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[News]2006-07 News, Alpine Skiing
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Check out the season's news right here. National Squads 2006-07Calendar 2006-07RetirementsKristina Koznick, USA Sitting out 2006-07Sarah Schleper, USA Janica Kostelic, Croatia Maria Jose Rienda Contreras, Spain Other News from the offseasonCorinne Rey-Bellet, Swiss Alpine star during the 90s, was shot dead last April at her home by an unknown gunman: | QUOTE | Former Swiss World Cup skier Corinne Rey-Bellet has been shot dead at her home by an unknown gunman, police said on Monday.
Police in the Swiss canton of Valais said Rey-Bellet and her brother, Alain, were both killed in the attack in the village of Les Crosets on Sunday night. Rey-Bellet's mother was injured.
Jean-Marie Bornet, a spokesman for canton Valais police, told Swiss state radio that a possible domestic crime "could not be excluded".
Her mother was taken to hospital in a serious condition after being injured in the attack. Bornet said that Rey-Bellet's father and her two-year-old son had been taken into safe keeping.
He added that the police were keen to talk to her husband Gerold Stadler.
"We hope to make contact as quickly as possible," Bornet said. "We are looking to contact him to advance the investigation."
Bornet said the police had "precise indications" as to the identity of the perpetrator but declined to elaborate "in the interests of the investigation."
Her brother Alain worked at the Caveau Corinne Rey-Bellet that rents out apartments and chalets in the Swiss Alps.
"We just heard the news this morning and we were all so shocked," said Swiss Ski director Hansruedi Laich. "To lose such a great skier in this way is tragic."
"It's just horrific," agreed Rey-Bellet's former team colleague Sylviane Berthod. "At first I couldn't believe it. I just cannot imagine what could have happened."
The 33-year-old speed specialist, who retired in 2003, won five World Cup races including a rare feat of two wins on the same day in January 1999.
She also won a silver medal in downhill at the 2003 world championships in St Moritz.
Rey-Bellet came close to Olympic glory with a fifth place finish in the 2001 Salt Lake City Winter Games.
Throughout her career, Rey-Bellet combined a total of 15 World Cup podiums and 65 World Cup top tens. Her best overall finish was in 2002 at 7th place. |
You can find out more about Corinne's career on the FIS site: Biography |
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| Andrew |
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Janica Kostelic to sit out season | QUOTE | ZAGREB, Croatia — Janica Kostelic, one of the most successful women in the history of modern alpine skiing, said on Friday she would miss the 2006-07 World Cup season because of persistent pains and injuries.
Kostelic is the defending women's World Cup overall champion. "My decision is to miss this season, primarily because I have problems with my knees and backache. We shall see what happens later," the Croatian said in a packed press conference, which was broadcast live by state television HRTV.
"I am not a machine and could not put up with suffering pain all the time," the 24-year-old quadruple Olympic champion also said. "I did try to train once in a while but it was not possible because of the pain. In this condition, it's not fun and I can't race without enjoying it deeply. The last two years have been excellent for the results but tough for my health. My body needs a break."
Kostelic has won nine gold medals from World Championships and Olympic Games competition since 2002, despite undergoing knee surgery 10 times. A disfunctional thyroid forced her to take a six-month break three years ago.
She also has collected three overall World Cup titles, including last season's, when she won nine World Cup events across all five disciplines and amassed a record points total.
"Never say never, but it's 99 percent sure I won't be skiing this season. I really need a break and want to devote it to normal life," Kostelic said. "But I am sure the season will be interesting, even without me, new skiers are coming."
Kostelic said she would miss the atmosphere at races and would ski as a forerunner at a World Cup slalom on Jan. 4, the day before her 25th birthday.
Kostelic's health problems were evident at the Torino Winter Olympics in February. Though she successfully defended her combined title and won a silver medal in the super G, she decided against racing the downhill and giant slalom and failed to get on the podium in the slalom.
She trained only sporadically during the off-season and focused more on her budding romance with her boyfriend, Boris, who lives in Rijeka. She lived mostly there after buying an apartment. She also plans to open a beauty parlour there.
The World Cup begins on Oct. 28 in Sölden, Austria.
This is the first season since 1999 in which Kostelic will not compete for medals at the World Championships. The 2007 championships are being staged in Are, Sweden, in February.
Kostelic added that she had kept in touch with fellow competitor and Olympic slalom champion Anja Paerson but was resisting urges from the Swede to make a comeback for the World Championships. "It will be nice to relax a little," she said. "I'll surely miss the entire racing atmosphere, which is quite exciting, but certainly not the strong pains. I plan to keep skiing for fun and be with my teammates or my brother at some occasions."
Kostelic already missed the 2004 season due to her health problem but she came back in 2005, clinching three gold medals at the Bormio FIS worlds. Last winter, she achieved her great dream to win races in all five disciplines during the same winter. She set a record for women when she captured her third overall title with 1,970 points.
Her father, Ante, who used to train her since the mid 1990s, now coaches older brother Ivica, the slalom world champion in 2003 and the 2002 slalom World Cup winner. |
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| Andrew |
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Panorama and Whistler to host World Cup in 2007-08 | QUOTE | BRITISH COLUMBIA SKI RESORTS Panorama Mountain Village and Whistler are likely to join Lake Louise in Alberta next season as hosts for World Cup races as the International Ski Federation triples the number of alpine race sites in Canada heading into the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Alpine Canada Alpin, the governing body for ski racing in Canada, said the final decision to add World Cup races at the two British Columbia ski resorts will be taken by the FIS Council Nov. 17 but the events have already been listed on the proposed race calendar for the 2007/2008 season. With races at three sites, Canada would match Austria as the world leader in hosting races.
The technical events at Panorama will permit Canada’s women’s slalom team to race a World Cup in their home country for the first time in almost 15 years. Proposed are women’s giant slalom and slalom races in Panorama from Nov. 17-18, 2007, and men’s super G and giant slalom and women’s downhill and super combined in Whistler from Feb. 21-24, 2008.
The resorts would join Lake Louise, which during the last weekend of November and the first weekend of December already hosts the opening World Cup speed events — including downhills — of the racing season. Lake Louise has hosted races for 26 years.
“These proposed new races in Canada as we prepare for the 2010 Olympics are tremendous for ski racing and our athletes,” said Ken Read, president of Alpine Canada Alpin. “More of our athletes will be able to compete in their home country and these new races truly complement the Bombardier Lake Louise Winterstart, Canada’s only World Cup venue since 1998. This will also give our officials and volunteers the kind of world-class training needed to prepare for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, which is really only three seasons away.”
With the potential for three stops on the Women’s FIS World Cup calendar, Canada would equal Austria with the most World Cup stops in the world. Italy, Germany and Switzerland each have two events on the women’s race calendar.
As for the men’s calendar, Canada would tie with Switzerland by staging two World Cup events, second only to Austria.
Under the proposed calendar, Canada would play host to three of the four women’s World Cup alpine ski events in North America and two of the three men’s World Cup race events in the 2007-08 season. |
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| Andrew |
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Spanish Gold Medallist Fernandez Ochoa dies at 56 | QUOTE | FRANCISCO FERNANDEZ OCHOA, the first Spaniard to win a gold medal at the Olympic Winter Games, died Monday after a long battle with cancer. He was 56.
Born on Feb. 25, 1950, Fernandez Ochoa was nicknamed “Paquito” by his friends. He passed away at his home Monday morning, the Spanish Olympic Committee said.
The Spanish skier won an unexpected gold medal in the men’s slalom at the 1972 Sapporo Games. His sister Blanca is Spain’s only other Winter Olympic medalist. She won bronze in the slalom at the 1992 Albertville Games as well as four World Cup races.
In 1974, Fernandez Ochoa won bronze in slalom at the St. Moritz FIS World Championships and a World Cup race at Zakopane, Poland, in the first and only World Cup stop done in that country.
He also reached two other World Cup podiums in slalom and in combined and recorded 10 top-10 finishes from 1968 to 1980. His best placement on the World Cup tour was his ninth place in 1975.
“He was out on his own and a born competitor,” Spanish Olympic Committee President Alejandro Blanco said. “He was before his time in that he won a medal at a time when it was unthinkable for Spain.”
In his last public appearance a week ago, Spanish princesses Cristina and Elena unveiled a statue of the skier in his hometown of Cercedilla, near Madrid.
A former member of the FIS Council, Fernandez Ochoa was also known for having been the coach of King Juan Carlos, who is an avid sportsman. He is survived by his wife, Maria Jesus Vargas, and two daughters, Barbara and Paula. |
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| Andrew |
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Fredrik Nyberg injury could be career threatening | QUOTE | SWEDISH VETERAN Fredrik Nyberg crashed while training super G on the Reiter Alm near Liezen, Austria, on Friday. Nyberg reportedly got entangled in a gate at high speed. He was airlifted to a Salzberg clinic after tearing the ACL and MCL ligaments in his knee and sustaining a concussion.
Swedish team coach Mathias Eriksson told Swedish news agency TT, "He is done now. He has said the World Championships in Are [scheduled to begin Feb. 3] was going to be his last competition." He is 37.
A season ago, Nyberg became the oldest man to earn a World Cup podium placing. He was six days shy of his 37th birthday when he placed third in the World Cup GS at Are in March.
A five-time Olympian, Nyberg came close to medals at Sestriere in February, finishing fifth in GS, and was fourth in the 1999 World Championship GS at Vail.
He had been eyeing the title meet in his home country as a suitable swan-song event. He accumulated seven World Cup victories, all in GS, the first in 1990 and the last in 2001 at Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. He registered three podium placings last season: second at Adelboden Jan. 7, second at Yongpyong March 5 and at Are March 17. |
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| Andrew |
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A look at the 2006-07 season calendar | QUOTE | By Nathaniel Vinton
Monday, 13 November 2006
THE 2006-07 ALPINE World Cup consists of 38 men’s races, 37 for women, and a few variations on the standard calendar that has evolved in the 40 years since the circuit was founded.
This weekend’s coed slalom at Levi, Finland, turned out to be the season openers after the Sölden, Austria, openers (Oct. 28-29) were scrapped. Some aberrations from the norm include men’s slaloms at Alta Badia, Italy, and Garmisch, Germany, and a stand-alone women’s slalom at Megève, France, just before Christmas.
The men’s schedule has grueling travel for any all-around athlete who might be gunning for a title at season’s end. Multi-event racers will fly from World Championships in Are, Sweden, (Feb. 3-18) down to Garmisch (Feb. 24-25), drive to Kranjska Gora, Slovenia (March 3-4), fly up to Norway for speed events at Kvitfjell (March 9-11), followed by yet another flight down to Switzerland, for the World Cup Finals in Lenzerheide (March 14-18).
Notable on the women’s side, meanwhile, is a quirk of scheduling that has no downhills or super G races taking place between Val d’Isere, France (Dec. 16-17), and Altenmarkt, Switzerland (Jan 12-14), giving speed specialists a nice long break. A highlight for them will be returning to the Olympic course at San Sicario, Italy, Jan. 27-28 (vengeance for Lindsey Kildow?).
Three weeks later, after Are, the women have tech events in Sierra Nevada, Spain — where they haven’t raced since 1999.
“The challenge will always be if we have snow where we are going,” said Atle Skaardal, director of the women’s tour, naming Aspen, Levi and Semmering as the sites most susceptible to early season snow shortages.
Both schedules reflect the trend toward combined racing — the women have three super combis (St. Moritz, Switzerland; Altenmarkt; and Tarvisio, Italy) and the men have four (Beaver Creek, Colorado; Val d’Isere; Chamonix, France; and Wengen, Switzerland) plus the perennial “paper combined” at Kitzbühel.
The newfangled nations team event — coed, cross-discipline and possibly destined for the Olympic program — will not appear in the World Cup midseason, but there will be one at World Championships and another at Finals. |
SkiRacing.com2011 World ChampionshipsGarmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, was chosen as the host venue for the 2011 World Championships at the 45th FIS Congress in Vilamoura, Portugal, last May.
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| Andrew |
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World Champion
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Rienda Contreras out for the season | QUOTE | pain's Maria Jose Rienda will miss the rest of the season after tearing her knee ligaments in a fall in training.
She is reported to have torn all three sets of ligaments - anterior cruciate, lateral internal and meniscus - while on the slopes of Loveland, Colorado, preparing for the season.
"At first I was devastated, but now I have got over it and my objective is to recover as soon as possible," she commented.
"Sport is like that."
The 31-year-old was one of the hot favourites for victory in the giant slalom in the World Cup after finishing second to Anja Paerson in the final standings in the event last year.
Spanish media reports suggest she will be treated by specialists in Vail. |
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| Andrew |
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World Champion
Group: Secretary General
Posts: 6,091
Member No.: 1
Joined: 27-November 04
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Norwegians Aamodt and Solbakken with injury problems
Kjetil Andre Aamodt will be out til January, while Bjarne Solbakken will, most likely, miss the whole season.
Aamodt: | QUOTE | Versatile Norwegian Kjetil-Andre Aamodt's return from injury has been pushed back to the New Year. The 35-year-old will not take to the slopes in competition until the Wengen meeting which runs from 12-14 January.
Aamodt suffered a knee injury during the Turin Olympics last winter and underwent an operation at the end of the season.
His convalescence has taken longer than expected, and he has managed to get just three days of skiing under his belt.
Following a training trip to Canada with the rest of the Norwegian team, he has returned to Norway with his family. |
Solbakken:
| QUOTE | Bjarne Solbakken will not race this season following a heavy crash in training on Tuesday. The Norwegian ruptured his cruciate knee ligament while he was preparing for the first transatlantic round of the World Cup season in Lake Louise.
He was taken to Calgary, where he underwent surgery on the injury, which normally takes between six months and a year to come back from.
The 29-year-old has a solitary World Cup victory to his name, having scooped the 2003 Super-G in Beaver Creek. |
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| Andrew |
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World Champion
Group: Secretary General
Posts: 6,091
Member No.: 1
Joined: 27-November 04
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St. Moritz events in December cancelled
The women's event in St. Moritz, scheduled for December 9 and 10, was cancelled due to lack of snow.
| QUOTE | "It snowed a little in the middle of the week but the warm weather prevented the making of snow to make it safe in the finish area," St Moritz race director Martin Berthod told reporters.
The International Ski Federation (FIS) did not say immediately whether the Swiss races, which were set for Dec. 9 and 10, would be rescheduled.
However, World Cup women's race director Atle Skardaal told coaches in Aspen, Colorado, that the FIS was investigating the possibility of staging the events in North America where there is plenty of early-season snow.
Warm temperatures and a lack of snow across the European resorts have put several World Cup events under threat, including Val d'Isere in France which is due to stage men's races on Dec. 9 and 10 and women's events a week later.
The traditional season-opening giant slaloms for men and women in Soelden, Austria, were cancelled due to a lack of snow last month and will not be rescheduled. |
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| Andrew |
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World Champion
Group: Secretary General
Posts: 6,091
Member No.: 1
Joined: 27-November 04
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Canadian skiing commentary
Crazy plan paying off
Canuck ski team flourishing
By STEVE SIMMONS -- Toronto Sun
Canada's Michael Janyk celebrates in the finish area after taking second place in the Men's World Cup Slalom at Beaver Creek, Colo., on Sunday. (AP Photo/Ed Andrieski)
Ken Read, the famous one, and Max Gartner, the coach with the famous wife, used to spend a lot of time talking about what was wrong with Canadian skiing.
They would do what we all do: Hang around and try to solve the problems of their world.
What would you do if you were in charge? Whom would you hire? How would you change things?
Read knew one thing: If he ever ended up in charge, he wanted Kerrin-Lee Gartner's husband working alongside him.
"I had to convince him to come in," Read said yesterday, speaking from a cell phone on a chairlift at Lake Louise. "When I was (broadcasting skiing) it was heart-breaking to watch the Canadians. There wasn't much good to say. When you see a program that's sputtering and you think it may not be the athletes, it's frustrating and disappointing.
"I knew the potential was there for Canadian skiing, and so did Max. He was familiar with all of it. He didn't like the wavering leadership. He didn't like where the priorities were (at Alpine Canada). Max is a coach and he's there for the athletes. He didn't think anybody in Canadian skiing wanted to listen. So he didn't want to get involved."
Read is telling this story to avoid talking about himself, which is something he is rather adept at. Less than five years ago, with an invisible program and barely a name to be found anywhere, he took over the Canadian Alpine Ski program.
During those few years, Read has proved to be every bit the kind of meticulous competitor he was as a champion skier in bringing a once-proud program back from near life-support.
These past two World Cup weekends once would be the stuff of Page 1 stories. Four races, four different disciplines, both sexes, four different medal winners.
Just not so much anymore.
You may not know the skiers' names because the Reads and the Podborskis and the Irwins come around only once in a lifetime. There will never be a time like that again, never be a story like the Crazy Canucks.
But the past two weekends, John Kucera and Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Michael Janyk and Kelly Vanderbeek all accomplished what they had never done before: One gold medal, two silver medals, one bronze. Their ages: 22, 22, 25, 23.
When asked how this had happened, how this not-so-Crazy Canuck had inherited a program in disarray and turned it back into a national treasure, Read was most diplomatic.
"I was smart enough to hire Max and listen to him. I think you have to give credit where it's due. Max and Dusan Grasic (director of athletics) have put together a very good staff ... This is a culmination of a lot of years of hard work.
"It really goes back to a couple of key principles. We needed a clear focus for skiing. We needed to establish that we're in this business to win. We had to be clear about that, It's easy in a country like ours to get distracted, worry about funding, get caught up in the other things.
"We needed to develop athletes with a long-term view, manage them very carefully and give them time and experience. During the '90s, if someone came out and didn't deliver, we chopped his head off and went on the next talent. We didn't build anything. We didn't develop anything."
Now the program is building, for today, for tomorrow, for beyond the Olympic Games of 2010, where they expect to win four medals in skiing, which if reached would represent the remarkable.
"A lot of this sounds cliche, but the devil is in the details," said Read, who is establishing the model for which all Canadian sports should follow. "If you're sloppy in the details, you can be sloppy in your results. You have to instil an ethic of working, an ethic of being relentless, you have to find the right coaches, smooth the way for the athletes.
"On the start list at each World Cup race, they list the athlete's name and their year of birth. The past couple of years we've had the youngest guys and I think we're now starting to see the results of that."
Like a proud poppa, these are the kids of Ken Read -- no longer Crazy, just Canucks.
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