BAD KLEINKIRCHHEIM, Austria – It’s been five years since the women’s World Cup tour last stopped in Bad Kleinkirchheim in the Carinthian region of Austria, and not many of the athletes competing in the downhill and super G this weekend were racing then. So for most of the field, Thursday’s first downhill training run was the first sample of the slope and the consensus among them is that the course has everything – besides jumps – to keep them on their toes.
Austria’s Anna Fenninger, who wrapped up 2011 with her first World Cup victory in the Lienz giant slalom last week, posted the fastest time in Thursday’s training, 1 minute, 51.27 seconds.
“It’s a big challenge,” said Fenninger, adding that unlike a large handful of the 71 starters in Thursday’s training, she made all of the gates. “The first section is really turny – it’s hard to turn the skis – people had problems with the second gate. Maybe it’s too turny. The light was also not good today, but we have our training run so now we can race.”
Indeed, the training run, moved to 10:30 in the morning because of snow forecasted for later in the day, took place in flat light and a considerable amount of wind at the top of the course.
Wearing bib No. 48, Spain’s Carolina Ruiz Castillo finished just 0.09 seconds behind Fenninger and young Norwegian Lotte Smiseth Sejersted, the second racer down the course, was the third fastest, 0.19 seconds behind the lead time, but exclaimed upon entering the finish area that she missed the second gate.
Reigning downhill and super G World Cup champion Lindsey Vonn, who has won all four speed events so far this season (two downhill races and one super G in Lake Louise and the super G in Beaver Creek, which was the most recent but still an entire month ago), was 11th in training, 1.33 seconds off the pace.
“I was a little conservative, taking a little bit of wider line than I should have to get back in the feeling of downhill. I haven’t skied downhill since Lake Louise, so it’s been a while,” said Vonn, who came to Bad Kleinkirchheim immediately after her ninth-place slalom finish in Zagreb but isn’t feeling at her optimum due to a stomach virus. “All in all, it was a good run.”
Vonn is one of the few racing this weekend who competed here in 2006, when her best result was a ninth place in the downhill won by Anja Paerson.
Paerson, who is only competing in speed events this season save a handful of giant slalom events, has not raced since last month in Beaver Creek. She was 25th in training on Thursday.
“It was a bit smoother last time we were here, it might have been a little slower, too, but I don’t remember that much,” Paerson said. “Aside from that, it’s difficult in the bottom as always. The first and second gates are impossible at the top. You have to have a really good physical form at the bottom. It’s pretty tough on the legs here.”
Another training run is scheduled for Friday and racing kicks off Saturday with downhill at 11:45 local time and the super G is scheduled for Sunday at the same time. The downhill course at Bad Kleinkirchheim starts at an elevation (at a point called “Klammerstich” after local hero Franz Klammer) of 1840 meters and finishes at 1062 with a vertical drop of 778 meters while the super G begins at 1519 with a 457-meter drop.
Go here for full results of Thursday’s training run.
Go here for a video of Fenninger and Vonn describing the Bad Kleinkirchheim course.
By Shauna Farnell/farnell@fisski.com
