Gardena’s jumps were smaller than anytime in recent memory. Plus, at least four of the
crashes that have caused potentially season-ending injuries have come in giant slaloms,
generally thought to be less dangerous than the higher speed disciplines of downhill or
super G. There have also been injuries occurring to racers who haven’t fallen at all.
While Val Gardena downhill winner Manuel Osborne-Paradis acknowledged that perhaps knees and ligaments aren’t evolving as quickly as equipment, he offered up his own
theory for the spate of injuries.
“I think we can [attribute] it to global warming,” said Osborne-Paradis. “It’s been plenty
cold, but it’s been a dry, aggressive snow and what you can do with your skis [on that
surface] surprises everybody, even the best skiers.”
Canadian coach Paul Kristofic agrees. “We’ve been skiing in snow conditions we rarely
ski,” said Kristofic. “It’s a dry
man-made snow and the skis
react really well. These skis can
generate a lot of energy.”
Osborne-Paradis said it’s
pretty hard to fault the ski com-
panies. “The equipment is so
great,” he said. “It’s so respon-
sive to what you want to do.”
Unless you are maybe slightly
off balance and loading up the
ski as Fanara did, or catch a
course flag around the boot as
Lanning did.
Many racers sound like
they’re going to do their best to
ignore the injuries. Osborne-Paradis said he did not think
once about a fallen comrade
in the Val Gardena start house,
despite the sheer number of
Canadians down. “Other than
today and one other we haven’t
had a run when somebody
didn’t get injured,” he said. “It’s
your guys’ job to over think it.
Not mine.”
Get Well Soon
Marcus Sandell, Finland: Broken nose and hand, kidney
removed.
Lara Gut, Switzerland: Dislocated hip.
Pierrick Bourgeat, France: Broken leg.
Nicole Hosp, Austria: Torn ACL.
Resi Stiegler, USA: Fractured tibia and femur.
TJ Lanning, USA: Dislocated knee, fractured C5.
John Kucera, Canada: Fractured tibia and fibula.
Denise Karbon, Italy: Torn meniscus.
Sandra Gini, Switzerland: Torn ACL.
Alexandra Daum, Austria: Torn meniscus, fractured
tibia.
Pierre-Emmanuel Dalcin, France: Torn ligaments in
both knees, broken arm, facial lacerations.
Jean Baptiste Grange, France: Damaged knee ligament.
Thomas Fanara, France: Damaged knee.
Jean-Philippe Roy, Canada: Suspected ACL tear.
Didier Cuche, Switzerland: Broken rib.
Larisa Yurkiw, Canada: Suspected ACL/MCL tears.
Kelly VanderBeek, Canada: Suspected ALC/MCL and
posterior cruciate ligament tears.
Francois Bourque, Canada: Suspected ACL rupture.
Werner Heel, Italy: Left knee injury.
The bid committee for the Beaver
Creek/Vail 2015 FIS Alpine World Championships has been finalized. It features
representation from the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association (USSA), Vail Resorts,
Inc., and the Vail Valley Foundation
(VVF), along with additional ski leaders.
Heading the group is USSA President
and CEO, Bill Marolt, along with Vail
Resorts Co-President John Garnsey and
VVF Ceil Folz. Additional bid commit-
tee members include former FIS Council
member Hank Tauber; Harry Frampton,
Chairman of the Vail Valley Foundation
Board of Directors; Bjorn Erik Borgen,
VVF board member and owner of Kvit-
fjell ski resort; and George Gillett, Jr.,
former owner of Vail Resorts, longtime
ski racing supporter and owner of the
Liverpool Football Club.
“This bid committee truly represents a
unified and collaborative effort,” said Marolt. “Our partnership with both Vail Resorts and the Vail Valley Foundation goes
back to the early days of World Cup skiing
in the United States and together, we have
created one of the premier annual events
on the tour [with Beaver Creek’s Birds
of Prey]. With Hank, Erik, Harry and
George on board, we feel we have both the
energy and experience to make this bid a
reality.”
Beaver Creek/Vail 2015 Finalizes Bid Committee
Lake Placid Hosts Continental Cup
BY PETER Q. GRAVES
Lake Placid, N. Y. — The temperatures here may have been
chilly, but the skiing was red hot.
Amidst cold temperatures and mid-winter skiing conditions, two
days of Continental Cup (formerly World Cup B) action took place
in this two-time Olympic village, and the field was world-class.
Two days of competitions were held on the HS100 meter jump
and the biathlon venue, where the 10K individual Gundersen cross
country race consisted of four laps around a 2.5K track .
The strong Austrian Tomaz Druml, his skiing and jumping both
spot-on solid, dominated both days’ events. Druml, a Villach na-
tive, has already had 20 World Cup starts.
Both days also saw the same silver medalist in German Andreas
Guenter. Some of the biggest surprises cam from the Americans,
Taylor Fletcher takes a break in Lake Placid.
and in particular Taylor Fletcher, who skied to a career-best
third place Saturday and fourth on Sunday. “This is so exciting”,
Fletcher told Ski Racing. “I’m just coming onto the team, it’s my
first year, and I have been hoping to get some top-10s, so this is
great.”
Encouraging performances also came from the likes of Park
City’s Nick Hendrickson, who was 10th on Dec. 19, followed by
Alex Miller of Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club in 12th.
With Fletcher a strong fourth on Sunday, Dec. 20, Alex Miller
was 10th in the event; returning athlete Carl Van Loan was in 13th
and Willy Graves in 22nd, leading a strong USA contingent.
The event was sponsored by ORDA, USSA and Lamb Lumber. “I
believe this is our 18th year of hosting these events here in Lake
Placid,” Joe Lamb, a member of the 1972 Olympic combined
squad and the current vice president of nordic combined for the
FIS, told Ski Racing. “In fact, the only town that has hosted more
is Klingenthal, Germany. It’s a pretty impressive record, and these
events are vital steps for proper athlete progression.”
See more nordic news, including coverage of the Olympic trials,
at skiracing.com.
