Shiffrin faces stiff competition in first race in Pyeongchang

Postponed men’s downhill to be raced Thursday

PYEONGCHANG, South Korea, Feb 11, (Agencies): Mikaela Shiffrin’s highly-anticipated Pyeongchang Olympic campaign will face its first test on Monday in the women’s Alpine skiing giant slalom, even if she is not necessarily the favorite to win.

Despite lofty expectations, the 22-year-old slalom gold medalist finished off the giant slalom podium in Sochi in 2014, a half second behind winner Tina Maze.

Shiffrin will not have to worry about Maze on Monday as the Slovenian has since retired, but she will face speedy German Viktoria Rebensburg, who won gold in Vancouver in 2010 and bronze four years ago.

Another threat is France’s Tessa Worley, a giant slalom specialist who won gold at the world championships last year and won the World Cup event just before the Olympics in Lenzerheide, finishing two seconds ahead of Shiffrin, who was seventh.

Despite recent struggles Shiffrin has improved in the giant slalom since Sochi and her impressive 10 World Cup victories this season include two giant slalom wins, in Kranjska Gora and Courchevel, as well as two other podium finishes.

She has also added speed events to her repertoire and with her maiden World Cup win in downhill and strong finishes in super-G events this season, the world’s best all-around skier said she is eager to get the competition underway.

“I can’t wait to race actually because I really like the conditions here,” she told reporters about the upcoming technical races at the Yongpyong Alpine Centre. “I’m ready to go.” Race organisers are expecting a challenging day but are confident the Olympic Alpine skiing programme will get underway with the women’s giant slalom on Monday despite the strong winds which forced the postponement of the men’s downhill.

Winds of 39 knots (72 kms per hour) forced the closure of the Jeongseon Alpine Centre for safety reasons on Sunday and the downhill was moved to the Thursday with the men’s Super G shifted back to Friday’s rest day.

The forecast for the Yongpyong centre, where the technical events are being held, calls for winds gusting up to 28 knots at the time when the race is scheduled to get underway on Monday.

Women’s chief race director Atle Skaardal told the team captains’ briefing on Sunday evening that organisers would do everything in their power to get the race going.

“We face a long day tomorrow. The weather forecast for us as far as the wind is concerned is not that good,” the Norwegian said.

“It will be a challenge for the racers, it will be a challenge for the (organisers), it will be a challenge for everybody.

“Who knows what’s going to happen? Hopefully it will not be as strong as forecast but we will stretch our limits as far as possible to run the race tomorrow.”

Another reason for the postponement of the men’s downhill was that the gondola at the Jeongseon centre was unable to run in such high winds.

Skaardal said, however, that the gondola at the Yongpyong centre had run smoothly on Sunday in winds higher than those forecast for Monday.

“If the gondola does not run because of the wind we will have a big problem and be sending you some information about delays or cancellations,” he said.

Meanwhile, the blue riband men’s downhill, scheduled to open the Olympic alpine skiing programme, will be raced Thursday after high winds forced its postponement Sunday.

“Due to the strong wind and unfavourable forecast for today, the men’s downhill is postponed,” the International Ski Federation (FIS) announced.

“The jury has decided to switch the official programme and has rescheduled the men’s downhill for Thursday, Feb 15, and the men’s super-G on Friday, Feb 16,” FIS said, with the downhill set to start at 0200 GMT.

The downhill training for the men’s

USA’s Cayla Barnes (left), and Finland’s Linda Valimaki chase the puck in the women’s preliminary round ice hockey match between Finland and the US

during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games at the Kwandong Hockey Centre in Gangneung on Feb 11. (AFP)

combined event scheduled for Monday has also been cancelled.

It is not the first time Mother Nature has played havoc with the best laid plans for alpine skiing at the Olympics.

Four years ago in Sochi, the latter part of the programme was rescheduled because of poor weather while the downhill in Vancouver in 2010 was put back two days because of heavy snow and rain.

The downhill at the 1998 Nagano Games was rescheduled on three occasions, also because of heavy snow and rain.

Just prior to the postponement, FIS said the “hill is closed to everyone”, meaning that the gondola that transports athletes, their backroom staff, timing and course officials up to the Jeongseon slope would not be running.

Luckily for the male racers, they managed to get three downhill training sessions in under their belts, racing the third in similarly gloomy weather forecasts that eased at the last minute.

Given that skiing is an outdoor event, at the mercy of the elements, its Olympic programme is always designed with contingencies at hand.

The 11 medal events in Pyeongchang are run over 17 days, with racers having to have completed at least one downhill training run in order to be able to compete in the downhill proper.

The scheduling allows FIS to be able to tinker with the line-up, often bringing forward more technical events like slalom and giant slalom which can at a push be raced in heavy snow for instance.

“We kind of expected this downhill to be postponed due to wind, but at the same time the guys were charged up and ready to go,” said Sasha Rearick, the men’s alpine head coach of the US team.

“With this being an outdoor sport, it is not abnormal.”

Rearick said racers now have to “harness (energy), stay relaxed, and then be able to ramp back up”.

France’s Brice Roger, one of the outsiders for the downhill, added: “We downhillers are used to it, it happens quite regularly.