Even though his official position is the one of FIS Continental Cup Coordinator, Markus Waldner's is the main responsibility is the men's Europa Cup circuit. Together with the organizing committees he arranges the alpine races in Europe, while at the same time preparing them for a potential hosting of a World Cup Event in the future. Janez Flere does pretty much the same, but his focus is more on the ladies EC races. Combined, they have 26 seasons of experience under their belts, Waldner 16 and Flere 10. Instead of complaining about all the changes in the racing schedule they had to make due to the crazy weather this winter, both say they have experienced worse years and so far it’s all going (almost) according to plan.
“This year we were at least able to always find some solution for the cancelled races. I went back and looked at my archives, 1999 and 2007 were what I would call really difficult seasons,” Waldner said when we reached him in Santa Caterina. The Italian venue, originally not on the Europa Cup calendar, stepped in to organize two men’s Super G races- one cancelled in Zauchensee and the other from Reiteralm. Waldner had to move things around this season quite a bit.
Flere, who is currently in San Candido for two Slaloms, agrees with Waldner.
“We had it almost the same as the men’s at the beginning. It was either no snow or too much snow at once. It was really hard to plan on anything since weather was really unpredictable.”
World Cup races are the ones you read about in the news, but seasons with uncooperative weather have a big impact on all the segments of skiracing. Waldner and Flere looked back at the season and took us through the changes they had to make. Even though it was all but easy to organize everything so far, they both make it sound so.
“We were off to a rough start this year. Reiteralm is usually one of the places we could always count would have enough snow to kick off the season, but this year we had to cancel those races. I had to reschedule them three more times before we were able to make up that Downhill and Super G,” Waldner takes us back to November. “It was green almost all the way until Christmas there.”
“We were definitely off to a rough start,” Flere adds. “Now that I know I will probably be able to reschedule most of the cancelled races it all looks easier, but at the beginning it was really hard to have a clear idea of what this season was going to be like.”
After Reiteralm, the Europa Cup races usually move to Scandinavia but this year even the far North lacked the temperatures needed for the races. After the cancellation of the World Cup Slaloms in Levi, the EC circuit had to postpone their races as well.
Both the men’s and ladies’ races in Scandinavia were a no go this year. They tried to make the races in Are (SWE) happen twice before giving up and moving them elsewhere. Eventually they opened the season in Zinal for the ladies and Trysil for the men’s.
“Eventually we pulled off some high quality races in great conditions,” Waldner said.
From Scandinavia to Sudtirol it was a somewhat smooth transition. It might have been all green around the racing slopes, but Obereggen (held on a different, higher up, section of the slope), Pozza di Fassa and Madonna di Campiglio successfully organized 3 scheduled Slaloms. Madonna wasn’t able to pull off the planned Downhill, ant that remains the only race on the men’s side which probably won’t find a replacement venue before the end of the season.
“We were really lucky to get the support from various venues along the way. We moved the races to Zinal twice. Having them taking over two sets of events was really important for us. I have to thank the Swiss federation for all the support; they really helped make things happen when we needed it the most,” Flere said.
Waldner has seen and worked on more than his fair share of races, but the great organization of the Parallel Event in San Vigilio this past December came in as a breath of fresh air after months of hard work.
“The feedback I keep getting on that race is just amazing. Having an EC race shown on live TV, as if it was a World Cup event proves we are doing a great job and I believe that is a format we will try to have more often during the season. Next year I hope to add at least two or three to the calendar. Who knows maybe in the future it could become also an event with a final standing- we will see how it is going to develop.”
Flere is also proud of the fact that the two Slaloms in San Candido will be shown on TV. He has 11 of the top 30 World Cup Slalom girls on start in the next two days and believe that is a good thing for the EC circuit.
“We were able to find a good formula which protects those who race only EC, while at the same time we allow skiers from the World Cup to come and race with us. I think this is good for the young racers; it gives them the opportunity to measure themselves against the best in the world while still having a better starting position than they would have in the World Cup. I never make my calendar based on the World Cup one this results in a good combination of races with and without World Cup racers,” Flere said.
Waldner started year 2012 snowed-in in Val d’Isere. With three meters of fresh snow, he was almost certain he would have to cancel once again.
“We pushed really hard for those races, after being unable to host the World Cup races, Val d’Isere did everything they could to at least have the EC. After great efforts form all sides, we were able to do two shortened Downhills. Luckily Meribel was a different story and we had three perfect races- a Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom were as good as one could wish for,” he said about the French races.
Flere aso appreciates the World Cup venues which than host the EC races.
“We have a schedule where we “inherit” some of the slopes from the World Cup races, just days after they happen. This made for some really good days in Bad Kleinkirchheim and St. Moritz.”
Due to some technical issues and Welden’s commitment to the YOG in Innsbruck, the races in Lenzerheide were wrapped in their fair share of drama but eventually went on regularly.
Zell am See is one of the venues Waldner considers might have the greatest potential to make a transition form hosting EC to organizing a World Cup event.
“The weather was a big struggle, but the organizers were simply amazing in Zell am See. They made the impossible possible and we pulled off the GS and SL.”
When asked to sum up his season, Waldner takes a moment and smiles. For him, all of this seems to be just a regular part of the job.
“Zauchensee picked up the DH we cancelled in Reiteralm while Santa Caterina took over the two SG races we were missing. This means that after some major rescheduling and moving things around, I am proud to say that we are only missing one DH race, the one from Madonna. Everything else is as if we had perfect conditions all along. I have to thank everyone involved in the process, a lot of hard work from all sides involved was necessary so we could stay on track.”
“I agree,” Flere said. “Everyone is happy at the moment, we might not have done the races at the original venues, but we still did them. This sure requires an effort in first convincing a venue to take over the races, than in the organizational and logistical aspects of changing the program for everyone involved in the process. I am awaiting confirmation on a few more events, but I hope to be no more than three races behind by the end of the season.”
While the weather might have taken a lot of their time and focus, both Waldner and Flere kept an eye on the possible future stars.
“This year there might not have been a Star on the EC circuit, or at least no one as strong as Alexis Pinturault or Nolan Kasper last year. There have been different winners along the season but if I had to point someone out, I think Stefan Luitz, a German tech specialist; currently leading the Overall might make the transition to the World Cup pretty smoothly. On the speed side, Johannes Kroell won three DH races, with a bit more experience he might be ready o do big things in the future,” Weldner said about the men’s side.
Flere has a bit of a different experience, it’s known that ladies often make the EC- World Cup transition sooner than the men’s.
“It’s different with the ladies, they are good at a younger age and we have ’95 born skiers which are already making around 10 FIS points. The uncommon thing, same as on the men’s side, is that this year there isn’t anyone as dominant Jessica Depauli was last year for example. She won 7 SG races and was a class of her own through the season. This year apart from two victories from Veronika Zuzulova in SL and two from Ana Drev in GS, every race saw a different name on top. This is good for the future of the sport.”
Talking about the future, where does Weldner see “his boys” at the Olympics in Sochi?
“Sergei Maytakov is currently third in the Overall. His main focus is SL, but can do good things in GS as well. I think the Russians have a good group preparing for Sochi, over the past couple of years I could see how they have grown as a team and how some of these guys might really be the ones to watch in 2014.”
by Ana Jelusic
