Scary Stelvio course pyschs out racers, but fails to faze
Michael Walchhofer BY HANK MCKEE PHOTOS BY GEPA
Gone Bormio
Michael Walchhofer slays the Stelvio track.
Bormio
Bormio’s downhill track is, in the words of Travis
Ganong: “crazy, a real deal downhill. It’s bumpy, fast, icy,
dark. It’s tough skiing top to bottom.”
Canadian Jan Hudec explained further. “Training runs
were brutal,” he said. “I usually like to just kind of get the
feel of a course during training, but here you can’t really
do that because you’re just getting rocked the whole way.
... Your legs are telling you to rest, but you have to tell
yourself, ‘I can rest in the finish.’”
It is relentless skiing, the skis always on edge linking
from one rock-hard turn to the next. It’s strenuous, and
not only because of the Stelvio track. Its place in the
schedule, Dec. 29 this season, means the skiers don’t
get a holiday break until after the race, and nobody wants
to head home banged up, which can happen in a hurry
on the hill.
“The break is right after it,” said Steven Nyman. “Guys
get to go home and chill. There’s a lot of anxiety. People
just want to get it over with.”
Winning this time was 35-year-old Michael Walchhofer,
making one last trip around the circuit before retiring. So
far his final season has gone pretty well. He’s won two of
four downhills and a super G and leads the World Cup
overall standings. It was his third win on the Stelvio track,
a record.
“This is considered one of the most technical downhills,
if not THE most technical,” said Walchhofer. “For me, as
a glider, it is great to have won three times.”
He said good equipment selection (“something different”)
had made the win possible. “The skis were perfect.”
