Ski Racing - February 27, 2012

OUT OF THE GATE

Boogie Night

Alexis Pinturault and Julia Mancuso take the Moscow city event; Lindsey Vonn third in drag race By Hank McKee

dent that fast starts were critical as the short time spent on course did not leave much chance to come from behind.

Julia Mancuso and Alexis Pinturault got the wins, 100 points apiece and 40,000 Swiss francs ($43,749 according to our calculator) for the day with Michaela Kirchgasser and Felix Neureuther getting second-place points. Lindsey Vonn saved her best run of the day to take third from Maria Hoefl-Riesch while Andre Myhrer topped Romed Baumann for third among the men.

Other than the cash and the points, it really didn’t matter — except that it was a whole lot of fun.

Traditional World Cup racing was turned sideways for the Moscow city event (of which Soelden, Austria, was a sponsor)

By any measure, it was a large ramp the Russians
constructed to host the World Cup city event in Mos-
cow on Feb. 21. Officially it was listed at 64 meters
high and 172 meters long, and came with an elevator
to hoist skiers to the top; the ramp was erected be-
side the Luzhniki Olympic Complex, built for the 1980
Olympic Games in a crook of the Moscow River a few
rail stops southwest of Red Square.
Lighted for the evening competition
and timed to end before a soccer
game began in the stadium, it was
silhouetted by a huge pair of cranes,
wired for sound and a stark reminder
that Russians like things to be big.
What wasn’t big was the field, with
just the top 15 men and 15 women
invited and only overall points given
away. Everybody got 15 points for
participating, and Nos. 1 through
4 the usual allotment. Make it one
round and get fifth-place points. It
should be pointed out that in the
name of sportsmanship, injured Ivica
Kostelic opted to stay home instead
of just showing up for the points and
then skiing off course.

The racing, if not conventional, was certainly entertaining, and the action unfolded fast enough to insist on attention. It was set up like a World Pro Skiing GS with double-panel gates mirrored down two courses;