABEND D. SUI 47 SIEBENHOFER R. AUT 48 HRONEK Ver. GER 49 YURKIW Larisa CAN 50 BAILET Margot FRA 51 WILES Jacqueline USA 52 KLING Kajsa SWE 53 FORD Julia 54 MOWINCKEL R. 55 STRACHOVA S. 56 COLETTI Alex. 57 GOLENKOVA Val. 58 CHRAPEK Kar. 59 SIMARI B. M. 60 SMALL Greta USA NOR CZE MON RUS POL ARG AUS

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BRINGING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

SATURDAY, 11 30 13 | VAILDAILY.COM | FREE

Gut wins World Cup downhill

Swiss racer continues her streak, winning first World Cup race on Raptor in Beaver Creek. The super-G is today at 10:45 a.m. A31

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Downhill race winner Lara Gut, of Switzerland, comes into the Kestrel section of the Raptor Womens World Cup downhill course during Fridays race at Beaver Creek. Gut was the fastest racer of the day, winning by half of a second.

WEATHER

WYATT DOTY
Stone Creek Charter School Sunny High 35; low 19; Weather, B20

COMMENTARY

WALL STREET
DJIA 16,086.41, -10.92 NASDAQ 4,059.89, -1.42

INSIDE
CALENDAR HIGH LIFE OUR WORLD SPORTS
Vol. XXXIII, Issue 168

Everything in life is a trade-o and experience is the only way to learn how to make good trades. WARREN MILLER, A6

B18 B1 A24 A31

OFFICIAL WOMENS USA SKI TEAM ATHLETE SIGNING!

Come by and meet the athletes at Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate Park Hyatt Ofce in Beaver Creek Village

SATURDAY FROM 4:305:30pm GO USA!

Sports
Vail Daily | Saturday, November 30, 2013 | A31

Lara Gut bests Raptor downhill course

Weirather, Fanchini round out podium
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Switzerlands Lara Gut is on a streak, and the 22-year-old continued what has been a breakout season with a win at the rst downhill of the World Cup season at Beaver Creek. Gut sped to the top step of the podium of the Nature Valley Raptor race with a clean run in 1 minute, 41.26 seconds a time that was actually about half a second slower than her fastest training run of the week on Thursday. Known as a strong technical skier, she cruised through the tricky middle section of the course that was tripping up other racers all day. She said that while her race run wasnt quite the near-perfect run she had during training, she was happy with the way she performed. The snow was a bit different today, but it was OK, she said. I like the snow and the slope here. Then you just have to ght. I had good training runs, but you can always make mistakes, and I didnt want to do that. I tried to do it again today, but I wasnt as clean on my skis. Tomorrow I will try to ski cleaner.

WORLD CUP

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Lara Gut, of Switzerland, takes a tight line around a gate while racing on the Raptor Womens World Cup downhill course on Friday in Beaver Creek. Gut finished first during the race with a time of 1 minute, 41.26 seconds.

WORLD CUP SKIING

Today Womens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Sunday Womens giant slalom, 9:45 and 12:45 p.m. Tuesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Wednesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Thursday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Friday Mens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 6 Mens downhill, 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
Now shes stronger than ever and sits rst in the points race after winning the rst World Cup race in Soelden, Austria, in October. I crashed four years ago and didnt go to the Olympics, and since then Ive been working so hard to be back. I had to build everything again, my body, my skiing skills, my feeling on the snow. Now Im feeling good, she said.

HANDLING THE RAPTOR

The podium was rounded out by Liechtensteins Tina Weirather in second with a time of 1:41.73 and Italys Elena Fanchini in third with a time of 1:42.24 Weirather was no surprise to appear on the podium after skiing strong the whole week. Weirather, the daughter of two World Cup and Olympic ski racers, made clean turns throughout her run, although not quite as clean as Gut. It was a bit rougher today, but I could still handle the Raptor, so Im happy with that, she said. Fanchini, usually a skier who favors faster, straighter courses, said the result was a surprise to her. Her sister, Nadia Fanchini, is also racing at the Raptor and came in 25th in the downhill. It was special because its a challenging course, Elena Fanchini said. I wasnt skiing that well in training, so I was not really expecting this. Its a wonderful surprise and will give me a lot of condence and momentum. For Gut, while she declined to name any goals for points or medals, the season could well be a big one for her that leads to the Olympics. Four years ago, she missed out on the Games after a catastrophic crash (dislocated hip) put her off skis for nearly a year.

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Tina Weirather, of Liechtenstein, raises her fist in celebration as she skis into the finish area of the Raptor Womens World Cup downhill race on Friday at Beaver Creek. Weirather took second place, coming in behind Switzerlands Lara Gut.
found that new dips and bumps on the already twisty run made staying on course and choosing the best line even more of a challenge. Those bumps got the better of skiers like the Americans Leanne Smith, who crashed on the nal turn, and Stacey Cook, who barely stayed on her skis after chattering over several bumps in the middle of the course. The conditions played well both for those who were able to handle the variation smoothly and those who went earlier in the day, before multiple skiers wore down the course, accentuating bumps, ice and dips. When asked if any of the conditions gave her any trouble, Fanchini grinned and pointed at the 3 on her bib. She was the third skier down the hill, meaning she skied the course when it was fresh, she said.

BUMPS AND TURNS

The course on Friday had been signicantly skied over after three days of training. Many racers

GUT WINS, A38

A32 | Saturday, November 30, 2013 | The Vail Daily

WORLD CUP

Americans not thrilled with Raptor debut

Stacey Cook leads the way in 19th place
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK It wasnt exactly the rst impression that the U.S. Womens Ski Team wanted to make during the inaugural World Cup downhill at the Raptor at Beaver Creek on Friday. On the other hand, it wasnt a wipeout either. Stacey Cook led a trio of Americans into the points with a 19th-place nish with Julia Mancuso in 20th and Laurenne Ross tied for 22nd. Meanwhile, youngster Jacqueline Wiles, of Oregon, also made her World Cup debut.

RACES LIKE THIS HAPPEN

The bumps seemed to knock me around a lot today, said Cook about her run, but she could just as well been speaking for the team. Im not sure why. Well have to look at the video and gure out what went wrong. Races like this happen. Its just unfortunate it happened on our home turf. The Americans get their next shot at Raptor with todays super-G race, which starts at 10:45 a.m. For some perspective, when Birds of Prey made its debut on Dec. 4, 1997, with a downhill, Tommy Moe was the top American in 27th and A.J. Kitt nished 29th. The mens rst podium was Daron Rahlves third place nish in 2002, and he was also the rst to win here in 2003. Its hard to see the women going that long on Raptor. (Lindsey Vonn, who is out this week with a re-aggravated right-knee injury, won a super-G on Birds of Prey on Dec. 7, 2011.)

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Stacey Cook, of the United States, leans into a turn while racing through the Kestrel section of the Raptor Womens World Cup downhill race on Friday at Beaver Creek. Cook was the fastest American of the day, finishing 19th with a time of 1 minute, 43.49 seconds.

BUMPY RIDE
The day started ominously with Leanne Smith going sideways on Peregrine Run Out. She gamely got her skis going the right way, but was out of position for Red Tail, the nal jump of the course, and was a DNF. Cook, who won Wednesdays training, was one of many competitors in the eld who had trouble with Kestrel, a turn at the midpoint of Raptor. She came out of that turn in the backseat, losing time. Yeah, its pretty bumpy and just a hard course to gure out when it changes day-to-day, Cook said. Its just hard to get a grip on it with executing my plan. That happens on new courses. Mancuso, who said she hasnt quite gotten a feel for Raptor yet, did make a boot change, which she liked, and she said she feels good for todays super-G. Like all of the Americans with early starts, the 2006 Olympic giant-slalom champion

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Spectators watch as Americas Leanne Smith crashes on the Red Tail Jump above the finish line during the Raptor Womens World Cup downhill race Friday at Beaver Creek.
like I made any big mistakes, but it just wasnt a winning performance. Ross found trouble in a double turn located right at what will be the super-G start today, just after The Apex, the rst steep of the run. There were a bunch of chops in that turn, Ross said. Right when you hit those, you kind of get a feeling for what the next 12 downhill turns are going to be like. It was just rough, hold on tight, try to survive, try to maintain your line. speed event of the season, the talk in then media corral was about the Olympic push. The Americans are in a nice kind of bind with likely six speedsters vying for four spots in each discipline. The basic criteria is in order of priority: Recording top-three nishes in the discipline on the World Cup in the season running up to the games. Top-10 nishes in the discipline. World Cup points in the discipline. Coaches discretion.

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Americas Julia Mancuso, left, checks the scoreboard for her time after her run in the Raptor Womens World Cup downhill race on Friday at Beaver Creek. After struggling in training, Mancuso had her best time of the week, finishing in 20th place.
cruised on the upper at before the technical middle section got her. I found it difficult everyday, and it didnt change much, Mancuso said. It was another tough day. My run wasnt my best run for sure, but I think you just have to feel really comfortable and condent. It wasnt

EYES ON THE OLYMPICS

Though it was only the rst

AMERICANS, A38

The Vail Daily

| Saturday, November 30, 2013 | A33

WORLD CUP

Kestrel, Liberty give World Cup racers trouble

Taking a look at the Raptor downhill courses trickiest turns
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK American skier Leanne Smiths troubles began in the rst major curve of the Raptor Womens World Cup course, known as Gregs Double. At that point, the downhill course becomes considerably steeper, dropping racers into a double turn, complicated on Friday by several sneaky bumps and ruts not monster speed bumps by any means, but noticeable when youre ying over it at 60 mph. After Smith bobbled over those curves, she struggled to maintain her line for the remainder of the course, losing more time in the twisty mid-section of the course. As she came screaming around the nal curve, within sight of the nish line, she caught an edge at 75 mph, sending her tumbling off the course in a shower of snow.

A TASTE THE NEXT 12 DOWNHILL TURNS

Fortunately, Smith was able to ski away from the crash, and she wasnt the only racer foiled by the technical aspects of the Raptor course. Gregs Double leads the way into the courses rst steep pitch and the run doesnt get any easier after that. When you come into the rst pitch (on Gregs Double), right away theres a bunch of chops. When you get into that, its a taste of what the next 12 downhill turns are going to be like, said U.S. Ski Team member Laurenne Ross, who lost considerable time due to those curves. It was just like trying to hold on tight and try to survive. The chops are right where the tough parts begin, and if youre thrown off at all, youre in the wrong mindset and wrong body position for the hardest part of the course.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Italys Sofia Goggia fights to regain control after skidding out coming around a turn at the Kestrel section of the Raptor Womens World Cup downhill course on Friday at Beaver Creek.
Liberty, two winding, unforgiving, high-speed sections that feature super-G turns. Racer after racer, even if they aced those initial curves, went bouncing past the gates in Kestrel and Liberty, some barely staying on the course. Germanys Maria Hoe-Riesch was put in the backseat in this section after she lost her line around a curve and ew past a gate pointed in the wrong direction. She rallied and recovered for the latter part of the course, but those mistakes cost the former World Cup overall champion a spot on the podium. Those curves have landed the Raptor the reputation as being one of most difficult downhill courses on the Womens World Cup circuit. In a discipline where in order to win, you must take some amount of risk, the Raptor is one course that makes you think twice. Lose too much speed on the technical middle section and you might not carry enough speed into the at nish section. Go to hard in the middle and risk getting tossed.

BALANCING RISK
Its not a very good course to take all the risk you can, because there are a lot of parts that you do a lot of stupid things, said Liechensteins Tina Weirather, who took second on Friday. You have to nd the balance between attacking and keeping the line. You cant do many mistakes because youll be off the course. Whereas next weekends World Cup race at Lake Louise, Alberta, is a much easier course for a speed event, favoring gliders and forgiving to weak

technique, the Raptor requires a complete skier. Its really a complete run, said Switzerlands Lara Gut, who won Fridays downhill. Its at on the top and at on the bottom, but you have to ski in the middle. Every racer had something that ts and something that doesnt. Its going to be fun to be racing here next year. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 or at mwong@ vaildaily.com.

KESTREL, LIBERTY TEST RACERS

Shes referring to Kestrel and

Complete results from the rst Raptor downhill

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 GUT Lara SUI 1:41.26 2 WEIRATHER T. LIE 1:41.73 3 FANCHINI Elena ITA 1:42.24 4 SUTER Fab. SUI 1:42.30 5 FENNINGER A. AUT 1:42.39 6 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi SUI 1:42.46 7 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 1:42.49 8 FISCHBACHER Andrea AUT 1:42.55 9 KAUFMANN-ABDERHALDEN Marianne SUI 1:42.75 10 STERZ Regina AUT 1:42.92 11 SCHMIDHOFER Nicole AUT 1:42.94 12 GISIN Dom. SUI 1:42.99 13 STUFFER Ver. ITA 1:43.12 14 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie FRA 1:43.23 15 GOERGL Elisabeth AUT 1:43.26 16 STUHEC Ilka SLO 1:43.34 16 MAZE Tina SLO 1:43.34 18 MOSER Stef. AUT 1:43.41 19 COOK Stacey USA 1:43.49 20 MANCUSO Julia USA 1:43.71 21 HUETTER Cornelia AUT 1:43.80 22 ROSS Laurenne USA 1:43.86 22 MERIGHETTI Daniela ITA 1:43.86 24 HOSP Nicole AUT 1:43.88 25 NUFER Priska SUI 1:43.96 25 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 1:43.96 27 MARSAGLIA Francesca ITA 1:44.05 28 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild NOR 1:44.24 29 WENIG Michaela GER 1:44.27 30 JNGLIN-KAMER Nadja SUI 1:44.30 31 WORLEY Tessa FRA 1:44.32 32 DETTLING Andrea SUI 1:44.38 33 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina SPA 1:44.65 34 PUCHNER Mirjam AUT 1:44.66 35 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 1:44.74 36 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth NOR 1:44.80 37 AGERER Lisa Magdalena ITA 1:44.98 38 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 1:45.02 39 PIOT Jennifer FRA 1:45.06 40 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 1:45.07 41 FORD Julia USA 1:45.09 42 HRONEK Veronique GER 1:45.15 43 WILES Jacqueline USA 1:45.39 44 SIEBENHOFER Ramona AUT 1:45.51 4 5 45 KLING Kajsa SWE 1:45.72 46 BAILET Margot FRA 1:46.04 47 FEIERABEND Denise SUI 1:46.07 48 MIKLOS Edit HUN 1:46.08 49 BRODNIK Vanja SLO 1:46.30 50 GOLENKOVA Valentina RUS 1:46.77 51 STRACHOVA Sarka CZE 1:47.02 52 SMALL Greta AUS 1:47.59 53 CHRAPEK Karolina POL 1:48.17 54 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena ARG 1:49.17

A34 | Saturday, November 30, 2013 | The Vail Daily

WORLD CUP

Who is it going to be in tomorrows super-G?

Start time is 10:45 a.m.
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com
LIF 0 T1

T8 LIF

DH - MEN START

Experience or the hot hand? Which do you like? This is a big question when one gets to the super-G. Yes, the womens World Cup eld had three or four looks at Raptor, but super-G, which starts at 10:45 a.m. today, can be funky. Racers can only inspect the course set, and there is an art to inspection. That favors the veterans Tina Maze, of Slovenia; Julia Mancuso, of the U.S.A; Anna Fenninger, of Austria; Maria Hoe-Riesch, of Germany; and Viktoria Rebensburg of Austria, who were the top-ve super-G point-scorers from last season active for todays race. They can see the hot spots during that early examination and put it in their game plan.

SG - MEN START SG - WOMEN START DH - WOMEN START GS - WOMEN START

GS - MEN START Russis Ride The Runway

LIF

Screech Owl
T9

Golden Eagle Jump

The Abyss The Gauntlet The Apex Lech-Zuers Schuss Predator Traverse Kestrel Banshee Bank
LIF 0 T1

Harrier Jump

Liberty

SWISS MISS ON A ROLL

Then there is the hot-hand theory. Her names Lara Gut, and the Swiss miss is clearly on a roll. Whether one believes in training results or not, she threw down on Friday in the downhill. Austrias Tina Weirather is also running quite well this week. Or do we have a rst-timer? Birds of Prey has quite the history of rst-time winners in super-G. Norways Aksel Lund Svindal, who knows a thing or two about ski racing the men are racing downhill up in Lake Louise, Alberta, today had as good an explanation as any for that phenomena. He said that when the course is set, some of the veterans take it down a slight notch to nish in the points and not risk the DNF while the youngsters just go all out and one stumbles into a perfect line which results in that victory.
Heckle & Jeckle Red Tail Jump Peregrine Run Out PRESS CENTER STADIUM BUS LOAD ZONE
LIF T8
LIF T 11

LIF

T9

TV COMPOUND

COURSE MAP
and being technically procient enough in the middle (section). That was Guts run, and the middle section is where the super-G starts. Another factor: With the warm weather, does an early-start number mean better snow? Elena Fanchini, of Italy, certainly would have agreed with that on Friday. She nished in her bib number: third.

2013 BEAVER CREEK WORLD CUP WEEKS

people. We will pay for this next week. Past World Cup winners: Lindsey Vonn won on Birds of Prey here in 2011. That was a transplanted Val dIsere, France, race. Austrias Alexandra Meissnitzer was the 1999 Worlds champion in Vail. And going into the way-back machine, Germanys Katja Seizinger won the World Cup Finals super-G in 1997, also in Vail. Super-G stats: Going down? 2,296 feet, to be precise. The start is at 10,892 feet. The nish is at 8,956. Look out for: The Kestrel was a beast on Friday. It probably wont greet anyone any more nicely today. Then there is the Liberty turn, which is quickly becoming known as Liberty Left. Americans (bib No.): They are looking for a rebound day, and they are Laurenne Ross (10), Leanne Smith (13), Mancuso (22), Stacey Cook (38), Megan McJames (51), Jacqueline Wiles (52), Anna Marno (55) and Julia Ford (56). Congratulations and good luck to Marno in her rst World Cup start. Favorites: Gut (18). If youre wondering, the last racer to sweep a Beaver Creek weekend was also Swiss, Carlo Janka in 2009. He ended up winning the overall for 2009-10. (Yes, its very early.) And now we list a few already mentioned Maze (20), Fenninger (21), Hoe-Riesch (19), Rebensburg (16) and Weirather (11). Darkhorses: We did not list Mancuso in the favorites. We should know better. She hasnt been skiing well this week, but it could happen. Keep your eye on the Americans in the top 30 Ross and Smith as well as Austria Regina Sterz (23). Weve also got a funny feeling on the early starters, especially Austrias Nicole Hosp (1) and Slovenias Ilka Stuhec (3). Media picks: Shauna Farnell, former Vail Daily ski-reporting goddess: Hoe-Riesch. Chris Freud, Vail Daily: Gut. Pat Graham, AP Denver: Gut. Massimo Lopes Pegna, La Gazetta Dello Sport, Milan, Italy: Maze. Melanie Wong, Vail Daily: Gut. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

THINGS TO KNOW FOR TODAY

Heres todays rundown: Format: One run, morning inspection only of the course set. Number of racers: 66. Weather: Remaining glorious. Mid-30s again at Red Tail and sunny. The Vail Daily is not trying to be the chamber of commerce here. Its just great weather,

THINGS THAT MIGHT GIVE SKIERS AN EDGE

And does Raptor just give an edge to super-G skiers in general? Yes, small sample size, but it did say here on Friday that one of the race keys for the downhill was building speed on the top

Second race day on Raptor: The super-G start list

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 HOSP Nicole AUT 2 HRONEK Veronique GER 3 STUHEC Ilka SLO 4 KOEHLE Stefanie AUT 5 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 6 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi SUI 7 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth NOR 8 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina SPA 9 GOERGL Elisabeth 10 ROSS Laurenne 11 WEIRATHER Tina 12SCHMIDHOFER Nicole 13 SMITH Leanne 14 GISIN Dominique 15 FISCHBACHER Andrea 16 REBENSBURG Viktoria 17 SUTER Fabienne 18 GUT Lara 19HOEFL-RIESCH Maria 20 MAZE Tina AUT USA LIE AUT USA SUI AUT GER SUI SUI GER SLO 21 FENNINGER Anna 22 MANCUSO Julia 23 STERZ Regina 24 MERIGHETTI Daniela 25 MARCHAND-ARVIER M. 26 GOGGIA Sofia 27 LINDELL-VIKARBY J. 28 MOSER Stefanie 29 CURTONI Elena 30 WORLEY Tessa 31 VENIER Stephanie 32 HUETTER Cornelia AUT USA AUT ITA FRA ITA SWE AUT ITA FRA AUT AUT 33 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 34STUFFER Verena ITA 35 SIEBENHOFER Ramona AUT 36 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild NOR 37 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 38 COOK Stacey USA 39 NUFER Priska SUI 40 ROTH Julia CAN 41 AGERER Lisa Magdalena ITA 42 PIOT Jennifer FRA 43 YURKIW Larisa CAN 44 FANCHINI Elena ITA 45 MARSAGLIA Francesca 46 KLING Kajsa 47 GAGNON Marie-Michele 48 DUERR Lena 49KAUFMANN-A. M. 50 KRIZOVA Klara 51 MCJAMES Megan 52 WILES Jacqueline 53YAKOVISHINA Elena 54 FERK Marusa 55 MARNO Anna 56 FORD Julia ITA SWE CAN GER SUI CZE USA USA RUS SLO USA USA 57 WENIG Michaela 58 JNGLIN-KAMER Nadja 59 SMALL Greta 60 GASIENICA- G. A. 61 MIKLOS Edit 62 HECTOR Sara 63 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 64 SIMARI BIRKNER Ma. 65 SIMARI BIRKNER M. B. 66 COLETTI Alexandra GER SUI AUS POL HUN SWE FRA ARG ARG MON

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The Vail Daily

| Saturday, November 30, 2013 | A35

DEDICATING THE RAPTOR

Awarded Best Doctor in America 12 Years Running

Officials from the Vail Valley Foundation, Beaver Creek and the U.S Forest Service join together to cut the ribbon for the new Raptor Womens World Cup downhill racecourse during the its dedication before Fridays race.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR DTAYLOR@ VAILDAILY.COM

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BRINGING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

Swiss skier goes back-to-back, winning the World Cup super-G in Beaver Creek on Saturday after winning Fridays downhill. A14

Raptor repeat for Gut

SUNDAY, 12 1 13 | VAILDAILY.COM | FREE

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Switzerlands Lara Gut celebrates her second win on the Raptor Womens World Cup course, this time in super-G on Saturday at Beaver Creek.

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Stone Creek Charter School Snow possible High 31; low 22 Weather, B32

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Vol. XXXIII, Issue 169

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Sports
A14 | Sunday, December 1, 2013 | Vail Daily

Gut is good again in super-G

Swiss skier is on re
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK It wasnt a surprise that Switzerlands Lara Gut won Saturdays womens World Cup super-G on the Raptor racecourse at Beaver Creek. The surprise was how. She caught the edges of her skis twice and appeared off balance coming out of the start. Its just when you like the slope, everything feels easier, Gut said. In super-G, like I said yesterday, you can be fast, but its easy to be to fall out. You saw it. I was fast, but it was easy that I (could have been) out. Yet she somehow she came out of the rst split not only in the green, but a whopping 0.46 seconds up to that point. Gut, 22, cruised from there for her second win in as many days shes 3-for-3 in her World Cup starts so far this year with her win in the Soelden, Austria, giant slalom in October topping Anna Fenninger (0.92 seconds) and Nicole Hosp (1.11). Fellow Austrian Elizabeth Goergl was originally in second place, but was disqualied after the race for the width of her skis being too wide in front of her bindings.

WORLD CUP

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Switzerlands Lara Gut sets up for the next gate while dominating the Raptor World Cup super-G course on Saturday in Beaver Creek. Gut finished on top of the podium for the second day in a row, finishing first with a time of 1 minute, 18.42 seconds.

WORLD CUP SKIING

Today Womens giant slalom, 9:45 and 12:45 p.m. Tuesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Wednesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Thursday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Friday Mens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Saturday Mens downhill, 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
going of season, Fenninger is quietly putting together a good campaign. The Austrian is second in the overall with 175 points behind Gut (300). She was fth in the downhill on Friday and added silver in super-G on Saturday. It was a difficult inspection because there were many waves, she said. You could not see the (next) gate. You have to know where are the gates, and its by yourself that you know it. Fenninger had a good start, but said she lost time in the middle. She did, however get a scouting report from her coaches. Our coaches are standing on the course, and they see how to go, she said. They were saying just a little bit in the middle part, there are the waves and you have to go with the waves. Thats an important part. Hosp thought she nished fourth, but ended up on the podium after Goergls disqualication. For me, its nice to be on the podium, the 2007 overall champ said. I was really sorry (for) Elisabeth. The rules, they are here. You have to be inside the rules. She was not , so Im lucky today.
JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GUT

So how much are you enjoying your stay at Beaver Creek, Lara? A lot, she said with a laugh. I think with two wins I cant say different. Gut goes for the triple in todays GS, which has runs at 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m., at Beaver Creek. Only two racers have won three events during a weekend here both men on Birds of Prey Switzerlands Carlo Janka in 2009 and Austrian legend Hermann Maier in November of 1999. Gut said she had difficulty with the course set, which was done by the Germans. And to those watching, it looked like her streak was over, but for a recovery which was Bode Miller-like circa 2005 in his GS win. The start until the rst split, I had some problems, Gut said. My skis, I was too aggressive on them. I had to understand how to ski. The snow had changed. The skis were different. The course, of course, was not the same as yesterday. After that, I understand what I have to do. From the rst split to the nish, I skied how I wanted to ski. While Gut continues to downplay her hot start, these are sweet times, especially in an Olympic year. Before the 2009-10 season, she seemed ready for the Vancouver Olympics. She dislocated her hip during training and her year was done before it started. In the press corral, she told a story about rehab, when she did leg lifts for a half hour and then had to sleep for two hours afterward because it was so excruciating. The day of the Olympic downhill in 2010 was ironically her rst day back on snow. As for todays GS, Im going to sleep, and it will be ne, she said.

Austrias Anna Fenninger holds a tight tuck while making a turn in the Kestrel section of the Raptor World Cup super-G race on Saturday in Beaver Creek. Fenninger finished second in the race with a time of 1 minute, 19.34 seconds.

Austrias Nicole Hosp slides to a halt at the finish area of the World Cup super-G course as the first racer of the day Saturday at Beaver Creek. Hosp finished in third place.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

AUSTRIANS DELIVER
While Gut understandably has been grabbing the headlines at Beaver Creek and during the early

Hosp has struggled with injuries, and that has translated into poor starting positions. In Saturdays super-G, she had the unenviable wearing bib No. 1. It was not easy for me to ski No. 1 because its a really difficult slope, Hosp said. Everybody wants to watch somebody before (they go). Its not easy with

all the rolls. Its so turny and theres a lot of sun and shadow. I was very happy. Hosps last super-G podium was way back on Jan. 20, 2008, in Cortina, Italy. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@ vaildaily.com.

The Vail Daily

| Sunday, December 1, 2013 | A15

Super-G a tough day for the Americans

Disappointing results, crashes make for rough second day at Raptor
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Some would call it a rough weekend. Others might call it a learning experience. That pretty much summed up the weekends results so far for the U.S. Womens Ski Team, and Saturdays super-G race was its toughest day yet at Beaver Creeks Raptor Womens World Cup. It was a disappointing day for the American squad as a few of their top contenders, including Julia Mancuso and Stacey Cook, posted mediocre runs littered with mistakes that cost them precious seconds.

WORLD CUP

DISAPPOINTING FINISHES
Smith had the best run of the day for the Americans, placing 23rd with a time of 1 minute, 21.14 seconds. She started with a couple mistakes on the rst few turns, but recovered admirably to refocus and carve beautifully on the bottom half. Stacey Cook was the next nisher in 28th place with a time of 1:21.36, followed by Julia Mancuso in 29th with a time of 1:21.43. Results were rounded out by Laurenne Ross in 31st (1:22.00), Julia Ford in 34th (1:22.22) and Megan McJames in 43rd (1:23.55). Mancuso had hoped to improve over Fridays results in the downhill, but lost control early on in the course. She avoided catastrophe, but swerved wildly between gates for the rest of the run, making for a particularly disappointing run in what is one of her strongest disciplines. Laurenne Ross went early in the order, but was knocked off her line on what is becoming known as Liberty Left, a swooping turn on one of the toughest parts of the course. Cook skied a much cleaner run than she did on the downhill, but barely enough to crack the top 30.

TOP RIGHT: Americas Julia Mancuso shows her disappointment in the finish area after her run on the Raptor Womens World Cup super-G course on Saturday at Beaver Creek. Mancuso finished in 29th place with a time of 1 minute, 21.43 seconds.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

TOP LEFT: Leanne Smith, of the United States, takes a sharp corner while racing on the Raptor Womens World Cup super-G course on Saturday in Beaver Creek. Smith had the best finish of the Americans, placing 23rd with a time of 1 minute, 21.14 seconds.
JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

BOTTOM: Anna Marno, of the United States, looses control just before crashing at the Kestrel section of the Raptor Womens World Cup super-G race on Saturday in Beaver Creek.
JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

her sliding down the hill. She also left the course without injury.

FORD FINISHES STRONG

Ford went immediately after Marno and Wiles, without knowing her teammates had crashed ahead of her. She had a few bobbles but pulled out a smooth run with a powerful nish. I was pretty jazzed. Im happy with my run, she said. It was a little ragged. I was all over the place, and I denitely can be faster. But its awesome to have this race at home. I have both friends and family watching today.

YOUNG SKIERS WIPE OUT

Some younger skiers fared worse, succumbing to the technical and steep nature of the course. Newcomer Jacqueline Wiles was competing in her second World Cup and crashed on the upper part of the course. She crossed her ski tips on the Voodoo portion of the course and slid down the next portion of the run on her hip. She skied away without injury. Anna Marno had her rst ever World Cup start on Saturday, but it was short-lived. The Kestrel section of the course that gave skiers so much trouble in the downhill, got its claws into Marno when it threw her into the backseat, spun her around and sent

REFOCUSING FOR NEXT WEEK

Now the speed portion of the team looks to next weeks race at Lake Louise, Alberta, where they hope to look more like the speed team that was the fastest in the world last season. Cook said its a matter of clearing their heads and refocusing for next week. She added that the team has much more talent and speed than was apparent at Beaver Creek that fans are sure to see later in the season. Its early in the year and this is a really demanding race with the pressure of the home crowd, and well learn from it. We want to peak in February (for the

Olympics), said Cook. I want to come out strong, of course. Thats how you get in the Olympics. But I have goals at the Olympics as well. As a group I think we are better than this. Smith said a bad weekend, as some would call it, is just that a weekend. Now its just moving on. Last year I had a bad weekend and then was on the podium at Val dIsere the next week. It shows

you how up and down this sport can be, said Smith. Some might say this is a bad weekend. I call it a learning experience. You cant kick ass every weekend, right? Mikaela Shiffrin and the American technical team takes center stage with todays giant slalom. Assistant Mananging Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 or at mwong@ vaildaily.com.

A16 | Sunday, December 1, 2013 | The Vail Daily

Elisabeth Goergl goes from second to DQ

Veterans versus new blood, sister acts and other scenes from Saturdays super-G
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

WORLD CUP

BEAVER CREEK It was a day of upsets, disappointments, smashing performances and family affairs at the Nature Valley Raptor Womens World Cup. You never know what will happen at a super-G race its the one discipline where youre most likely to get surprise winners and unexpected breakout performances. Saturdays race went mostly as youd expect from training days and the downhill race (with a few notable exceptions that well get to later), but that doesnt mean there wasnt a good dose of drama and excitement to keep the crowds entertained. Here are some scenes and themes from Day 2 of the Raptor World Cup.

at the super-G were longtime veterans of the World Cup circuit, including Hosp, Italys Nadia Fanchini, Switzerlands Dominique Gisin, Germanys Maria Hoe-Riesch and Switzerlands Fabienne Suter. Whats more, most of those skiers have also overcome serious injuries in the course of their careers, and they continue to be competitive in their later years. Theres also no denying that theres a new crop of young skiers moving into the top ranks. Skiers like Lara Gut, the weekends superstar and runaway winner, are merely in the beginning stages of their World Cup careers. Super-G second-place winner Anna Fenninger, 24, is also in that camp, as is Tina Weirather, 24, who took second in Fridays downhill race. We are all good friends and have known each other, said Fenninger of the new crop of racers. Its very fun to compete and be fast together. We are a new generation and hopefully will continue like this next year.

WEIRATHER GOES BOOM

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

GOERGL DISQUALIFIED
Austrias Elisabeth Goergl put down an impressive run early on in the day that earned her second place until she was disqualied for improper equipment. As it turns out, the official review was that the width of her skis in front of the bindings was too wide. The International Ski Federation (FIS) has very specic rules when it comes to the dimensions, weight and measurement of equipment for each event. At every World Cup, skiers can take their equipment for a check before the races to make sure it is in compliance with the rules. After each race, usually the top-30 skiers must get their equipment checked, according to Doug Haney, press officer for the U.S. Ski Team. If your equipment is off even a centimeter, it is grounds for disqualication. It doesnt happen very often, but it does happen, said Haney.

Austrias Elisabeth Goergl celebrates her run in the Raptor Womens World Cup super-G after finishing with the second-fastest time of the day on Saturday at Beaver Creek. Goergl was later disqualified for having skis that were too wide at the front of the binding.

Speaking of Weirather, the dynamo from Liechenstien blew up on the course on Saturday. She was expected to be one of the top contenders in the super-G, but in the rst third of the course while zooming past a shaded gate, she hit an unexpected bump that popped her downhill ski into the air. She was unable to recover, veering sharply off the course. She was forced to come to a complete stop and did not nish. It just goes to show that anything can happen in ski racing.

SISTER ACT
Italian ski fans have cause to celebrate this weekend, with outstanding runs by sisters Nadia and Elena Fanchini. Elena took third yesterday in a surprise performance, and Nadia followed that with a fth-place nish in the super-G. Skiing is a family affair for the Fanchinis their youngest sister Sabrina also races professionally, but was not competing at the Raptor. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 or at mwong@ vaildaily.com.

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

GOOD NEWS FOR HOSP

That was good news for Nicole Hosp, also of Austria, who jumped into third place after

Tina Weirather, of Liechtenstein, fights to keep her balance on the Raptor Womens World Cup super-G course on Saturday in Beaver Creek. Weirather was a surprising DNF.
Goergls DQ. I feel bad for her, Hosp said of Goergls disqualication. But the rules are here, and we have to be inside the rules. I was lucky today.

Italys Nadia Fanchini has no reason to look upset. She finished fifth in Saturdays super-G, while her sister Elena was third in Fridays downhill. OLD GUARD VERSUS NEW BLOOD
Many of the top 10 nishers

Complete Raptor World Cup super-G results

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 GUT Lara SUI 1:18.42 2 FENNINGER Anna AUT 1:19.34 3 HOSP Nicole AUT 1:19.53 4 STUHEC Ilka SLO 1:19.67 5 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 1:19.70 6 GISIN Dominique SUI 1:19.93 7 GOGGIA Sofia ITA 1:19.96 8 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 1:20.07 9 SUTER Fabienne SUI 1:20.11 10 WORLEY Tessa FRA 1:20.19 10 SEJERSTED Lotte Smiseth NOR 1:20.19 12 KOEHLE Stefanie AUT 1:20.45 13 REBENSBURG Viktoria GER 1:20.48 14 MAZE Tina SLO 1:20.52 15 YURKIW Larisa CAN 1:20.54 16 HRONEK Veronique GER 1:20.74 17 FISCHBACHER Andrea AUT 1:20.77 18 CURTONI Elena ITA 1:20.85 19 MOSER Stefanie AUT 1:20.96 19 STERZ Regina AUT 1:20.96 21 HUETTER Cornelia AUT 1:21.01 22 SIEBENHOFER Ramona AUT 1:21.12 23 SMITH Leanne USA 1:21.14 24 AUFDENBLATTEN Fraenzi SUI 1:21.15 25 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina SPA 1:21.25 26 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild NOR 1:21.29 27 VENIER Stephanie ITA 1:21.32 28 COOK Stacey USA 1:21.36 29 MANCUSO Julia USA 1:21.43 30 STUFFER Verena ITA 1:21.65 31 ROSS Laurenne USA 1:22.00 32 FANCHINI Elena ITA 1:22.07 33 AGERER Lisa Magdalena ITA 1:22.19 34 FORD Julia USA 1:22.22 35 FERK Marusa SLO 1:22.28 36 HAEHLEN Joana SUI 1:22.29 37 LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica SWE 1:22.31 38 KRIZOVA Klara CZE 1:22.36 39 MARCHAND-ARVIER Marie FRA 1:22.40 40 BORSOTTI Camilla ITA 1:22.88 41 DUERR Lena GER 1:23.40 42 JNGLIN-KAMER Nadja SUI 1:23.42 43 MCJAMES Megan USA 1:23.55 44 YAKOVISHINA Elena RUS 1:23.96 45 SMALL Greta AUS 1:24.40 46 KAUFMANNABDERHALDEN Marianne SUI 1:24.45 47 MIKLOS Edit HUN 1:25.34 48 GASIENICA- GLADCZAN Agnieszka POL 1:25.49 GER 1:25.64 50 ROTH Julia CAN 1:25.72 51 SIMARI BIRKNER Macarena ARG 1:27.86 49 WENIG Michaela

The Vail Daily

| Sunday, December 1, 2013 | A17

Giant slalom closes out Raptor week

Mikaela Shirin competes in World Cup race on home turf for rst time; races start at 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com
The Runway
LIF 0 T1

T8 LIF

DH - MEN START

SG - MEN START SG - WOMEN START DH - WOMEN START GS - WOMEN START

GS - MEN START Russis Ride

LIF

Screech Owl
T9

Happy giant slalom. Its Mikaela Shiffrins much anticipated debut locally on the World Cup. The 18-year-old, who grew up in Eagle-Vail before going to the Burke Academy in Vermont, is a rising comet. Shes already won ve times on the Word Cup and won the slalom globe, and shes only 18. (Yes, we know we said that already.) And amid all this excitement, please remember this is not a slalom. That comes in 2015, and we cant wait for that. Shiffrins sixthplace nish at Soelden, Austria, in the season-opening GS in October has people excited and understandably so.

Golden Eagle Jump

The Abyss The Gauntlet The Apex Lech-Zuers Schuss Predator Traverse Kestrel Banshee Bank
LIF 0 T1

WORLD CUP

Harrier Jump

Liberty

Heckle & Jeckle

Red Tail Jump Peregrine Run Out PRESS CENTER STADIUM BUS LOAD ZONE

LIF

11

LIF

T9

LIF T8

TV COMPOUND

DID WE MENTION SHIFFRIN IS ONLY 18?

Let us remember that she is only 18. (We meant to repeat that this time.) Normally, when we talk about the GS in Beaver Creek, we automatically refer to it as Ted Ligety Day. The guys been a machine at Birds of Prey since 2006, including three wins in his last four starts. It is fundamentally unfair to expect Shiffrin to go out and win today. The fans want to see it. The U.S. Womens Ski Team really needs it the way the weekend has gone so far.

COURSE MAP
real tall order. Yes, were rooting for her. Yes, we wish her all the success in the world. Just tamper down expectations for today. And, yes, wed love to be wrong.

2013 BEAVER CREEK WORLD CUP WEEKS

only 30 going in the second run, must nish that run to be in the points. No. of racers: 72. Past champions: Austrias Alexandra Meissnitzer won both super-G and GS at the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships in Vail, prompting us to go with the headline, Alex the Great. Italys Deborah Compagnoni won the event during the World Cup Finals in 1997. GS stats: The course starts at just a little more than halfway down the downhill run between Gauntlet and Predator Traverse. The start is at 10,268 feet and drops 1,412. Look out for: Weve talked about Kestrel and Liberty early and often. Watch everyones lungs. At the altitude listed above, this is going test everyones oxygen supply. A note on the start order: In downhill and super-G the favorites have bib Nos. 16-23. In GS, the favorites, based on World Cup points, go in single-digits. Americans (bib No.): Shiffrin (8), Julia Mancuso (11), Megan McJames (47), Resi Stiegler (60). Favorites: Though GS is not her strongest discipline, Switzerlands Lara Gut (2) must still lead the list the way shes been going. Gut also won in Soelden in October. Slovenias Tina Maze (5) had a monster season in GS last year. She not only won the globe, but she racked up 800 points in the discipline. Thats absurd in a good way. Her nearest competition was Austrias Anna Fenninger (6) with 480. Germanys Viktoria Rebensburg (1), Frances Tessa Worley (3) and Austrias Kathrin Zettel (5) are all contenders. Darkhorses: Shiffrin, Germanys Maria Hoe-Riesch (13) and Swedens Jessica Lindell-Vikarby (7). Media picks: Shauna Farnell, former Vail Daily ski-reporting goddess: Worley. Chris Freud, Vail Daily: Gut. Pat Graham, AP Denver: Shiffrin. Massimo Lopes Pegna, La Gazetta Dello Sport, Milan, Italy: Maze. Melanie Wong, Vail Daily: Tina Weirather (29). Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

THINGS TO KNOW FOR TODAY

REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS
A top-20 nish is a reasonable expectation. A top 10 would be spectacular, conrming that sixth at Soelden is a sign that Shiffrins coming along very well in GS. Podium? Pop the champagne even though young Shiffrin is not legal but thats a

The low-down on the giant slalom: Format: Its two runs. Best-combined time wins. The top-30 nishers from the rst run at 9:45 a.m. advance to the second at 12:45 p.m. In the second run, the order of racers is ipped, meaning that the fastest racer in the rst goes last in the second. The phrase, making the ip will be used early and often. A reminder that making the ip does not guarantee World Cup points. A racer, even though there are

The start list for todays race

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 REBENSBURG Viktoria 2 GUT Lara 3 WORLEY Tessa 4 ZETTEL Kathrin 5 MAZE Tina 6 FENNINGER Anna 7 LINDELL-VIKARBY J. 8 SHIFFRIN Mikaela GER SUI FRA AUT SLO AUT SWE USA 9 CURTONI Irene ITA 10 BRIGNONE Federica ITA 11 MANCUSO Julia USA 12 GISIN Dominique SUI 13 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 14 BREM Eva-Maria AUT 15 HANSDOTTER Frida SWE 16 GOERGL Elisabeth AUT 17 KOEHLE Stefanie AUT 18 GAGNON Marie-Michele CAN 19 MARMOTTAN Anemone FRA 20 FANCHINI Nadia ITA 21 KIRCHGASSER Michaela AUT 22 DREV Ana 1985 23 KARBON Denise 24 POUTIAINEN Tanja 25 PIETILAE-HOLMNER M. 26 BARTHET Anne-Sophie 27 BARIOZ Taina 28 HRONEK Veronique 29 WEIRATHER Tina 30 PREFONTAINE Marie-P. 31 SIEBENHOFER Ramona 32 HASEGAWA Emi 33 BAUD Adeline 34 LOESETH Nina SLO ITA FIN SWE FRA FRA GER LIE CAN AUT JPN FRA NOR 35 GOGGIA Sofia 36 PUCHNER Mirjam 37 HECTOR Sara 38 BERTRAND Marion 39 MIRADOLI Romane 40 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild 41 CURTONI Elena 42 KLING Kajsa 43 HOLDENER Wendy 44 THALMANN Carmen 45 LAVTAR Katarina 46 MOELGG Manuela 47 MCJAMES Megan ITA AUT SWE FRA FRA NOR ITA SWE SUI AUT SLO ITA USA 48 PAULATHOVA Katerina CZE 49 FISCHBACHER Andrea AUT 50 SUTER Fabienne SUI 51 SUTER Jasmina SUI 52 MARSAGLIA Francesca ITA 53 HOESL Simona GER 54 TOMMY Mikaela CAN 55 AGERER Lisa Magdalena ITA 56 HANAOKA Moe JPN 57 MIELZYNSKI Erin CAN 58 DUERR Lena GER 59 SOPPELA Merle FIN 60 STIEGLER Resi USA 61 GASIENICA- G. A. POL 62 SEJERSTED Lotte S. NOR 63 BEDAREVA Maria RUS 64SIMARI BIRKNER M. B. ARG 65 PIOT Jennifer FRA 66 SMALL Greta AUS 67 STUHEC Ilka SLO 68 KOMSIC Andrea CRO 69 RUIZ CASTILLO Carolina SPA 70 MOE-LANGE Yina DAN 71 COLETTI Alexandra MON 72 MIKLOS Edit HUN

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Shiffrin thrills crowd with silver

Swedens Jessica Lindell-Vikarby wins giant slalom, while Shiffrin lands her first podium in the discipline. A16

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Eagle-Vails Mikaela Shiffrin leans into a gate as she flies down the lower section of the Raptor Womens World Cup giant slalom course during her second run on Sunday at Beaver Creek. Shiffrin won the first American podium finish of the event with a second-place finish in the race behind Swedens Jessica Lindell-Vikarby.

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A16 | Monday, December 2, 2013 | Vail Daily

Shiffrin makes giant slalom podium debut

Raptor nal day also brings rst-time GS victors Lindell-Vikarby and Wierather
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK It was a day of rsts for all three women standing on the podium for Sundays giant slalom, the nal race of the Raptor Ladies World Cup. For winner Jessica Lindell-Vikarby of Sweden, more well known for her super-G racing, it was the rst giant slalom podium of her career. Vails hometown darling, 18-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin, rolled into a solid second place nish, the rst giant slalom podium of her career. Shiffrin had the second to last run in the nal round, and the crowd went wild as she expertly carved her way down the course. Lindell-Vikarby, the last racer to go, responded with a uid run that bumped Shiffrins nal run time by about a 10th of a second. Switzerlands Tina Weirather was the surprise third place winner. Shes a top downhill and super-G racer, but this is the rst giant slalom podium for her. The podium nish was an impressive turnaround for her after crashing out in Saturdays super-G, not to mention a landmark in her career. It was always my big goal to get a podium in GS. I think its the most important discipline, so Im very happy with today, she said. It was just a matter of time.

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

TOP: Swedens Jessica Lindell-Vikarby flies past a gate on the lower section of the Raptor Womens World Cup course during her second run in giant slalom on Sunday at Beaver Creek. Lindell-Vikarby won the race. BOTTOM LEFT: Swedens Maria Holmner-Pietilae smiles during her second GS run on Sunday at Beaver Creek. Holmner-Pietilae finished in fourth place.

HOMETOWN HERO
Lindell-Vikarby has likely seen more World Cup starts than Weirather and Shiffrin combined. She was the surprise leader, a World Cup veteran who came back from a knee injury in 2009. Since then shes shown herself to be a sold top 15 nisher, but hasnt had a World Cup podium in the last few years, and certainly not in giant slalom. She also put down the fastest run of the rst round. On her nal run, she had two mistakes early on in the course, but made up the time on the bottom half of the run to hold onto rst place. Its been a long time since Ive been on the podium, and Im pleased to be here again. Ive been working really hard the last three years on my GS, she said. Shiffrin was visibly giddy over the silver, a nice addition to the ve slalom World Cup wins she already owns. The Beaver Creek result follows a sixth place giant slalom World Cup result earlier this season in Soelden, Austria. I really just wanted to ski as well as I could today, said Shiffrin, an Eagle-Vail native. This is my favorite hill because it feels so

good to make good turns and arc the turns, and I think I did a pretty good job with that today. I was so excited to race. I couldnt wait to get out of the starting gate. This could be Shiffrins big debut into the winners circle of the giant slalom. She said that the discipline has been the focus of her recent training. Ive been training more GS than slalom this year, working on how to produce speed in GS, she said.

WORLD CUP SKIING

Tuesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Wednesday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Thursday Mens downhill training, 10:45 a.m. Friday Mens super-G, 10:45 a.m. Saturday Mens downhill, 10:45 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 7 Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
dominated the weekend winning both the downhill and super-G, was missing from the nal run. The Swiss skier crashed out on the Golden Eagle portion of the

TROUBLE ON THE HILL

Unlike downhill and super-G, where racers get one run, giant slalom puts competitors through two rounds. After the rst round, those who make the ip, meaning they place in the top 30, advance to the second round. The nal times are an average of both runs. Notably, Lara Gut, who has

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

PODIUM, A21

Mikaela Shiffrin celebrates after her second giant-slalom run on Sunday in Beaver Creek. Shiffrin finished in second place.

The Vail Daily

| Monday, December 2, 2013 | A17

Way to go, kid, and other thoughts

Mikaela Shiffrin races down the course on Sunday, essentially saving the U.S. Womens Ski Team from an otherwise bad weekend of World Cup racing in Beaver Creek. JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

You really asked that?

By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Be honest, just about everyone at the nish area on Sunday at the World Cup womens giant slalom was rooting Swedens Jessica Lindell-Vikarby to fall on her keister. Congratulations honestly to Lindell-Vickarby for winning the GS. And congratulations to the kid, Mikaela Shiffrin, for her rst podium in this discipline with a silver medal. That was huge for Shiffrin in so many ways. She is officially no longer a slalom specialist. Top-10 nishes she had four in GS before Sunday are one thing. Podiums are another. Shiffrin clearly handled the spotlight. This was her rst World Cup appearance on home snow, and judging by the red-whiteand-blue hats with her name on them, she had a lot of family and friends and new friends here. After teammate Julia Mancuso was a DNF during Sundays second run, it was all on Shiffrin to bail out the entire U.S. Womens Ski Team during what was otherwise a grim weekend. No pressure there, Mikaela. We are witnessing the beginning of something very special.

when a reporter asked, Is this win any less signicant because Lindsey Vonn wasnt competing? Really? Are you freaking kidding me? That is one of the dumbest questions since someone asked Washington Redskins quarterback Doug Williams before Super Bowl XXII if he had been a black quarterback all his life. (Slam your head into nearest object right now.) The World Cup women or men is bigger than one person. This is somewhat akin to the PGA Tour where ratings drop if Tiger Woods opts not to compete in an event. (Yes, I know Im skating on thin ice here in my stance against all things Lindsey and Tiger.) There are still good golfers in a PGA tournament every week like Phil Mickelson, Adam Scott and Justin Rose. We saw the same thing this week with the womens World Cup. Gut, Tina Weirather, Anna Fenninger, Tina Maze and Maria Hoe-Reisch among others all have game, people. And injuries are part of the game, as Gut, who missed the 2010 Olympics due to injury, rightly pointed out on Friday after her downhill win. Nobody asked Lindsey if it was different that I wasnt at the Olympics, Gut said, smiling. If you win, nobody cares who was there and who was not. Brava, Lara.

talented athletes, she has been touched with skills from whatever higher power in which one believes. She has accomplished everything anyone could ever do in ski racing Olympic gold, Worlds gold, World Cup titles and World Cup wins. She doesnt have to do this to ski on a bum knee to try the Olympics for the fourth time. Thats the drive that has made her great all these years. This, though, will put her in an interesting position underdog. Try to get used to that, Lindsey Vonn, the scrappy underdog. Even if she were healthy, I think she might have had trouble catching Gut the way she was skiing the speed events this week. Thats not criticizing Vonn. There are just times people are in the zone, and that was Gut. Another example is that, even if Vonn stayed healthy last season, she wouldnt have caught Slovenias Tina Maze for the overall. Maze had 2,414 points last year. Vonns highest overall point total in a season is 1,980. Last year was just a year when everything clicked for the Slovenian. Vonn is battling her health and circumstances, times when things arent going her way or are going well for others. This should be a sight to see.

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Switzerlands Lara Gut celebrates her second gold medal at the Raptor Womens World Cup races after winning the super-G on Saturday at Beaver Creek. Vonn or no Vonn, Gut was the big winner of the weekend.
going to be a op for the U.S.A. I have seen the ugly when it comes to U.S. skiing, That was the late 90s, people, and the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships here. Americas best nish was Chad Fleischer in the super-G with a sixth-place nish. It was exciting when kids like Bode Miller and Daron Rahlves made the points. (Remember, they were kids then. Seriously, Bode was skiing tech only then.) The women had nothing. Remember that Sarah Schleper was hurt and couldnt ski in her home town. Kristina Koznick was a DNF twice. The U.S. Ski Team is innitely better-positioned for 2015. Vonn should be healthy by that point. The Shiffrin girl seems pretty good. Remember that Alice McKennis isnt skiing yet. Of the ve American speedsters who made the podium in speed events last year a line touted early and often by the squads press officials McKennis was the only one who won. She is coming back slowly, which is wise. Shes just 24. Mark down that name, people. On the mens side, Ted Ligety might be a contender in the GS

AND THE AMERICANS

OK, the rest of the Americans Youd have thought the sky was falling after the speed events. Stipulated, that it was not a good weekend for the speed team. As one who as covered his fair share of high-school teams, which have been clunkers, I try to look for the bright spots. They really werent there for the American ladies on Friday and Saturday. But the rush to judgment is alarming the Americans wont do well in the Olympics in February; the 2015 Worlds here are

SAY WHAT?
Trust me, I have asked the dumb questions. I have had the slow-motion, horrifying experience of hearing, and almost seeing, those words come out of my mouth and the ensuing silence in response which seems to last 10 or 15 minutes, but is actually only a second or two. And that brings us to this gem on Friday, after Lara Gut conquered the Raptor downhill,

OH, YES, VONN

As for Vonn, its clear that shes come back too early. Pat Graham, of The Associated Press, who has had the misfortune of sitting across from me all week in the press center and has been pretty much stalking Vonn all week, reported on Sunday that Vonn really does need surgery on her right knee after her partial tear of her ACL at Copper Mountain last month. The thing I admire most about Vonn is her drive. As with all

THOUGHTS, A21

A18 | Monday, December 2, 2013 | The Vail Daily

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Julia Mancuso, of the United States, makes her way down a winding section of the Raptor Womens World Cup giant-slalom course during her first run on Sunday at Beaver Creek.

Shiffrin aside, Americans struggles continue

Mancuso makes ip, then DNFs
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Mikaela Shriffrin saved the U.S. Womens Ski Teams bacon on Sunday at the Raptor at Beaver Creek. While the 18-year-old racer from Eagle-Vail was marvellous, nishing second to the delight of the crowd, the rest of the squad capped a disappointing weekend here with a bad day in giant slalom. Julia Mancuso did make the ip, nishing the rst run in 28th. She fell victim to Screech Owl during the second run and was a DNF. In fairness to her, GS is not her best discipline and the second course set was hard average times rose roughly 5 seconds from the rst run. On the other side of the coin, Mancuso was clearly not comfortable on the course all week between three days of training and three races. Mancuso declined to talk with the media after the race. The Americans nearly have a

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Americas Megan McJames leans into a turn as she races down the Raptor womens giant slalom course on Sunday in Beaver Creek.
feel-good story in veteran Resi Stiegler. The 28-year-old from Jackson, Wyo., started No. 60 out of a eld of 72 racers and came within 0.34 seconds of making the ip. Im really excited. I am starting from the very back, Stiegler said. But Ive been skiing really well in training, and Im really excited about that. I just tried to go for it really hard because I knew the course was in perfect condition. I made a little mistake that cost me some speed. I nailed the wrong gate. That little mistake was on Red Tail, the nal major feature of the course. Megan McJames of Park City,

Resi Stiegler, of the U.S. carves past a gate during the first run of the Raptor Womens World Cup giant slalom on Sunday in Beaver Creek.
Utah, started No. 47, but came down in 39th. Ive been training well, so I tried to turn my mind off and let my body do the work and try to be as aggressive as I could, hammer it down the slope. Today, I wasnt quite fast enough, but we have four more races in the next four days in Loveland, so Ill be working on it every day. Those would be Nor-Ams, in which both Stiegler and McJames will try to lower their race points to up their starting positions for future World Cup starts. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

The Vail Daily

| Monday, December 2, 2013 | A19

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Canadas Erin Mielzynski leans in a gate as she races through the lower section of the course during the womens giant slalom race on Sunday in Beaver Creek. Mielzynski, who started the race with bib No. 57, finished in 16th place after her second run.

Raptors giant slalom a big day for the underdogs

Speedsters on the GS podium, a day for the Canadians and other surprise contenders
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

specialists like Mikaela Shiffrin can struggle to add the speed they need. On Sundays giant slalom at the Raptor Womens World Cup race, it was a day of surprise results. Heres a look at a few of our favorite underdog stories from the slopes.

It was a big day for the Canadians overall the team put three skiers in the top 20.

THE SWEDISH COMEBACK

Jessica Lindell-Vikarby isnt a regular on the podium for any event, as evidenced by the number of reporters who started madly searching for information on the Swedish skier when she placed rst on the initial run. The 29-year-old skier is known more for her super-G than giant slalom, and she has been on the World Cup circuit since 2002. Shes only had three other podium nishes, all in super-G before 2010. Ive only been on the top once, she said at the awards ceremony. Ive been working hard on my GS.

BEAVER CREEK Canadas Erin Mielzynski was jumping with excitement after crossing the nish line at Sundays Raptor Womens World Cup giant slalom race. She made the ip, or the second run of the race, and nished 16th overall in the race. It was her best ever giant slalom nish and rst time making it into the second round. When I came down and saw I had made the top 30, I was really excited because its a step in the right direction for me, she said. Giant slalom is a big chance for underdogs to make their mark, and the Raptor GS was no exception the best downhill racers

MIELZYNSKI AND TEAM CANADA

The 23-year-old Canadian surprised everyone with her big runs, including herself. She came into the race with a bib number of 57th, nearly at the end of the start list. Shes had six top-10 World Cup nishes in her career, and none in giant slalom. To even make the top 30 was a big jump for her. For a few years I didnt do any GS, she said. Last summer, they decided to start training me for some GS. I had two World Cup (giant slalom) races last year that didnt got well. I had a lot of technical changes to make. My technical skiing was not good, and its an ongoing process.

She took second in the downhill at the Raptor, crashed out in the super-G and redeemed herself Sunday in the giant slalom. She logged the fastest second run in the eld, skiing with precision. Like the other podium nishers, she said she has been working on her giant slalom racing.

CLIMBING THE LADDER

There were a number of other unseeded skiers who had impressive top 25 results on Sunday. Standouts include Norways Ragnhild Mowinckel, who started the day with bib No. 40 and nished in eighth place overall; Nina Loseth, also of Norway, who started the day in 34 and moved up to 12th place; Italys Francesca Marsaglia, who moved from 52nd to 22nd; and Slovenias Ilka Stuhec, who moved from 67th to 23rd. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 and mwong@ vaildaily.com.

JUSTIN MCCARTY JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Tina Weirather, of Liechtenstein, celebrates after finishing with a fast second run time putting her on the podium with a third-place finish after the Raptor Womens World Cup giant slalom race on Sunday in Beaver Creek.
often have trouble translating their speed into the more precise turns of GS, while technical

SPEEDSTERS GONE TECHNICAL

Tina Weirather, as the daughter of two Olympic ski racers, has the genetics to be a top ski racer, but she had yet to have a good result in giant slalom until today.

Complete World Cup giant slalom results from Sunday

Daily sta report
Newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 LINDELL-VIKARBY Jessica SWE 2:17.92 2 SHIFFRIN Mikaela USA 2:18.01 3 WEIRATHER Tina LIE 2:18.48 4 PIETILAE-HOLMNER Maria SWE 2:18.77 5 HOEFL-RIESCH Maria GER 2:19.04 6 MARMOTTAN Anemone FRA 2:19.09 7 BRIGNONE Federica ITA 2:19.18 8 MOWINCKEL Ragnhild NOR 2:19.28 9 PREFONTAINE Marie-Pier CAN 2:19.33 9 WORLEY Tessa FRA 2:19.33 11 MAZE Tina SLO 2:19.40 12 LOESETH Nina NOR 2:19.56 13 GAGNON Marie-Michele CAN 2:19.57 14 KARBON Denise ITA 2:19.88 15 ZETTEL Kathrin AUT 2:20.08 16 MIELZYNSKI Erin CAN 2:20.18 17 BREM Eva-Maria AUT 18 HECTOR Sara SWE 19 GOERGL Elisabeth AUT 20 BAUD Adeline FRA 21 POUTIAINEN Tanja 2:20.33 2:20.56 2:20.66 2:20.76 FIN 2:21.25 22 MARSAGLIA Francesca ITA 2:21.33 23 STUHEC Ilka SLO 2:21.52 24 HANSDOTTER Frida SWE 2:21.63

Sports
Vail Daily | Thursday, December 5, 2013 | A15

Beav prepares for downhill, despite snow

Crews work day and night to get Birds of Prey course race-ready
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK When many skiers and snowboarders were eagerly making their rst turns in Beaver Creek powder, Vail resident Steve Prawdzik had already been wallowing in the stuff for hours. Prawdzik, members of the volunteer Talon Crew and Beaver Creek race crew employees had been hard at work on the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill course since 5:45 a.m. A winter storm dumped copious amounts of snow on Beaver Creek on Tuesday night and continued through Wednesday, forcing race organizers to cancel yet another day of downhill training. Beaver Creek race and mountain operations crews, along with hundreds of course volunteers, removed more than a foot of snow from some parts of the course in preparation for a training run today in anticipation of Fridays race. This is nothing new for us, although getting a training run in (today) is critical after having to cancel the past two days, said Ceil Folz, president of the Vail Valley Foundation. This storm is obviously a bonus for recreational skiers. Tuesdays training run also had to be canceled when inclement weather in Calgary, Alberta, prevented some of the mens teams from getting to Beaver Creek following last weeks World Cup races in Lake Louise. The Birds of Prey downhill is slated for Friday, with super-G on Saturday and giant slalom on Sunday. What crowds wont see during training runs and the races are the hours of work that crews spend to prepare the slope. At noon on Wednesday, course volunteer Kim Porter had already been working on the mountain for six hours, and he said the slope still needed more work.

TALON CREW PHOTO | SPECIAL TO THE DAILY

Mens downhill training was canceled on Tuesday and Wednesday, but race organizers and course workers hope to have the slopes race-ready in time for todays scheduled training run.
Its fun to ski in, but tomorrow it will need a lot of work, Porter said. Well hit it harder in the morning and try to get it as packed down as possible. Fleets of snowcats and winchcats will likely work through the night to keep the snow cleared, then in the morning, crews will use shovels, snowblowers, rakes, snowshoes and their own skis to get remaining snow off the run. While most people on the mountain cheer for light, powdery snow, that kind of precipitation actually makes matters more complicated for race crews. Fluffy snow is soft, and racers need a hard, icy surface.

BIRDS OF PREY SCHEDULE

Today Downhill training, 12:15 p.m. Friday Mens downhill, 10:45 a.m. Saturday Mens super-G, 11 a.m. Sunday Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
Volunteers will also help remove and put up netting, and once the races are under way, theyll stick around to slip, water and maintain

BEAVER CREEK PHOTO | SPECIAL TO THE DAILY

COURSE WORK, A17

Snowcats cleared more than a foot of snow off the Birds of Prey racecourse Wednesday morning.

Todays start list for mens World Cup training

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 PUCHNER Joachim 2 KUENG Patrick 3 FILL Peter 4 GANONG Travis 5 POISSON David 6 FEUZ Beat 7 MILLER Bode 8 KROELL Klaus 9 HEEL Werner 10 THEAUX Adrien 11 STREITBERGER Georg 12 INNERHOFER Christof AUT SUI ITA USA FRA SUI USA AUT ITA FRA AUT ITA 13 CLAREY Johan 14 JANSRUD Kjetil 15 REICHELT Hannes 16 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 17 FRANZ Max 18 PARIS Dominik 19 GUAY Erik 20 MAYER Matthias 21 ROGER Brice 22 SPORN Andrej 23 PERKO Rok 24 BAUMANN Romed 25 NYMAN Steven 26 SCHEIBER Florian 27 HUDEC Jan 28 DEFAGO Didier FRA NOR AUT NOR AUT ITA CAN AUT FRA SLO SLO AUT USA AUT CAN SUI 29 OSBORNEPARADIS Manuel CAN 30 SULLIVAN Marco USA 31 KOSTELIC Ivica CRO 32 LIGETY Ted USA 33 PINTURAULT Alexis FRA 34 FERSTL Josef GER 35 STECHERT Tobias GER 36 BERTHOLD Frederic AUT 37 FRISCH Jeffrey CAN 38 VILETTA Sandro SUI 39 KROELL Johannes AUT 40 JANKA Carlo SUI 41 FISHER Erik USA 42 MARSAGLIA Matteo ITA 43 VARETTONI Silvano ITA 44 BERTRAND Yannick FRA 45 DANIELS Nick 46 FAYED Guillermo 47 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan 48 MANI Nils 49 WEBER Ralph 50 GOLDBERG Jared 51 GLEBOV Alexander 52 STRIEDINGER Otmar 53 CRAWFORD Douglas 54 CASSE Mattia 55 DUERAGER Markus 56 GIRAUD MOINE Valentin 57 PRIDY Morgan 58 MUZATON Maxence 59 PRIDY Conrad 60 TERRA Ferran USA FRA SUI SUI SUI USA RUS AUT GBR ITA AUT FRA CAN FRA CAN SPA 61 HEDIN Douglas SWE 62 KEPPLER Stephan GER 63 BOUILLOT Alexandre FRA 64 BERTHOD Marc SUI 65 THOMSEN Benjamin CAN 66 LUEOEND Vitus SUI 67 BENNETT Bryce USA 68 KLOTZ Siegmar ITA 69 ZRNCICDIM Natko CRO 70 KRIECHMAYR Vincent AUT 71 DE LA CUESTA Paul SPA 72 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt NOR 73 BALDWIN TJ GBR 74 BANK Ondrej CZE 75 STRODL Andreas GER 76 OLSSON Hans SWE 77 SANDER Andreas GER 78 KOSI Klemen SLO 79 COOK Dustin CAN 80 GISIN Marc SUI 81 DIXON Robbie CAN 82 WEIBRECHT Andrew USA 83 CAVIEZEL Mauro SUI 84 BYDLINSKI Maciej POL 85 MERMILLOD BLONDIN T. FRA 86 MURAVYEV Ivan RUS 87 ESTEVE Kevin AND 88 OLIVERAS Marc AND 89 DE TESSIERES Gauthier FRA 90 ZAKURDAEV Igor KAZ 91 KOSHKIN Dmitriy KAZ 92 ZAMPA Adam SVK 93 SIMARI BIRKNER C. ARG

BRINGING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

FRIDAY, 12 6 13 | VAILDAILY.COM | FREE

Birds of Prey races begin today

Canadian Erik Guay is fastest skier in only day of training at Beaver Creek; World Cup downhill begins today at 10:45 a.m. A27

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Florian Scheiber, of Austria, leans into a turn while ripping through the Abyss section of the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill course on the first day of training on Thursday in Beaver Creek. Scheiber finished with the second fastest time of the day at 1 minute, 43.67 seconds, just 0.19 seconds off of the leader, Erik Guay.

WEATHER

CIENNA JEMISON
Eagle County Charter Academy Cloudy High 6; low 2; Weather, C20

COMMENTARY After all, youre not a true local until you do something requiring scalpels, arthroscopes and snippers.
DON ROGERS, A6

NELSON MANDELA DIES AT 95 Read full story on page A23.

WALL STREET
DJIA 15,821.51, -68.26 NASDAQ 4,033.16, -4.84

INSIDE
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Vol. XXXIII, Issue 174

B12 A26 A23 A27

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Sports
A27 | Friday, December 6, 2013 | Vail Daily

Erik Guay rst in training

Canadian says he was inspired after watching U.S. racer Travis Ganong
By John LaConte
jlaconte@vaildaily.com

WORLD CUP

BEAVER CREEK Erik Guay said he didnt think he skied that well on Thursday. Regardless, his training run of 1:43.48 on this years Birds of Prey World Cup mens downhill course was the fastest in the eld of 93 racers. I think I probably just pushed the line a little bit more than most, he said after the run. For Guay and the other racers, it was the rst and only run theyll receive on the course before the competition, which is scheduled to start at 10:45 a.m. today. This years Birds of Prey downhill course is a hybrid between the famed mens course, which many racers know and love, and the recently constructed womens course, which saw its rst official competition last week. Training runs on the course scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday were both canceled. Its always fun to go on a new course and not really know what to expect, Guay said on Thursday. But the course runs uid and smooth, its got some challenging sections to it, so its great. Well see what happens tomorrow.

For the Americans, Travis Ganong ran the course fourth and nished with the seventh fastest time of the day at 1:44.03. Ganong, who won training at Birds of Prey last year, said he was happy with the run. Its something to build off of, for sure, he said. Guay, the 19th competitor to run the course, said watching Ganongs run was helpful. Travis Ganong was kind of inspiring me, I watched him when I was inside at the top lodge, and he just looked smooth and easy; he was in all the right places, Guay said. So after watching him it just looked easy, and I was like, I can charge it. Bode Miller, a repeat podium nisher at Beaver Creek, ran seventh and nished 66th with a time of 1:46.31. Through the Pump House (section of the course), I was going nowhere because I made bad turns, Miller said. Many of the racers in the eld said the below-zero temps on the mountain Thursday slowed things down. Because its so cold, the speeds are down, for sure, said Ganong. But that wasnt necessarily a disadvantage, Guay said. In the course feedback he gave to his teammates following his run, Guay said of the lower portion of the course: Because its so cold, it is a little bit slower than regular, so you can push those lines and ski it aggressively. The National Weather Service is calling for a slight warm-up for Fridays downhill, with a low of 3 degrees.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

ABOVE: Werner Heel, of Italy, flies through the air at the Golden Eagle Jump during training on the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill course on Thursday in Beaver Creek. RIGHT: Travis Ganong, of the U.S., lands after catching air off of the Golden Eagle Jump during the first day of World Cup downhill race training.

Results from Thursdays downhill training run

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 GUAY Erik CAN 2 SCHEIBER Florian AUT 3 FILL Peter ITA 4 STREITBERGER G. AUT 5 KROELL Klaus AUT 6 HEEL Werner ITA 7 GANONG Travis USA 8 PARIS Dominik ITA 9 VILETTA Sandro SUI 10 DEFAGO Didier SUI 11 KRIECHMAYR V. AUT 11 JANSRUD Kjetil NOR 13 BAUMANN Romed AUT 1:43.48 1:43.67 1:43.78 1:43.84 1:43.85 1:44.02 1:44.03 1:44.10 1:44.17 1:44.21 1:44.25 1:44.25 1:44.27 14 STRIEDINGER O. AUT 14 REICHELT Hannes AUT 16 PUCHNER Joachim AUT 17 KUENG Patrick SUI 18 OSBORNE-P M. CAN 19 ROGER Brice FRA 20 JANKA Carlo SUI 21 INNERHOFER C. ITA 22 CAVIEZEL Mauro SUI 23 SVINDAL Aksel L. NOR 24 STECHERT Tobias GER 24 SULLIVAN Marco USA 26 HUDEC Jan CAN 27 FERSTL Josef GER 28 MAYER Matthias AUT 29 FISHER Erik USA 1:44.35 1:44.35 1:44.36 1:44.38 1:44.42 1:44.43 1:44.47 1:44.52 1:44.53 1 :44.54 1:44.55 1:44.55 1:44.61 1:44.66 1:44.74 1:44.76 30 THEAUX Adrien 31 BENNETT Bryce 32 COOK Dustin 33 BOUILLOT A. 34 FRANZ Max 35 SPORN Andrej 36 LIGETY Ted 37 STRODL Andreas 38 CASSE Mattia 39 BANK Ondrej 39 FRISCH Jeffrey 41 PERKO Rok 42 DE LA CUESTA P. 43 KILDE A.A. 44 NYMAN Steven 45 VARETTONI S. FRA USA CAN FRA AUT SLO USA GER ITA CZE CAN SLO SPA NOR USA ITA 1:44.79 1:44.80 1:44.92 1:44.97 1:45.10 1:45.17 1:45.19 1:45.22 1:45.26 1:45.30 1:45.30 1:45.31 1:45.36 1:45.37 1:45.39 1:45.41 46 CLAREY Johan FRA 47 ZRNCICDIM Natko CRO 48 KOSTELIC Ivica CRO 49 GISIN Marc SUI 50 MARSAGLIA M. ITA 51 SANDER Andreas GER 52 BERTRAND Y. FRA 53 DANIELS Nick USA 54 POISSON David FRA 55 WEIBRECHT A. USA 55 BERTHOD Marc SUI 57KEPPLER Stephan GER 57GLEBOV Alexander RUS 59 KOSI Klemen SLO 60 MERMILLOD B. FRA 61 DE TESSIERES G. FRA 1:45.43 1:45.48 1:45.52 1:45.53 1:45.71 1:45.73 1:45.77 1:45.78 1:45.91 1:45.95 1:45.95 1:45.98 1:45.98 1:46.12 1:46.14 1:46.18 62 DUERAGER M. AUT 62 FEUZ Beat SUI 64 GIRAUD MOINE V. FRA 65 OLSSON Hans SWE 66 MILLER Bode USA 67 LUEOEND Vitus SUI 68 KROELL Johannes AUT 69 THOMSEN B. CAN 70 BERTHOLD F. AUT 71 BYDLINSKI Maciej POL 72 PRIDY Conrad CAN 73 DIXON Robbie CAN 74 MANI Nils SUI 75 WEBER Ralph SUI 76 KLOTZ Siegmar ITA 77 GOLDBERG Jared USA 1:46.20 1:46.20 1:46.21 1:46.28 1:46.31 1:46.38 1:46.42 1:46.52 1:46.67 1:47.15 1:47.16 1:47.28 1:47.33 1:47.36 1:47.42 1:47.45 78 BALDWIN TJ GBR 79 ESTEVE Kevin AND 80 TERRA Ferran SPA 81 ZAKURDAEV Igor KAZ 82 HEDIN Douglas SWE 83 MURAVYEV Ivan RUS 84 CRAWFORD D. GBR 85 SIMARI BIRKNER C. ARG 86 FAYED Guillermo FRA 87 MUZATON M. FRA 88 KOSHKIN Dmitriy KAZ 89 ZAMPA Adam SVK 90 OLIVERAS Marc AND 33 PINTURAULT A. FRA 57 PRIDY Morgan CAN 47 ZURBRIGGEN S. SUI 1:47.64 1:47.79 1:47.89 1:48.20 1:48.52 1:48.63 1:48.66 1:48.71 1:49.54 1:49.56 1:49.75 1:50.00 1:53.69 DNS DNS DNF

A28 | Friday, December 6, 2013 | The Vail Daily

Racers: New DH course will be a challenge

World Cup hybrid course saw its rst taste of action on Thursday
By John LaConte
jlaconte@vaildaily.com
DH - WOMEN START
0 T1 LIF

LIF T8

DH - MEN START

SG - MEN START SG - WOMEN START GS - WOMEN START

BEAVER CREEK The word to describe the downhill course the worlds fastest skiers are racing on today may not even be a word. Turny seemed to be the description of choice for the mens downhill course after skiers got a chance to preview it in training Thursday. With two weeks of World Cup racing at Beaver Creek beginning in November this season, the resort was forced to forgo North Americas Downhill the normal mens World Cup downhill course for a course that includes a portion of the womens, as the task of preparing two completely separate downhill courses this early in the season simply wasnt possible. A hybrid course was designated for both womens and mens competitions, comprised of the upper half of the new Raptor womens race course and the bottom half of the traditional mens Birds of Prey course. In the end, it will be only the men using the hybrid course as Beaver Creek crews were able to get the full-length womens course ready in time for last weeks competition.

GS - MEN START Russis Ride The Runway

LIF

Screech Owl
T9

WORLD CUP

Golden Eagle Jump

The Abyss The Gauntlet The Apex Lech-Zuers Schuss Predator Traverse Kestrel Banshee Bank
0 T1 LIF

Harrier Jump

Liberty

Heckle & Jeckle

Red Tail Jump Peregrine Run Out PRESS CENTER STADIUM BUS LOAD ZONE

LIF

11

LIF

T9

LIF T8

TV COMPOUND

COURSE MAP
WORLD CUP RACE SCHEDULE
For the latest schedule updates visit www.bcworldcup.com. Today Mens downhill, 10:45 a.m. Saturday Mens super-G, 11 a.m. Sunday Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. ADVICE FROM SVINDAL
Svindal said he was disappointed with his performance in Thursdays training run, where he nished 23rd with a time of 1:44.54, and offered the following advice to the rest of his team after that run. You have to be early on the new ski all the time, because its turny, and you need good switches from ski to ski, have a good rhythm. The top performer on the American side, Travis Ganong, said the womens course section will be a decider in the event. Theres three single turns and then it goes into three double-gate turns, and after that last single and into the two doubles, he said. Its really blind; you cant see any of the gates, so its hard to know when to transition into the next turn. Thats denitely the key section because if youre able to pull those turns off well and go on that last traverse high and without nding all the bumps, you can carry all your speed on the at. Thats kind of how youre going to win on this hill.

2013 BEAVER CREEK WORLD CUP WEEKS

DIFFERENT TURNS
It doesnt feel anything like the normal course, Bode Miller, who won North Americas Downhill on the regular course in 2011, said of this years hybrid. Its really turny, but theyre different turns. The (normal course) turns are linked together, single-gate, really hard fall-line turns, and (the hybrid course) turns are really traversing across the hill, huge, swinging turns. Its a different hill now, certainly. The winner of Thursdays training runs, Erik Guay, of Canada, said the course was indeed different than he was expecting. Its not quite as challenging as the Birds of Prey course, but its certainly not an easy course by any means, he said. Its got some challenging sections to it. Swedens Aksel Lund Svindal nished second in the Birds of Prey downhill last year. He said while he loves the normal course, the hybrid is challenging, as well. Its a little different than what we are used to, its a lot of turns, he said. I think the other course is one of the most spectacular downhill courses in the world, and I dont think any other one is as cool as that one, but this is a tough course ... its not an easy course.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Aksel Lund Svindal, of Norway, powers through a turn at the Abyss while training on the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill course on Thursday in Beaver Creek.

The Vail Daily

| Friday, December 6, 2013 | A29

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Ted Ligety, of the United States, passes a gate while skiing through the Abyss section of the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill course on Thursday in Beaver Creek.

Ted Ligety has high aims after a record year

Amid expectations, Mr. GS looks for Beaver Creek, overall World Cup success
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK It wont be easy for Ted Ligety to top last season, but the U.S. Ski Teams Mr. GS is sure going to try. Last winter, the 2006 Olympic gold medalist and four-time World Cup giant slalom champ had the season of his life, racking up six GS wins over the season, three super-G top 10 placings, and nishing off the World Championships with three golds in GS,

WORLD CUP

super-G and super combined. The hat trick made him the rst man to accomplish this since Jean-Claude Killy did it 45 years ago at the 1968 World Championships. The GS wins also earned him another record as one of two men who have won that many GS titles in a single season. The other racer is Ingemar Stenmark. He nished the season breaking the 1,000-point barrier for the rst time in his career, placing him third in the overall standings. Those records arent really my goal, said Ligety. Its really neat to be able to achieve them. Anytime youre mentioned in the same sentence as Stenmark is very surreal for any ski racer because hes at another level that I dont think is ever achievable. So to be at least mentioned in the same breath as him is a really cool feeling and something that I

never would have guessed would be possible.

STILL ROOM TO IMPROVE

While 2013 was a breakthrough season, the Park City, Utah, native said he believes theres still room for improvement in his ski racing. The goal is to try to do just as well if not top it, he said. Obviously, I think World Championship results will be hard to top, but I think I denitely have a lot of room for improvement in the slalom and super-G. While it may be hard to top the 2013 accolades, Ligety hasnt forgotten that this season is special because it is an Olympic year. At the 2010 Vancouver Olympics, he left disappointed after failing to medal in any event and DNFing in the slalom. This year, he denitely has his eye on redemption and is looking for some

medals to add to his 2006 gold in combined. That road to Sochi, started in Soelden, Austria, in October with a giant slalom win and continues this weekend at the Beaver Creek Birds of Prey World Cup. After a frigid downhill training run on Thursday, Ligety said he hopes to make another run for a World Cup globe. I think my approach for World Cup and World Championships worked really well last year, he said. So the best way to prepare for the Olympics is to have a good World Cup season leading up to it. Obviously, I want to do well at the Olympics thats a big goal. But a big goal is winning the overall title as well. Keep an eye on Ligety this weekend on Birds of Prey. While he isnt usually a top contender on the downhill, this years

modied course, which removes some of the traditional courses major steeps and integrates more wide turns, might play to his strengths. He also won the giant slalom at Beaver Creek last year and placed fourth in the super-G. Off the race course, Ligety is a self-professed backcountry powder hound (although he said he didnt get to enjoy any of Beaver Creeks powder earlier this week), and co-founder of ski outtter company Shred. Still, hes known for being no-frills and no-drama when it comes to his ski racing. I do the skiing because I love the skiing, he said. Im not here for the other stuff. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 or at mwong@ vaildaily.com.

Todays start list for mens World Cup downhill

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 MAYER Matthias AUT 2 VARETTONI Silvano ITA 3 NYMAN Steven USA 4 GANONG Travis USA 5 OSBORNEPARADIS Manuel CAN 6 FILL Peter ITA 7 SPORN Andrej SLO 8 CLAREY Johan FRA 9 FEUZ Beat SUI 10 HEEL Werner ITA 11 JANSRUD Kjetil 12 STREITBERGER Georg 13 MILLER Bode 14 FRANZ Max 15 POISSON David 16 REICHELT Hannes 17 INNERHOFER Christof 18 GUAY Erik 19 THEAUX Adrien 20 PARIS Dominik 21 KROELL Klaus 22 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 23 PERKO Rok 24 ROGER Brice NOR AUT USA AUT FRA AUT ITA CAN FRA ITA AUT NOR SLO FRA 25 HUDEC Jan 26 SCHEIBER Florian 27 KUENG Patrick 28 SULLIVAN Marco 29 DEFAGO Didier 30 BAUMANN Romed 31 KOSTELIC Ivica 32 LIGETY Ted 33 FERSTL Josef 34 STECHERT Tobias 35 FRISCH Jeffrey 36 VILETTA Sandro 37 JANKA Carlo 38 FISHER Erik CAN AUT SUI USA SUI AUT CRO USA GER GER CAN SUI SUI USA 39 MARSAGLIA Matteo ITA 40 BERTRAND Yannick FRA 41 WEBER Ralph SUI 42 GOLDBERG Jared USA 43 GLEBOV Alexander RUS 44 STRIEDINGER Otmar AUT 45 CASSE Mattia ITA 46 FAYED Guillermo FRA 47 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan SUI 48 DUERAGER Markus AUT 49 GIRAUD MOINE Valentin FRA 50 MUZATON Maxence FRA 51 PRIDY Conrad CAN 52 HEDIN Douglas SWE 53 KEPPLER Stephan GER 54 BOUILLOT Alexandre FRA 55 BERTHOD Marc SUI 56 THOMSEN Benjamin CAN 57 LUEOEND Vitus SUI 58 KLOTZ Siegmar ITA 59 ZRNCICDIM Natko CRO 60 KRIECHMAYR Vincent AUT 61 DE LA CUESTA Paul SPA 62 KILDE Aleksander Aamodt NOR 63 BALDWIN TJ GBR 64 BANK Ondrej CZE 65 STRODL Andreas GER 66 OLSSON Hans SWE 67 SANDER Andreas 68 KOSI Klemen 69 COOK Dustin 70 GISIN Marc 71 WEIBRECHT Andrew 72 BYDLINSKI Maciej 73 ESTEVE Kevin 74 ZAKURDAEV Igor 75 ZAMPA Adam GER SLO CAN SUI USA POL AND KAZ SVK

76 SIMARI BIRKNER Cristian ARG

A30 | Friday, December 6, 2013 | The Vail Daily

American men to watch for at Beaver Creek

Mens U.S. Ski Team hopes for veteran speed team to repeat successful season
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

WORLD CUP

BEAVER CREEK As American Travis Ganong carved his way down the Birds of Prey course during a training run, it was clear the 25-year-old skier was having a good day. After crossing the nish line at Beaver Creek, he grinned, pleased with a run that would place him seventh for the training day. While training runs dont always foreshadow race day results, Ganong is denitely feeling good, and it is a season that he hopes will become a breakout year. Ganong is among a very competitive American speed team this year, and like on the womens side, there are a number of fast skiers vying for a few Olympic spots. The mens team came off an extremely successful season in 20122013, and this year theyve started off the year with some mixed results. However, many members of the team have done very well at Birds of Prey in the past.

MEN TO WATCH
Here are some of the American men to keep your eye on this weekend and as the season goes on: Ted Ligety: As always, Ligety is a contender for the giant slalom crown, although he has seen great success with his super-G racing in recent years. Hell be looking to repeat his triple gold World Championships result this season. Bode Miller: Hes had six Beaver Creek podiums, including four downhill wins. Despite a recent scandal involving his child custody battle, Miller said hes focused and that his injured knee, which sidelined him last season, is feeling strong. Steven Nyman: The Utah native won the Val Gardena downhill last year, nearly six years after he won the race for the rst time. He said a hard summer of training seems to have paid off, and he had an encouraging 19th place nish at Lake Louise, Alberta, last week. My main thing is consistency, he said. I want to be consistent, pushing at the top of every race. I know I can ski well everywhere. Well see what the season gives us. I feel way more condent than I ever have on my skis. I have to trust in my abilities and myself. I worked really hard this summer and have never felt this good before. Nyman tweaked his back during the Lake Louise race, but he said the after-effects arent hampering him for Beaver Creek. Travis Ganong: The Squaw Valley, Calif., native is an up-andcomer, posting top 30 nishes in all but two World Cup downhills last season. He had a career best
JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Steven Nyman, of the United States, catches air after launching off the Golden Eagle Jump during training on the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill course on Thursday in Beaver Creek.
seventh on the challenging Stelvio speed track in Bormio, Italy. Training is going well, he said, but hes waiting for those podium results. What Ive been dealing with the last few years is learning how to translate my training into my racing, said Ganong. Every day is awesome. Im learning what works and what doesnt work. I have the skills that it takes to be fast, and its a matter of not getting overexcited on race day and just having fun and having a smile on my face. Depending on how he races this season, Ganong hopes to secure a spot on the Olympic team. Tim Jitloff: Heres a little known fact the 28-year-old from Reno, Nev., keeps up with Ligety on GS training runs. Hes yet to bring that speed to competitions, but if he does, he could step into Ligetys shoes in a few years. And dont forget: Marco Sullivan took third in last years opening downhill at Lake Louise. Some newer racers also posted some good training runs at Thursdays practice, including Erik Fisher, who posted the third fastest American time. Nick Daniels and Jared Goldberg are both in their second seasons on the World Cup circuit. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 and mwong@ vaildaily.com.

Bode Miller, of the United States, stays tight while coming into a left curve at the Abyss section of the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill course during the first day of training on Thursday in Beaver Creek.
JUSTIN MCCARTY JMCCARTY@ VAILDAILY.COM

BRINGING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

SATURDAY, 12 7 13 | VAILDAILY.COM | FREE

Svindal strikes again in downhill

Norwegian ace wins for the fourth time at Birds of Prey. Austrias Hannes Reichelt is second, followed by Italys Peter Fill. A26

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Aksel Lund Svindal, of Norway, skis to first on the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup downhill course, beating out Austrias Hannes Reichelt and Italys Peter Fill during the race on Friday in Beaver Creek.

WEATHER

BRADFORD LASKIN
Stone Creek Charter School Light snow High 12; low 5; Weather, C20

COMMENTARY I quickly crawled into my sleeping bag but ... the excitement of making the rst turns of the year in my new ski boots had my adrenaline pumping.
WARREN MILLER,A6

WALL STREET
DJIA 16,020.20, +198.69 NASDAQ 4,062.52, +29.36

INSIDE
CALENDAR COLORADO OUR WORLD SPORTS
Vol. XXXIII, Issue 175

B12 A25 A22 A26

OFFICIAL MENS USA SKI TEAM ATHLETE SIGNING!

Come by and meet the athletes at Slifer Smith & Frampton Real Estate Ofce at Solaris Vail, located on the 2nd level

SATURDAY 5:306:30pm GO USA!

Sports
A26 | Saturday, December 7, 2013 | Vail Daily

Norways Svindal conquers downhill

Reichelt second, Fill third on Birds of Prey on frigid race day
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Temperatures hovered in the single digits. Steady snow created bumps on the course and visibility was so poor that people in the grandstand could barely make out the nish banner. But Norways Aksel Lund Svindal was clipping gates and making turns so sure youd have thought it was a perfect blue-sky day. Svindal, 30, showed himself to be king of the downhill at Beaver Creek on Friday, collecting his 11th podium and his fourth downhill win at Birds of Prey. The gracious Norwegian made it look easy, but he said it was anything but. It doesnt feel that easy, especially at the start, he said, citing the low-light conditions. But I cant change that, and if I want to win this, I have to be super aggressive. Svindal carried a uid line through the top half, with minor blips in the jump section of Screech Owl slowing him down for the Golden Eagle portion of the course. However, he skied with abandon on the later half, making up the time he lost the effort was good enough to edge out Austrias Hannes Reichelt by nearly two-tenths of a second with a time of 1 minute, 44.50 seconds. I decided to never let go of my tuck and just go with everything down (to the nish), Svindal said. It was good, solid skiing on top, but I think the most important thing is that I decided to get after it. Nobodys going to ski this perfect in these conditions, so if you cant ski it perfect you have to ski it hard.

WORLD CUP

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Norways Aksel Lund Svindal raises his fist in victory after winning the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup downhill race for the fourth time on Friday at Beaver Creek. It was his 23rd career win.

WORLD CUP SKIING

Today Mens downhill, 11 a.m. Sunday Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
Aksel (Svindal). Hes the dominator of the speed events. Im really happy that I was very close behind. Fill celebrated his rst podium at a major race since Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, in 2011. The result followed several years of health problems and unsatisfactory nishes. This podium I dedicate to my family, my girlfriend and people who were close behind me the last few years, said Fill. It wasnt easy times with no good results. I say to my family, Thank you.

REDEMPTION FOR REICHELT AND FILL

Reichelt took second place with a solid run of 1:44.67, followed by Peter Fill, of Italy, with a time of 1:44.70. Reichelt came back from a 25th-place nish last weekend at Lake Louise, Alberta. He said some technical training helped shave the microseconds off his runs to get on the podium. At Lake Louise, I wasnt far from the podium or top ve. In the World Cup its so close between s**t races and good races. Thats the beautiful thing about our lives in ski racing. Im not ashamed to be second behind

TOUGH DAY ON THE SLOPES

More than 60 skiers ran the course on Friday, after only a day of training to get familiarized with the modied run. Because of the new Raptor Womens World Cup the week before, the traditional Birds of Prey downhill course was changed to merge with the womens run on the top part. That means some of the traditional jumps and high-octane

features of the old course were replaced with the wider-arcing turns of the Raptor course. It was a much slower race overall, compounded by the snowy conditions and low visibility. Even those who did well on Fridays course said they missed the traditional Birds of Prey downhill, which is expected to return in 2014. American Steven Nyman, who placed 48th today, said the course wasnt what he expected and that it required a lot of quick weight shifting from foot to foot to keep up with the sweeping turns. Svindal, who has had both a win and a traumatic crash on the Birds of Prey course in the past, said he still prefers the traditional run. This (Raptor) course isnt easy. Its a good course, but the problem is the other course is one of the best in the world, so its hard to top that, he said. The old one ows better and is faster. On the other course, you cant get away with mistakes, but you can on the Raptor. On the Raptor, your attitude is almost more important than your skiing, I think. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 and mwong@ vaildaily.com.
JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Peter Fill, of Italy, races down the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup downhill course on a bitterly cold day on Friday in Beaver Creek. Fill finished third in the race with a time of 1 minute, 44.70 seconds.

The Vail Daily

| Saturday, December 7, 2013 | A27

Bode Miller tops U.S. squad in 13th place

Ganong takes 15th; Nyman, Sullivan and Fisher all in top 30
John LaConte
jlaconte@vaildaily.com

MORGAN MILLER: DAUGHTER DOESNT LIKE SKIING

This season, if you see Bode Miller at a World Cup event or a news conference, youll likely see him joined by his wife, Morgan Beck Miller, and daughter Dacey. Now a happy family after being wed in October of last year, the Millers have been seemingly inseparable during the U.S. Ski Teams November training and media sessions at Copper Mountain and Golden Peak, and during the past couple weeks of World Cup action here in North America. Last weekends World Cup races in Lake Louise, Alberta, marked Morgan Millers rst trip to the picturesque ski town in Albertas Ban National Park. She said that venue is among the most beautiful places shes ever visited, and, after seeing it, shes really looking forward to what the rest of the World Cup circuit has to oer this season. I love photography so thats what Im most excited about, to get to go out and take some really great pictures and have those memories, Morgan Miller said on Friday from Beaver Creek. Im excited for a couple of the places Ive already read about ... I heard Val Gardenas beautiful, that one Im really looking forward to. Ill be surprised if anything tops Lake Louise, though. Best of both worlds Morgan Miller, 26, is a professional beach volleyball player who grew up in California. She said with her sport taking the pair to beautiful beaches in the summer, and Bode Millers career as a ski racers now allowing her to see the beautiful alpine venues of the world, she couldnt be happier. Its the best of both worlds, she said. Morgan Miller has been skiing twice, joined by 5-year-old Dacey. She does not like it, Miller said. She goes in between my legs, and I hold on to her. Nevertheless, She denitely has the racing gene though, where she wants to go faster than everyone else, Morgan Miller said. Those interested in following along and seeing Morgan Millers photos as she travels the alpine circuit this year can like her page at www.facebook.com/ morganbeck.

BEAVER CREEK For the American ski racers at the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup downhill, the home-eld advantage just wasnt there. Snowy conditions, cold, chalky snow, an unfamiliar course and only one training run worth of practice combined for a tough day on the Beaver Creek course on Friday, with Bode Miller leading the U.S. squad in 13th. But the American downhillers didnt seem disappointed in the teams performance overall, saying the tough conditions made things especially unpredictable. I thought I skied pretty well, Miller said. I hit the line I wanted to. I made all the adjustments I wanted to from yesterday. And I took some risk in the turns, and I denitely was pushing a bit. Even though it was not a great result, Im happy with it. I skied the way I needed to ski. First out of the gate for the Americans was Steven Nyman, the third racer of the day. I did alright, except in one turn, said Nyman. I just kind of lost my feet and came in a little back, but I thought I skied pretty well other than that. Nyman ended up nishing 21st and said he thought his teammate Travis Ganong, who raced immediately after Nyman in the fourth spot, had a great run for how early he raced in the competition. The more people that go over it, the faster the track will become, he said.

WORLD CUP

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Bode Miller watches the timing board at the finish of the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup downhill course on Friday at Beaver Creek. Miller was the top American racer of the day with a finish of 13th place.

ALL ABOUT TIMING

Ganong nished 15th and was second among the Americans. Im happy with my skiing ... Im denitely skiing way faster and way stronger than I was last season, Ganong said. On one turn I kind of got low; other than that it was a really good run and I liked it ... It was just timing a little bit, thats all it takes on those wide, roller turns, just timing. Eight years Ganongs senior at 33, Marco Sullivan speaks from experience and echoed young Ganongs statements in regards to the timing of the turns on this years downhill course, which has more turns than the course thats normally set. Coming back onto Birds of Prey, I didnt have a very good turn, and you really dont get a chance to make more speed from there, Sullivan said. I actually had some really good turns, just where it counted, carrying that speed off the pitch. Sullivan nished 28th. Rounding out the American squad was Erik Fisher in 29th, Ted Ligety in 39th and Jared Goldberg in 49th.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Travis Ganong, of the United States, flies past a gate after passing the Predator Traverse section of the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup downhill course on Friday in Beaver Creek.

A28 | Saturday, December 7, 2013 | The Vail Daily

Powerhouse Austrian team poses threat

Speed team puts two in top 10 for downhill, Hirscher poised for GS
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK If its any indication of the state of Austrian ski racing, nearly every roster on www.fantasyskiracer.com boasts an Austrian skier. The fantasy ski racing site, with an ever-growing number of players that include the ski racers themselves, has fans picking their top 10 racers, and points are added up depending on how racers perform that week. This week, players who had Austrias Hannes Reichelt were treated to a second-place nish in the downhill, with Max Franz not far behind in 10th. Prospects may continue through the Beaver Creek race weekend with giant slalom specialist Marcel Hirscher at the start gate on Sunday.

WORLD CUP

NO OLYMPIC GUARANTEES
In short, the Austrian powerhouse team, usually a medal threat in multiple disciplines, is having a successful start to the season, and the team boasts such a deep bench that even a couple World Cup podiums might not be enough to guarantee a spot on the Olympic team. In Austria, its such a battle to get to the Olympics, said Reichelt, who nished behind Norways Aksel Lund Svindal at the Birds of Prey downhill on Friday. With Aksel, he can ski and relax, because there arent that many ski racers in Norway, but we dont do that. Second place here doesnt guarantee you to be on the team. You have to push hard, then if you do well, youre on the team. Marcel Hirscher is also in the contention for overall World Cup points, but in a less conventional way. Last season, he won the World Cup overall title with six wins, almost completely in technical events. He also took the slalom title and was runner-up in giant slalom. In the current World Cup overall standings, the top 15 is loaded with Austrian skiers. Hirscher is second, Reichelt is third, Matthias Mayer, Georg Streitberger and Franz are eighth, ninth and tenth respectively, Klaus Kroell is 13th and Mario Matt is 15th.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Markus Duerager, of Austria, smashes through a gate while running the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup downhill course on Friday at Beaver Creek. Austrian ski racing is bigger back home than the Yankees are in New York City.
Those results are despite a number of injuries over the last few years. Hirscher broke his ankle before the World Championships in 2011, but returned to a successful 2012 season and started off the current season with a slalom win in Levi, Finland. Reichert had a back injury that he still deals with now. Im feeling good at the moment, and hopefully it will stay the same over the whole season, he said. Sometimes I do have to take painkillers, and it hurts after GS. GS is really hard on my back. Franz is a younger team member and hasnt yet gone to the Olympics, but had promising results both at Beaver Creek and at Lake Louise, Alberta, last week, placing in the top 10 in both super-G and downhill. We did very well in (training) in Chile and over the last few weeks, he said of the mens team. We were very happy with the results of second and tenth at Beaver Creek. Were very good, but we will have to see how the season goes.

Hannes Reichelt, of Austria, celebrates as he speeds into the finish area at the bottom of the Birds of Prey mens downhill course on Friday at Beaver Creek. Reichelt finished in second place behind Norways Aksel Lund Svindal. In America, Reichelt would likely be an automatic pick for the Olympic team, but thats not the case on the deep and powerful Austrian team.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Complete Birds of Prey downhill results

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 2 REICHELT Hannes 3 FILL Peter 4 OSBORNE-P., M. 5 KUENG Patrick 6 FEUZ Beat 7 HUDEC Jan 8 HEEL Werner NOR 1:44.50 AUT 1:44.67 ITA 1:44.70 CAN 1:44.74 SUI 1:45.02 SUI 1:45.16 CAN 1:45.17 ITA 1:45.35 9 PARIS Dominik 10 FRANZ Max 11 DEFAGO Didier 12 JANSRUD Kjetil 13.MILLER Bode 14 INNERHOFER Chris. 15 GANONG Travis 16 GUAY Erik 17 POISSON David 18 ROGER Brice 19 THEAUX Adrien 20 SPORN Andrej ITA AUT SUI NOR USA ITA USA CAN FRA FRA FRA SLO 1:45.37 1:45.38 1:45.44 1:45.50 1:45.54 1:45.61 1:45.69 1:45.70 1:45.80 1:45.91 1:46.19 1:46.25 21 NYMAN Steven 22 VARETTONI Silvano 23 JANKA Carlo 24 DUERAGER Markus 25 KROELL Klaus 1980 26 SCHEIBER Florian 27 CLAREY Johan 28 SULLIVAN Marco 29 FISHER Erik 30 BANK Ondrej 31 GISIN Marc 32 MARSAGLIA Matteo USA ITA SUI AUT AUT AUT FRA USA USA CZE SUI ITA 1:46.26 1:46.32 1:46.35 1:46.46 1:46.49 1:46.61 1:46.65 1:46.71 1:46.72 1:46.74 1:46.84 1:46.88 33 BAUMANN Romed AUT 34 VILETTA Sandro SUI 35 GLEBOV Alexander RUS 36 STECHERT Tobias GER 37 STRIEDINGER Otmar AUT 38 FERSTL Josef GER 39 KRIECHMAYR V. AUT 40 FRISCH Jeffrey CAN 41 OLSSON Hans SWE 42 LIGETY Ted USA 42 KOSTELIC Ivica CRO 44. WEBER Ralph SUI 1:46.96 1:47.04 1:47.10 1:47.26 1:47.27 1:47.38 1:47.54 1:47.62 1:47.65 1:47.72 1:47.72 1:47.82 45 BERTRAND Yannick FRA 46THOMSEN Benjamin CAN 47 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko CRO 48 BERTHOD Marc SUI 49 GIRAUD MOINE V. FRA 50 FAYED Guillermo FRA 51 ZURBRIGGEN Silvan SUI 52 SANDER Andreas GER 53 KOSI Klemen SLO 54 DE LA CUESTA Paul SPA 55 GOLDBERG Jared USA 56 HEDIN Douglas SWE 1:47.98 1:48.10 1:48.15 1:48.16 1:48.21 1:48.27 1:48.38 1:48.51 1:48.65 1:48.70 1:48.72 1:48.73 57 CASSE Mattia ITA 58 MUZATON Maxence FRA 59 LUEOEND Vitus SUI 60 KEPPLER Stephan GER 61 STRODL Andreas GER 62 BOUILLOT Alexandre FRA 63 BYDLINSKI Maciej POL 64 ESTEVE Kevin AND 65 BALDWIN TJ GBR 66 ZAKURDAEV Igor KAZ 67 ZAMPA Adam SVK 1:48.74 1:48.81 1:48.97 1:49.04 1:49.08 1:49.18 1:49.43 1:50.05 1:50.25 1:50.35 1:52.24

The Vail Daily

| Saturday, December 7, 2013 | A29

Svindal: Super-G is anyones contest

Dicult conditions will set the stage again today
By John LaConte
jlaconte@vaildaily.com
LIF 0 T1

T8 LIF

DH - MEN START

BEAVER CREEK Aksel Lund Svindal was on the podium six times last season in World Cup and World Championships super-G events, winning four and nishing runner up here at the Birds of Prey super-G race. This season, hes already won the rst super-G, which was in Lake Louise, Alberta, last weekend. And he won Fridays downhill. So what does Svindal think his chances are in todays super-G? Who knows? he said. It could be anyone you see here (at the downhill), I think theres a lot of guys who can win it. Starting on a part of the course that challenged skiers in the downhill, super-G will be tough as well a course with new challenges and new conditions. Its a difficult course, and I think the weathers going to be like (Friday), he said. Its going to be a tough race. The National Weather Service is calling for a 60 percent chance of snow with cold temperatures a low of negative 15 degrees forecasted once again today. Two-tenths of a second separated rst from third at Fridays downhill, and Svindal said it will likely be close today, as well. I think its probably going to be a tight race again, he said. To win youre have to be able to get after it and risk a little bit, and not make too big of mistakes. The super-G course will start a little further down the pitch than todays downhill, with only four or ve turns before the racers reach a atter, gliding section of the hill. The racers will not have a training run under their belts, like in downhill, only a course inspection. With 10 spots available for the U.S., look for most of the racers from the U.S. A Team on the course today. Its a great hill for Ted Ligety; theres some technical stuff in there said U.S. Ski Team veteran Marco Sullivan. And Travis Ganong has been skiing really good super-G in training. Watch out for him. The super-G is scheduled to start at 11 a.m.

SG - MEN START SG - WOMEN START DH - WOMEN START GS - WOMEN START

GS - MEN START Russis Ride The Runway

LIF

WORLD CUP

Screech Owl
T9

Golden Eagle Jump

The Abyss The Gauntlet The Apex Lech-Zuers Schuss Predator Traverse Kestrel Banshee Bank
LIF 0 T1

Harrier Jump

Liberty

Heckle & Jeckle

Red Tail Jump Peregrine Run Out PRESS CENTER STADIUM BUS LOAD ZONE

LIF

11

LIF

T9

LIF T8

TV COMPOUND

COURSE MAP

2013 BEAVER CREEK WORLD CUP WEEKS

Will Ted Ligety be a factor in todays super-G?

JUSTIN MCCARTY JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

The start list for todays race

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 JANKA Carlo 2 MILLER Bode 3 SCHEIBER Florian 4 KROELL Klaus 5 FILL Peter 6 OSBORNE-PARADIS M. 7 KLOTZ Siegmar 8 HUDEC Jan 9 INNERHOFER Christof 10 DE TESSIERES Gauthier SUI USA AUT AUT ITA CAN ITA CAN ITA FRA 11 HEEL Werner 12 FEUZ Beat 13 PUCHNER Joachim 14 GUAY Erik 15 JANSRUD Kjetil 16 REICHELT Hannes 17 STREITBERGER Georg 18 LIGETY Ted 19 MARSAGLIA Matteo 20 THEAUX Adrien 21 SVINDAL Aksel Lund 22 MAYER Matthias 23 KOSTELIC Ivica 24 CLAREY Johan ITA SUI AUT CAN NOR AUT AUT USA ITA FRA NOR AUT CRO FRA 25 MERMILLOD BLONDIN T. FRA 26 DEFAGO Didier SUI 27 PINTURAULT Alexis FRA 28 KUENG Patrick SUI 29 FRANZ Max AUT 30 PARIS Dominik ITA 31 HIRSCHER Marcel AUT 32 KILDE Aleksander A. NOR 33 PRIDY Morgan CAN 34 GOLDBERG Jared USA 35 GLEBOV Alexander RUS 36 FERSTL Josef GER 37 DANIELS Nick USA 38 VARETTONI Silvano ITA 39 VILETTA Sandro 40 POISSON David 41 GANONG Travis 42 ROGER Brice 43 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 44 CASSE Mattia 45 STRIEDINGER Otmar 46 WEIBRECHT Andrew 47 FRISCH Jeffrey 48 CAVIEZEL Mauro 49 THOMSEN Benjamin 50 PERKO Rok 51 SPORN Andrej 52 RUBIE Brennan SUI FRA USA FRA AUT ITA AUT USA CAN SUI CAN SLO SLO USA 53 BERTRAND Yannick 54ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 55 COOK Dustin 56 HEDIN Douglas 57 DIXON Robbie 58 OLSSON Hans 59 FISHER Erik 60 STECHERT Tobias 61 GISIN Marc 62 MUZATON Maxence 63 STRODL Andreas 64 SULLIVAN Marco 65 NYMAN Steven 66 KOSI Klemen FRA CRO CAN SWE CAN SWE USA GER SUI FRA GER USA USA SLO 67 DE LA CUESTA Paul 68 BALDWIN TJ 69 BANK Ondrej 70 SANDER Andreas 71 SIMARI BIRKNER C. 72 BYDLINSKI Maciej 73 ESTEVE Kevin 74 GRIFFIN Benjamin 75 FEASEY Willis 76 KOSHKIN Dmitriy 77 ZAMPA Adam SPA GBR CZE GER ARG POL AND NZL NZL KAZ SVK

BRINGING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

SUNDAY, 12 8 13 | VAILDAILY.COM | FREE

Surprises atop super-G podium

Switzerlands Patrick Kueng notches his first World Cup win, while Austrian Otmar Striedinger finishes in second on super-G Saturday. Birds of Prey finishes with the GS today. A17
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INSIDE
CALENDAR CROSSWORD HIGH LIFE OUR WORLD SCOREBOARD SPORTS TOWN TALK
Vol. XXXIII, Issue 176

CONNOR WILSON
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B6 B7 B1 A16 A23 A17 A12

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Colorado lottery 21 26 27 32 37 42 Light snow, bitter cold High 7; low -5; Weather, B8 Powerball 13 20 32 45 48 PB17

Patrick Kueng, of Switzerland, celebrates after crossing the finish line of the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup super-G on Saturday in Beaver Creek. Kueng took first with a time of one minute, 21.73 seconds.

FREE STADIUM NOISEMAKERS!

Come by the Slifer Smith & Frampton tent at the base of the Birds of Prey race course, near the grand staircase to get your ofcial race noisemakers and

MAKE SOME NOISE FOR TEAM USA!

TODAY!

Sports
Vail Daily | Sunday, December 8, 2013 | A17

Switzerlands Kueng gets rst World Cup win

Austrian Striedinger a surprise second
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Dont get comfortable. Nothings ever safe at a super-G on Birds of Prey. Switzerlands Patrick Kueng roared from the No. 28 bib to his rst World Cup win on Saturday, but only after watching Austrian Otmar Striedinger make one of the more improbable charges in 16 years of racing at Birds of Prey from the No. 45 spot, nishing just 0.24 seconds behind in second place. Its good when you have (bib No.) 28 and you come in the nish and you have the green light and you know this is a good run, Kueng said. When you go (No. 2 or 3), and you have the green light, you dont know if its a good time. The irony here was that just as Kueng was saying this, Stiedinger was charging from the 45th start position and posting green numbers at assorted splits that endangered Kuengs rst World Cup win. And to add a little more of the bizarre to the day, Austrian Hannes Reichelt and Italian Peter Fill tied for third, both 38-hundredths back of Kuengs winning time of 1 minute, 21.73 seconds.

WORLD CUP

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Patrick Kueng, of Switzerland, holds his line through a turn as he eyes the next gate during the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup super-G race on Saturday at Beaver Creek. It was the Swiss racers first World Cup win.

TREND CONTINUES
Kueng is the sixth rst-time World Cup winner mens Birds of Prey super-G, and the third newbie in as many years. Kueng joins Norways Bjarne Solbakken (2003), Austrian Stefan Goergl (2004), Reichelt (2005), Switzerlands Sandro Viletta (2011) and Italys Matteo Marsaglia (2012) as rst-time winners in this race. A trend that Kueng is happy to see broken is that he is the rst male Swiss skier since the 2011-12 season to win a super-G. I cant believe it now, Kueng said. Maybe, tomorrow. Im happy today. Kueng got his rst win by being one of few racers to gain time on the lower portion of the course. He was the second-fastest from Golden Eagle down to the nish. Only teammate Carlo Janka was faster, but he was done in by a slow start. I was on a good line, and I have a good feeling, Kueng said. I was also fast in the training. Now, I can put it in a race, its very good. Another reason for his success in that portion of the course was experience. Kueng was fth in Fridays downhill, coming out of bib No. 27 in what he felt was bad light. He felt he had better

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Hannes Reichelt, of Austria, leans into a gate in the lower section of the course during the Birds of Prey mens super-G race on Saturday at Beaver Creek. Reichelt tied for third place with Italian racer Peter Fill.

WORLD CUP SKIING

Today Mens giant slalom, 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m.
visibility on Saturday and was able to push more. Kueng had only two podiums, coming into Saturdays race second in Bormio, Italy, in downhill on Dec. 29, 2011, and third in the same discipline in Garmisch, Germany, on March 10, 2010.

WHO?
Striedinger nearly stole Kuengs thunder. High bib numbers can crack the top 10, but its rare to nd the podium. The 22-year-old Austrian did just that. When I was a young boy, my

dream was to be a professional skier, Striedinger said. And I wanted to go into the (nish) stadium, and today as I passed the nish line, I was in second place, and I couldnt believe it. Striedinger did have a good weekend up in Lake Louise, Alberta, with 18th in the downhill and 17th in the super-G, but no one saw this coming. Those two nishes were his best to date. For young (guys) like me, theres no pressure. The veterans always have good (bibs), Striedinger said. I heard that Patrick was leading with No. 28, I think. Our trainers told us the slope was amazing and we should risk. I did it, and second place was

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

WORLD CUP, A22

Otmar Striedinger, of Austria, shows his excitement after finishing the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup super-G race on Saturday in Beaver Creek. Striedinger finished second in the race with a time of 1 minute, 21.97 seconds for his first World Cup podium.

A18 | Sunday, December 8, 2013 | The Vail Daily

Americas Ted Ligety holds his line as he flies down the lower section of the course during Saturdays Birds of Prey Mens World Cup super-G race at Beaver Creek. Ligety finished in fifth place, the best finish for the Americans.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Ted Ligety is top American in super-G

Bodes blip costs the run, DNFs disappoint rest of U.S. Ski Team at Birds of Prey
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK American Ted Ligety needed just a tenthof-a second lead, or maybe 20 pounds more of bulk. Ligety skied a nearly perfect super-G run, then watched anxiously as several surprise contenders and heftier speedsters bumped him down in the rankings as the day went on. When the race was over at the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup, Ligety was narrowly nudged off the podium by a couple tenths of a second. He landed fth in the super-G, with a time of 1 minute, 22.21 seconds, the top American result of the day. You cant win them all, obviously, Ligety conceded, clearly disappointed. The Utah native sped through the rst two time checks ahead of the pack, acing the twistier portions of the course that suited his technical strengths. However, he fell behind on the bottom, straighter part of the course where his slighter build wasnt on his side. However, it was a strong run for the American on a day sprinkled with uffy snow and complicated by low-light conditions. Even crowd favorite and

WORLD CUP

If its steep, Im one of the fastest guys, and if its at and easy, Im one of the middle-of-the-pack guys. It depended on where my skill set falls in there. When its steep like it is here, at least on the important sections, I have a better chance of making up time on guys. When its more moderate, guys like Aksel (Svindal) will beat me every time, he said. Ligety will continue to be a top pick through the weekend in his favorite event, the giant slalom. The next discipline he is looking to improve is slalom. My slalom is like ne china. Its really nice and looks pretty sometimes and can be fast, but if you drop it, it breaks easily. Whereas my GS is like an iron skillet. You can kick it around and do anything with it and it holds up. Thats been a bit frustrating for me sometimes, but thats how it goes sometimes with ski racing, he said.

day where I skied that clean on the top.

THRILLS AND SPILLS

Andrew Weibrecht was also a standout for the Americans. Wearing bib No. 46 for the day, he nished the super-G in 20th place with a time of 1:23.29. Weibrecht had struggled on Friday and was hampered by a bruised left shin he sustained from a crash at Lake Louise, Alberta, the previous week. I felt pretty comfortable, like I was hitting the line, he said. Coming out of The Abyss, I took a little bit of a wrong line and had to jam around a couple gates just to stay on the course. Overall, Im really happy with the result. Last week, I couldnt even push on my left shin. Now, it feels good at least to be able to give it 95 percent, instead of 50 percent like before. Steven Nyman nished 37th, followed by Marco Sullivan in 47th and Erik Fisher in 59th. The remainder of the American speed team didnt fare so well, succumbing to crashes and missed turns that led to a number of DNFs. Travis Ganong, who has skied with promise the past few days at Beaver Creek, took a bad direction on a turn that sent him off course. He did not nish the run. Jared Goldberg took a spectacular crash toward the top of the course, dropping off the fall line, landing on his back and sliding into the netting. Teammate Nick Daniels followed and made the same error, forcing him to bail off the course. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 and mwong@ vaildaily.com.

BODES BLIP
American Bode Miller was the second top American of the day, coming in 14th with a time of 1:22.98. He skied second in the lineup and set a blistering, aggressive line down the mountain. Looking for redemption after a disappointing downhill on Friday, Miller was looking more like the skier who has won at Beaver Creek four times in his career, until the nal turn at Harrier surprised him. That mistake was just unfortunate, honestly, said Miller, pointing to the Harrier turn that tripped him up. The gate is actually against the banners there, so when you look at it, its a red gate against red background, so you just cant see it. I wouldnt make that mistake but one time out of 10 or 20. It sucks to make it on a

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Bode Miller, of the United States, reacts to his time after racing the Birds of Prey super-G course during Saturdays race in Beaver Creek.
Fridays downhill winner Aksel Lund Svindal didnt best Ligetys time. Its not an easy hill up there right now, with at light and snow peeling away from you at spots, said Ligety. I skied the turns well, which is always my forte. On the ats, when its snowing and kind of soft, I lose a lot of time. Its not in my skillset, really, to be fast in the ats and soft. That makes it more important I do well on the top. It was a bit unexpected to see Ligety, normally known more for his technical skiing, excel in the super-G. However, its a discipline that he said hes been working hard with his coaches on. My super-G has a big range.

The Vail Daily

| Sunday, December 8, 2013 | A19

Super-G: surprises, spills and comebacks abound

Ties, veterans in the spotlight and attacks from the back
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Spectators at the second day of Beaver Creeks Birds of Prey Mens World Cup races were treated to everything from speechless winners to spectacular crashes. Super-G often yields surprising results, and this years edition was no exception. Heres a look at some of the highlights of the day and chatter from the nish area:

WORLD CUP

LOVING COLORADO SNOW

Temperatures were slightly warmer than Friday, but weather conditions varied. American Ted Ligety noted that the times were much faster after the 25th racer because visibility improved. Winner Patrick Kueng also said he attributed his successful run to the improved conditions. In Fridays downhill, he skied well, but also said he couldnt see the course so well. Today, he said, he was able to pair his abilities with more favorable weather. The light snow that persisted for most of the race was uffy the stuff Colorado is famous for. Racers reported that they loved the snow conditions, and that the grip allowed them to attack the course and take risks.

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Vincent Kriechmayr, of Austria, steadies himself as he lines up for the next turn during Saturdays Birds of Prey Mens World Cup super-G race at Beaver Creek. Kriechmayr, who started 43rd, finished in a tie for 16th place.
The 18th spot was a tie between Frenchmen Alexis Pinturault and Johan Clarey. Hows that for team spirit.

SMASHING CRASHES
The crowd got some impressive crashes, including American Jared Goldbergs wipeout after he lost control of a ski on a steep turn. German Josef Ferstl clipped a gate soon after Goldberg and took a heavy tumble. He took a ski to the chest, but skied off the course on his own. Others narrowly avoided a crash but were sent ying off course. Austrias Florian Scheiber initiated a turn too late and skidded to the side, as did defending super-G Birds of Prey champ, Matteo Marsaglia. The Italian skier skidded sideways on the Harrier portion of the course, brushing the ground with his arm for a second before managing to stay upright.

COMEBACK STORIES
Two of the podium winners have also come back from injuries. Reichelt is returning from a back injury, while Fill injured a groin muscle a few years ago. While he recovered from the injury physically after a season, he said that mentally hes struggled to come back until now. Ive been waiting for ve years for a podium and to have two here is amazing, Fill said. The other two in the winners circle werent comeback kids, but were rst-timers on the World Cup podium. Neither winner Patrick Kueng nor second place Otmar Striedinger could believe the results. When I saw second place, I was like, Wow, said Striedinger. I knew I was in good shape, but I couldnt believe it.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

THREE TIES
There was a tie for third place between Austrias Hannes Reichelt and Italys Peter Fill. Place No. 16 was also shared by Austrian teammates Vincent Kriechmayr and Marcel Hirscher.

Andrew Weibrecht, of the United States, makes a wide right turn while racing the super-G course during the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup ski races on Saturday in Beaver Creek. Weibrecht finished 20th, despite starting with bib No. 46.
in the top half, but there were notable standouts today. Besides Striedinger, other racers that made the jump from the back were American Andrew Weibrecht, who nished 20th, and Kriechmayr who started 43rd and nished 16th. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 and at mwong@ vaildaily.com.

ATTACKS FROM THE BACK

You dont usually expect the skiers in the nal half of the order to ski times that place them

Complete super-G results from Saturday

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 KUENG Patrick 2 STRIEDINGER Otmar 3 REICHELT Hannes 3 FILL Peter 5 LIGETY Ted 6 MERMILLOD BLONDIN T. 7 SVINDAL Aksel Lund SUI AUT AUT ITA USA FRA NOR 1:21.73 1:21.97 1:22.11 1:22.11 1:22.21 1:22.27 1:22.34 8 HEEL Werner ITA 1:22.41 9 JANSRUD Kjetil NOR 1:22.64 10 MAYER Matthias AUT 1:22.66 11 DEFAGO Didier SUI 1:22.68 12 JANKA Carlo SUI 1:22.80 13 HUDEC Jan CAN 1:22.82 14 MILLER Bode USA 1:22.98 15 STREITBERGER Georg AUT 1:23.00 16 KRIECHMAYR Vincent AUT 1:23.02 16HIRSCHER Marcel AUT 1:23.02 18 PINTURAULT Alexis 18CLAREY Johan 20 WEIBRECHT Andrew 21 INNERHOFER Christof 22 THEAUX Adrien 23 KILDE Aleksander A. 24 PRIDY Morgan 25 KROELL Klaus 26 FEUZ Beat 27 OSBORNE-PARADIS M. FRA FRA USA ITA FRA NOR CAN AUT SUI CAN 1:23.06 1:23.06 1:23.29 1:23.33 1:23.36 1:23.38 1:23.40 1:23.46 1:23.47 1:23.49 28 VILETTA Sandro 28 FRANZ Max 30 GUAY Erik 31 KOSTELIC Ivica 32 FRISCH Jeffrey 33 ZRNCIC-DIM Natko 34 GLEBOV Alexander 35 PUCHNER Joachim 36 OLSSON Hans 37 NYMAN Steven SUI AUT CAN CRO CAN CRO RUS AUT SWE USA 1:23.67 1:23.67 1:23.68 1:23.69 1:23.79 1:23.89 1:23.93 1:23.96 1:23.99 1:24.02 38 KLOTZ Siegmar 39 COOK Dustin 40 KOSI Klemen 41 DIXON Robbie 42 GISIN Marc 42 CAVIEZEL Mauro 44POISSON David 45 THOMSEN Benjamin 46DE LA CUESTA Paul 47 SULLIVAN Marco ITA 1:24.21 CAN 1:24.23 SLO 1:24.41 CAN 1:24.45 SUI 1:24.78 SUI 1:24.78 FRA 1:24.80 CAN 1:24.89 SPA 1:25.05 USA 1:25.09 48 ZAMPA Adam 49 SANDER Andreas 50 BALDWIN TJ 51 SPORN Andrej 52 BYDLINSKI Maciej 53 PERKO Rok 54 ESTEVE Kevin 55 SIMARI BIRKNER C. 56 KOSHKIN Dmitriy SVK GER GBR SLO POL SLO AND ARG KAZ 1:25.44 1:25.48 1:25.67 1:25.86 1:25.91 1:26.24 1:26.78 1:27.11 1:29.15

A20 | Sunday, December 8, 2013 | The Vail Daily

0 T1 L IF

Giant slalom nishes off two captivating weeks of racing

Is Ted in the house?
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

WORLD CUP

BEAVER CREEK There is more than one person in this race. Really. Honestly. But its American snow and Ted Ligety is the favorite for todays giant slalom at 9:45 a.m. and 12:45 p.m. Ligety has won three of his past four starts here. He has four GS globes in the last six years. Hes won the GS at Worlds in 2013 and 2011. He has 18 career wins, all in GS. Thirty one of his 38 podiums are in GS. Ligety has stated for many years that he wants the overall, and Saturdays fth-place nish in the

Daily sta report

newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 MOELGG Manfred ITA 2 SANDELL Marcus FIN 3 HIRSCHER Marcel AUT 4 FANARA Thomas FRA 5 PINTURAULT Alexis FRA 6 LIGETY Ted USA 7 SVINDAL Aksel Lund NOR 8 RAICH Benjamin AUT 9 BLARDONE Massimiliano ITA

LIF T8

DH - MEN START

SG - MEN START SG - WOMEN START DH - WOMEN START GS - WOMEN START

GS - MEN START Russis Ride The Runway

LIF

Screech Owl
T9

Golden Eagle Jump

The Abyss The Gauntlet The Apex Lech-Zuers Schuss Predator Traverse Kestrel Banshee Bank
LIF 0 T1

Harrier Jump

Liberty

Heckle & Jeckle

Red Tail Jump Peregrine Run Out PRESS CENTER STADIUM BUS LOAD ZONE

LIF

11

LIF

T9

LIF T8

TV COMPOUND

COURSE MAP

2013 BEAVER CREEK WORLD CUP WEEKS

super-G was a big step toward that goal. We wish him well in that quest. The slalom is the discipline which he has to improve to get the overall globe. But its GS today, and American fans during the last two weeks have seen a few good performances, most particularly Mikaela Shiffrins second place in last Sundays womens GS. American fans have sort of gotten spoiled by the success the red, white and blue has had at Birds of Prey from Daron Rahlves to Bode Miller to, well, Ligety. One could hear the roar start as both Bode Miller and Ligety put up green numbers early in the super-G runs. The local fans are waiting to erupt. They want to hear the anthem not just before the race, but after. They want an American to win. They want Ted.

By the way, hes wearing No. 6 today. Heres the lowdown on the GS: Format: Its two runs. Best-combined time wins. The top-30 nishers from the rst run at 9:45 a.m. advance to the second at 12:45 p.m. In the second run, the order of racers is ipped, meaning that the fastest racer in the rst goes last in the second. The phrase, making the ip will be used early and often. A reminder that making the ip does not guarantee World Cup points. A racer, even though there are only 30 going in the second run, must nish that run to be in the points. No. of racers: 70. Weather: You thought we were kidding when we talked about how balmy it was last week. Whos laughing now? Were looking at a toasty high of 10 with 1-3 inches of snow.

Birds of Prey past champions: Hermann Maier (1999), Lasse Kjus (2004 and 1999 Worlds in Vail), Bode Miller (2005), Massilmiliano Blardone (2006), Daniel Albrecht (2007), Benni Raich (2008), Carlo Janka (2009), Ted Ligety (2010, 2011 and 12) and Marcel Hirscher (2011). GS stats: Racers drop 1,407 feet from a starting elevation of 10,351. The course is nearly a mile long at 4,806 feet. Look out for: The Abyss. Just before Harrier Jump, this compression will sap precious tenths of seconds. A note on the start order: In downhill and super-G, the favorites have bib Nos. 16-23. In GS, the favorites, based on World Cup points, go in single digits. Americans (bib No.): That Ligety guy (6); Tim Jitloff (27);

Miller (31); Brennan Rubie (32); Warner Nickerson (37) and Robby Kelley (45). Favorites: Um, Ligety. OK, seriously, Austrias Hirscher (3), the defending overall champion, was No. 2 in the points last year in the GS. Italys Alexis Pinturault (5) is always a threat. Italys Manfred Moelgg (1), and Frances Thomas Fanara (4) are tech specialists. And betting against Norways Aksel Lund Svindal (7) should be illegal. Darkhorses: Austrias Raich (8) still has some good moments left in him. Blardone (9) also has a win here. Keep an eye on Marcus Sandell (2) from Finland. The picks: Were all going with Ted. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

10 SIMONCELLI Davide 11 NEUREUTHER Felix 12 MISSILLIER Steve 13 KOSTELIC Ivica 14 SCHOERGHOFER Philipp 15 DOPFER Fritz 16 REICHELT Hannes 17 MATHIS Marcel 18 DEFAGO Didier 19 RICHARD Cyprien 20 LUITZ Stefan 21 FAIVRE Mathieu 22 EISATH Florian

The start list for todays race

ITA GER FRA CRO AUT GER AUT AUT SUI FRA GER FRA ITA 23 HAUGEN Leif Kristian NOR 24 JANSRUD Kjetil NOR 25 OLSSON Matts SWE 26 MYHRER Andre SWE 27 JITLOFF Tim USA 28 NANI Roberto ITA 29 DE TESSIERES Gauthier FRA 30 MERMILLOD BLONDIN T. FRA 31 MILLER Bode USA 32 RUBIE Brennan USA 33 MALMSTROM Victor FIN 34 TUMLER Thomas SUI 35 MUFFAT-JEANDET Victor FRA 36 PLEISCH Manuel 37 NICKERSON Warner 38 ZUEV Stepan 39 DE ALIPRANDINI Luca 40 BANK Ondrej 41 BROWN Philip 42 ZURBRIGGEN Elia 43 FREY Thomas 44 CAVIEZEL Gino 45 KELLEY Robby 46 ZAMPA Adam 47 BAUMANN Romed 48 DONALDSON David SUI USA RUS ITA CZE CAN SUI FRA SUI USA SVK AUT CAN

49MAYTAKOV Sergei 50 KILDE Aleksander A. 51 MARSAGLIA Matteo 52 BORSOTTI Giovanni 53 PHILP Trevor 54 COOK Dustin 55 BERTHOD Marc 56 KRIECHMAYR Vincent 57 GRIFFIN Benjamin 58 WERRY Tyler 59 HEDIN Douglas 60 SIMARI BIRKNER C. 61 SATO Sho

RUS NOR ITA ITA CAN CAN SUI AUT NZL CAN SWE ARG JPN

62 CAVIEZEL Mauro 63 KOSI Klemen 64 MAYER Matthias 65 CLARO Eugenio 66 CHEVALIER Luc Henri 68 JANKA Carlo 69 THEAUX Adrien 70 KOSHKIN Dmitriy

SUI SLO AUT CHI AUS SUI FRA KAZ

67 VAN DEN BROECKE Dries BEL

BRINGING COMMUNITIES TOGETHER

MONDAY, 12 9 13 | VAILDAILY.COM | FREE

Ted, Bode top GS podium

Ted Ligety wins Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom, Bode Miller surges into second for a 1-2 finish for the Americans. A13

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Ted Ligety catches air as he rounds the Red Tail gate on the lower section of the course during the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom race on Sunday at Beaver Creek. Ligety finished in first place in front of teammate Bode Miller, who took second place on the final day of the World Cup ski races. Austrias Marcel Hirscher came in third.

WEATHER

TYLER HELMERING
Stone Creek Charter School Early snow showers High 3; low -6; Weather, B28

COMMENTARY In a nutshell, these commissioners do not have a clue about what the Eagle County residents want nor do they care.
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, A6

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Sports
Vail Daily | Monday, December 9, 2013 | A13

Ligety wins in a landslide in giant slalom

Bode gives Americans 1-2 nish
By Chris Freud
cfreud@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Austrias Marcel Hirscher simply shook his head from the hot seat when Ted Ligety came down after his rst run. During the training with the Austrian Ski Team, I thought I was really fast, Hirscher said afterward. I thought I made some good steps forward and that I could close the gap between me and Ted. That was only a dream. When I have a second-andsome lead, it makes it a little more comfortable, Ligety said, then adding to the effect that nothings a sure thing in ski racing and anything can happen. In reality, he said through his skiing, Thanks for coming. Drive home safely. Ligety won his fth giant slalom in his past six starts at Beaver Creek during Sundays Birds of Prey Mens World Cup race, and this one was over before it started. Ligety led Hirscher by a whopping 1.26 seconds after the rst run. Bode Miller ended up as the surprise of the rst run, popping from 31st into second, but still 1.1 back of the defending World Cup GS champion. Ligetys second run was all but a victory lap as he nished 1.32 seconds ahead of the eld with a total winning time of 2 minutes, 35.77 seconds. Miller nished second in 2:37.09 for his rst World Cup podium since Feb. 3, 2012, while Hirscher was third in 2:37.59. Any time you get a win is awesome, especially at home in the U.S., Ligety said. Having a lot of friends and family here is fun, so its great to perform in front of them. To share the podium with Bode is awesome. This is Ligetys fourth World Cup win in a row in GS, dating back to last season. He is the rst to do that in the discipline since Alberto Tomba in 1991. The last time Americans went 1-2 in giant slalom was 2005 here, and that was Miller and Daron Rahlves.

WORLD CUP

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Ted Ligety makes his way through the giant-slalom course during his second run of the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup ski race on Sunday in Beaver Creek. Ligety earned his 19th career World Cup win.
lot of condence in my ability to ski well. I have condence in my ability to win, but I dont think its a sure thing. The thing was, however, that the Park City, Utah, native made it look effortless. He seemingly glided through every turn in his second run, and there was nary a bobble to worry the home crowd. Ligety said visibility was difficult on the course and nding the line between the rm track and the soft stuff was a thin one. And there was also the fact that Hirscher was still looming. Marcel has been a guy that has pushed me a lot in my giant slalom because I know if I falter at all, hes going to be on the podium or getting a win, Ligety said. That makes it difficult to win a GS title if you cant make any mistakes. Thats made me push my level harder. Miller, on the other hand, said that it was academic. When hes at the start of the second run, he knows hes going to win, Miller said.

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

GLIDING TO VICTORY
Ligety recorded the fastest times of both runs on the way to his 19th career victory. But in a ski race, youre never that comfortable because a small little bump here or there that you dont foresee can usually knock you off course. Ligety said. So you can never get too comfortable no matter what. But the way Ive been skiing giant slalom the last year and a half or so, I have

Ted Ligety, center, and Bode Miller, left, celebrate Sunday at Beaver Creek after taking first and second place in the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom alongside Austrian Marcel Hirscher, who was third.
the two-run events, Miller said. After the rst run, I felt like I had already won. A lot of people were congratulating me. My daughter was like, Yeah, you got second place. And Ted was, Not yet. Thats the real challenge of ski racing. It doesnt let up. Though admitting that he felt a bit nostalgic before the second run, there is still a re inside of Miller. There are better skiers, but I do have some advantages in my intensity and my ability to push the limit is, if not the best in the world, is right there. I know I can always get something out of myself that most other guys cant. The major worry with Miller, as always, was whether he was going to nish the second run. He had some moments, but nothing like his backseat ride in the 2005 Birds of Prey GS. Meanwhile, Hirscher was gracious in third place. It means 60 points on my World Cup account, and that is really positive, the Austrian said. On the other side, sometimes we have to think about whats going on. The U.S. is that fast and the rest of the world, the only thing we can do is watch and say, Oh my God, they are so good. We have to push it harder and harder.

WELCOME BACK
This is Millers seventh podium appearance at Beaver Creek and he remains a fan favorite. Sunday was a big step back after his knee injury. He noted correctly that a lot of the margin between him and Ligety came during the rst run when the Franconia, N.H., racer had to race out of the 31st position. Its always a bit tough with

A14 | Monday, December 9, 2013 | The Vail Daily

WORLD CUP

Skiing world witnesses new, improved Bode

Miller pushing toward Olympics with newfound tness, recovered knee
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK Just when some had written off American Bode Miller, he goes and does something brilliant, like put down a spectacular run for a podium nish in a discipline he isnt particularly known for. As the champion downhiller slashed his way down the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom run on Sunday, it was apparent he was on re. In fact, the only skier able to best Millers time on Sunday was teammate and GS master Ted Ligety. Where Ligety carves with precision and nesse, Miller charges the gates, cutting sharply through turns and barreling straight at times. He skidded to a stop after his rst run, looking up at the timing screen. Jaws dropped among other racers and the crowd as his time ashed on the board second place, behind Ligety. Miller, on the other hand, already knew hed put down a special run. He gave his wife, Morgan Beck, a hug and told her, My legs feel so strong. Ive been looking forward to being able to run a course to test me a little bit more, and this one is denitely demanding, Miller said after his rst run. By the time we get to the last bit youre tired, and I was able to still push hard through the last pitch all the way to the nish. Im really psyched that my tness held up. For the second run of the day, it was a question of whether Miller would be able to do it again, especially as several Austrians upped the game with increasingly fast times. He responded with an aggressive charge that once again was only beat by Ligety, who won the race by an entire 1.3 seconds. The crowd went wild, and Miller stood waving and smiling in a moment that was remarkably reminiscent of his days of downhill dominance on this course a few years ago.

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Bode Miller takes a tight line around a gate while skiing through The Abyss during the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom race on Sunday in Beaver Creek. Miller made the podium for the first time since Feb. 3, 2012.

Ive been looking forward to being able to run a course to test me a little bit more, and this one is denitely demanding.
Bode Miller
American ski racer

KNEE IS STRONG, MILLER SAYS

The GS success followed an impressive super-G run the day before, a run that was lost in the nal seconds by a gate that Miller said he didnt see until too late. Nevertheless, the ne form is signicant for a skier who is returning from a knee injury and spent more than a season away from the sport. He last had surgery to repair a microfracture to his knee in early 2012 and sat out for the rest of the year to recover. He dropped out of the ski-racing scene for a year and a half, and now at 36, and after such an injury, some wondered if he could ever make a comeback. However, he returned this winter

announcing his intentions to compete at the 2014 Sochi Olympics and with the way hes going, it looks like he could do it. His knee is structurally strong, he said, and the work hes put into rehabilitation and training is allowing him to race hard. Thats a big difference, he said. Even before, (my knee) always bothered me. Its exciting that I can go out as hard as I can and just let my ability take over. Before, I was always managing my tness a little bit. While Miller said hes aiming for results in every race, it is no secret that his biggest goal of the season is to do well in what is likely his last Olympics. Olympics are the focus of the season, but Im trying to also win every race Im in, he said, adding that his intensity is allowing him to compete against skiers more than a decade younger. You have to be willing to do the work. I wasnt in the position to be there two years ago, and that was obvious to everyone by my results.

FITTER AND SPEEDIER

Miller credits much of his

comeback to improved tness and a new workout plan. Since the summer, hes been working with Gavin MacMillan, of Sports Science Lab. Sports Science Lab is a Southern California company specializing in performance and rehabilitation. MacMillan works with an extensive list of athletes that include a number of professional boxers, NBA athletes, national rugby teams and more. MacMillan put Miller on a regimen focused on strengthening his knee. Unlike more conventional programs that put athletes in the weight room, MacMillan is a rm believer that traditional weight lifting negates power and speed. Instead, he had Miller work on plyometrics, balance and high-repetition strengthening. We did a ton of work to strengthen his hips, his legs and his lower back and overall core, MacMillan said. You can really improve his ability to change direction at that high speed. Muscle works like a big elastic band, and as long as you train it like that, it responds really well. If you train it like a brick, which is how much

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Bode Miller lays into his edges as he flies around Red Tail during his first run in the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom race on Sunday at Beaver Creek. Miller took second place behind Ted Ligety.
weight it can lift, its not going to correlate with the power and endurance you need on the slope. He called the Birds of Prey weekend a big step forward for Miller, saying that it was no surprise judging from how he responded to the training. Bodes the best ever to do this, so he responds. His mind is probably the best mind Ive ever trained. He fully understands his body, what its doing and what it needs, MacMillan said. Now its a matter of how long it will take to get his timing down in races. At Birds of Prey, the skiing world denitely saw a new Bode Miller. He showed no lack of the condence hes known for, but also seemed signicantly calmer and easy going, shrugging off a disappointing downhill run on Friday, keeping perspective after his super-G blip and taking time to sign autographs after his giant slalom runs. Maybe skiings bad boy has nally grown up. Even so, hes no less fun to watch and if all goes to plan, he will give the world a show this Olympic season. Assistant Managing Editor Melanie Wong can be reached at 970-748-2927 and mwong@ vaildaily.com.

The Vail Daily

| Monday, December 9, 2013 | A15

WORLD CUP

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Ted Ligety makes it look easy on Sunday on his way to winning the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom at Beaver Creek.

Sundays World Cup wasnt a race; it was a clinic

Olympic gold in the combined in Torino, Italy, in 2006 when he was 22. When its time for the World Championships, hes won Ted Ligety took two runs, and back-to-back gold in GS in 2011 everyone else was racing and 2013. And this past for second. year, for good measure, So much for the rule he also won the super-G changes on giant-slaand the combined at lom skis making racers Schladming, Austria. slower. They aint slowThe only thing missing Ligety down. ing from the resume We are watching a is the GS gold at the premiere athlete in the Olympics. He was a prime of his career, DNF in 2006 and ninth Chris Freud and it is something in 2010. Go get it in On Skiing to behold. His official Sochi, Ligety. nickname is Ted Shred. Thats perfectly nice. He, indeed, THE STATE OF THE STATE shreds, and Shread is the brand of And this brings us to Bode Miller. his head gear. His nish Sunday is why we wrote Better would be Teddy Ballin this space this past week that game, like the Splendid Splinyou never write off his Bode-ness. ter, Ted Williams. Ligety is the As is magnicently documented in denition of clutch. He gets about Melanie Wongs feature in this edi2 minutes, 40 seconds during tion, the guy does not conform to the course of one year, which has time and space as we know it. 525,600 minutes, to win a race on He had a small miscue on home snow. Harrier in Saturdays super-G, Thats not pressure, just an opotherwise he could well have been portunity to crush it, which he does. on that podium. Millers going to And its not like he only does make some noise this year. this here. This is the same guy What the U.S. men do not have who shocked the world with is true downhiller, like in ye olden

Ligety and other thoughts

days, with Daron Rahlves. Again Miller may pop in there, but Steve Nyman, once thought to be next, has been beset by injuries. He did get his second downhill win this past year in Val Gardena, Italy, but hes getting on in age (31).

We are watching a premiere athlete in the prime of his career, and it is something to behold.
Same goes for Andrew Weibrecht, the 2010 bronze medalist in super-G. Hes younger, 27, but heres some interesting trivia. How many World Cup top-10 nishes does he have? Two both 10th places at Beaver Creek in 2007 and 2011. I root for both of these guys, but a change in career trajectory at this point would be stunning. Ergo, lets go, Travis Gagnon. That said, it may not be this year. The womens picture is a bit brighter this weekend. Lindsey Vonn nishing 41st in Fridays downhill in Lake Louise, Alberta,

made a lot of us gulp, thinking, Omigosh, shes done. Vonns was 10th in Saturdays downhill and fth in Sundays super-G, and we may exhale. We expect so much of Lindsey that we just assumed she would stomp Lake Louise, but shes trending ne. We knock wood every time we type it we hope her right knee holds up. If so, that shes winning races soon. As for the rest of the speedsters, well see. Leanne Smith was sixth in Sundays super-G up north. Were still waiting to hear from Stacey Cook, Laurenne Ross and Julia Mancuso. Having the pressure of home speed events and christening a new course could explain this past weeks performance. On the other hand, the aforementioned trio didnt light it up at Lake Louise. The jury is still out. And, yes, Mikaela Shiffrin might turn into a superb tech skier yet. Every one of her starts is appointment television. There are tons of story lines as the Americans head to Europe.

Americans will have a much more notable presence than in the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships, but who will be the internationals to watch? You gotta believe that Norways Aksel Lund Svindal loves this place. Austrias Hannes Reichelt is on auto-pilot in Beaver Creek. On the ladies side, its not hard to see the likes of Lara Gut, Maria Hoe-Riesch, Tina Maze, Tina Weirather and Anna Fenninger making some noise. The thing to remember is that there will be a surprise, someone youve never heard of. Please name the 1999 World Alpine Ski Championships womens slalom winner. (Work with me here. You can win some bar bets.) Zali Stegall of Australia. She did have a bronze in the 1998 Olympics in slalom, but no one in the world had her winning in 1999. This, of course, led to one of the best Vail Daily headlines ever: Zali: Australian for gold. Meanwhile, Ligety remains English for gold. Sports Editor Chris Freud can be reached at 970-748-2934 and cfreud@vaildaily.com.

BEAVER CREEK 2015

This is going to be fun. The

A16 | Monday, December 9, 2013 | The Vail Daily

WORLD CUP

JUSTIN MCCARTY | JMCCARTY@VAILDAILY.COM

Carlo Janka flies down a snowy slope during his second run at the Birds of Prey Mens World Cup giant slalom on Sunday in Beaver Creek. He surged from the No. 68 bib to sixth place.

Swiss skier Carlo Janka looks for a comeback

Olympic champ looks promising after heart surgery, equipment struggles
By Melanie Wong
mwong@vaildaily.com

BEAVER CREEK You name it, and Swiss skier Carlo Janka has been through it. The 27-year-old won the gold in giant slalom at the 2010 Olympic Games. Hes also the owner of a gold in the World Championships and a World Cup overall title. In 2011, he dropped out of sight after undergoing open-heart surgery to correct a heart arrhythmia that was increasingly affecting his health. After a full rest during the off-season, he attempted to return to competition, but dealt

with back problems, and then struggled to adapt to new GS ski specication rules. This past season, his results were littered with mid-to-end-of-the-pack nishes in downhill, super-G and super combined, but he failed to nish all but one giant slalom race. He hopes that this season, the outlook may be different.

THINGS GETTING BETTER

It was equipment, it was a little bit of health, and all the little things came together last season. It was really bad season, and I think now things are getting better, he said after his rst giant slalom race of the season at Beaver Creek on Sunday. He entered the race ranked 68th, and ended up in sixth place by the end of the day, 3 seconds behind winner Ted Ligety. Some of that old form showed as he

sliced his way down the course under cloudy skies and through steadily falling snow. Its been so long since Janka has sat in the hot seat (the spot reserved for the fastest time so far in the race), that many ski racing fans might not have known who he was. However, anyone who watched the races a few years ago in 2009 might remember the young Swiss who took the win in giant slalom, downhill and super combined, becoming the rst skier to win three World Cup races in a single weekend since Hermann Maier in 2000. Admittedly, Janka is far from that form now his heart is in good shape, but he said the two runs left him quite tired. However, he said it was nice to be back in Beaver Creek. It feels very good, and Beaver Creek is a place I like very much,

DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | DTAYLOR@VAILDAILY.COM

Swiss racer Carlo Janka returns to Beaver Creek, where he won three World Cup races in one weekend in 2009. He was the first racer to do so since Hermann Maier in 2000.
he said. I had solid runs today and was pleased with the results. As for his equipment, he said he still hasnt gotten it dialed in. Instead, hes been tackling the problem with hard work and practice. Ive trained with these all summer long, and that was the key, he said.

Complete results from Sundays giant slalom race

Daily sta report
newsroom@vaildaily.com
1 LIGETY Ted USA 2:35.77 2 MILLER Bode USA 2:37.09 3 HIRSCHER Marcel AUT 2:37.59 4 FAIVRE Mathieu 6 JANKA Carlo 8 HAUGEN Leif K. FRA 2:38.61 SUI 2:38.78 NOR 2:38.83 9 LUITZ Stefan 10 NANI Roberto GER 2:38.98 ITA 2:39.00 14 FANARA Thomas FRA 2:39.19 15 RAICH Benjamin AUT 2:39.50 16 DOPFER Fritz 17 JANSRUD Kjetil 18 PLEISCH Manuel GER 2:39.75 NOR 2:39.79 SUI 2:39.84 5 PINTURAULT Alexis FRA 2:38.71 7 NEUREUTHER Felix GER 2:38.82 11 SVINDAL Aksel Lund NOR 2:39.03 12 SCHOERGHOFER P. AUT 2:39.15 13 RICHARD Cyprien FRA 2:39.17 19 MARSAGLIA M. ITA 20 SANDELL Marcus FIN 21 EISATH Florian ITA 22 MYHRER Andre SWE 23 MUFFAT-J. V. FRA 24 OLSSON Matts SWE 2:39.85 2:39.92 2:39.98 2:39.99 2:40.05 2:40.21 25 BANK Ondrej CZE 26 SIMONCELLI D. ITA 27 BLARDONE M. ITA 28 MOELGG Manfred ITA 29 TUMLER Thomas SUI 30 PHILP Trevor CAN 2:40.37 2:40.41 2:40.55 2:40.82 2:41.07 2:41.36