FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Bormio

The World Cup restarts from where it ended in 2015. It’ll be in Santa Caterina Valfurva (Sondrio) tomorrow and Wednesday with the slaloms originally scheduled in Zagreb and cancelled for lack of snow. The race is going to take place in the final part of the track of a Deborah Compagnoni slope that had already been perfectly prepared for the men’s downhill race on December 29.

The snowfalls of the last few hours haven’t compromised the quality of the track that has been blocked in order to ensure 100% regularity during the two days of races. The women’s teams will arrive today in Santa Caterina and some of them, such as the Canada team, were already here to train.

Tomorrow it’ll be women’s slalom time, the fifth of the season, with races at 10am and 1pm. Infront, which produces TV images, positioned 15 cameras  on the track, while the sixteenth will be used for the slow motion. The track is 750 meters long and with a vertical drop of 200 metres. The training zone is in the upper part of the track.

Tomorrows’ favourite is the Swedish Frida Hansdotter, the leader of the ranking with 320 points, and the winner in Lienz. She is 100 point ahead the Slovak Petra Vhlova, but it will not be easy for her on a track with at least five changes of pace.

Italy will compete with six athletes: Chiara Costazza, Irene Curtoni, Manuela Moelgg, Federica Brignone, Roberta Vidali and Federica Sosio. Both races will be broadcast live on RaiSport 1 and Eurosport.

Santa Caterina (So) is ready to host the two World Cup slalom races originally scheduled in Zagreb (Cro) and cancelled by FIS because of lack of snow. Tuesday, January 5 will be the Ladies’ turn with two manches set at 10am and 1pm while Wednesday, January 6 will be Men’s time – at the same hours.

The theatre of the challenges will be the final part of the Deborah Compagnoni slope, the stage of one of the most beautiful and exciting DH races of the last seasons Cup – on December, 29.

The theatre of the race will be the final part, the one looking up to the mountain, from the right side upstream the Fank area until the finish line, in order to have the best possible conditions in both races.

The track had already been perfectly set for the DH race, it was only a matter of making harder snow. The start is at 1930 m. asl and the finish line will be at 1730 m. asl. 200 m. in altitude on a 750 m. track with at least 5 changes of pace.

The Ladies’ slalom won’t feature Michaela Schiffrin who’s recovering from the knee injury of early December during the giant slalom training in Are. This is a possibility for the Swedish Frida Handotter to go further, but it won’t be easy against the emerging lady Petra Vlhova from Slovakia. Italy’s hopes are for Irene Curtoni and Manuela Moelgg in particular.

On January 6 the fight will be hard for the men. The previous two world cup races of this season (in Val d’sere and Madonna di Campiglio) were dominated by Norway racer Henrik Kristoffersen. Marcel Hirscher follow him, but the Austrian has a chance to go on top of the overall standing because after the DH race of December 29, only 15 points separate him from Aksel Svindal. Both races will be broadcast live on Raisport 1 and Eurosport.

From December 31, 2015 to January 3, 2016 accreditation for the women and men slalom events taking place in Santa Caterina will be possible.

Credits: Marco Andreola

1 winner: Frenchman Adrien Theaux
2 the days of the official trainings
3 Christof Innerhofer’s bib number
4 the result of SuperInner, a superman performance on the Deborah Compagnoni
975 the followers on Twitter
1010 the followers on Instagram
4657 ther fans of the Facebook page
6 months of work
80,000 cubic meters of snow produced
1005 meters of vertical drop
3100 meters the length of the Deborah Compagnoni course
0,50 meters the thickness of snow
14 kilometers of B nets
2 km of the A nets
40 km of video and audio cables for the TV broadcast
22 cameras (21 + 1 for the slow motion)
80 people involved in television production
men working on the track

Official timetable for the men’s and women’s slaloms in Santa Caterina Valfurva, previously scheduled in Zaghreb and cancelled because of lack of skow. Here is the programme:

Tuesday January 5, 2016

Women’s slalom

First manche at 10am, second manche at 1pm

Wednesday, January 6, 2016

Men’s slalom

First manche at 10am, second manche at 1pm

A year ago someone called the Deborah Compagnoni slope a course for women. Maybe it was, but the latest changes, and also the work of the former Austrian champion Hannes Trinkl have made it difficult, dramatic and charming. It’s a very hard track, full of difficulties of technique sorts. Only an athlete with a technical complete background could emerge.

The Frenchman Adrien Theaux, 31 years old, won in 1’47″29, the Austrian Hannes Reichelt follow him with + 1″04 and teammate David Poisson is third with +1″15. The dominator up to this moment of the DH season, the Norwegian Aksel Svindal didn’t feel like taking all the risks and is seventh (+1″61 behind the winner). His teammate Kjetil Jansrud is 21th (+2″87) and unable to dominate the humps of the Compagnoni slope.

But the real hero of the day is the Azzurro Christof Innerhofer, 4th +1″22 from Theaux and only 7/100 of a second off the podium. He could win, he was attacking so hard, he was in advantage, but shortly before the jump his head was in a door. The impact ripped the door, the orange flag got stuck in the hook of his glasses dragging a pole with him. The Azzurro dragged that pole for about twenty seconds, until Gimondi bend in the wood, but he could get rid of the flag only at the finish area. It was a huge air brake, but – above all – it was an impact that moved the glasses. Icy air in the eyes at more than 100 km/h is terrible. Inner rearranged the lenses as he could. He was great, also because despite the inconvenience, he never stopped attacking prooving that he believed in the victory. Bad luck, but now he also knows that he’s back on technical courses.

The Azzurri in general were unlucky. Peter Fill too was skiing great, he had good lap times, but in the upper part he lost a ski and found himself on the ground. Dominik Paris too could aspire to the podium, but in the final part at Gimondi bend he almost crashed and risked to compromise his performance. Werner Heel is 12th (+ 1″91) and Mattia Casse is 21st.

Credits: Ivan Carabini

A lot of people, smiles and excitement filled the square in Santa Caterina Valfurva on the occasion of the bib’s draw the day before the race.

We’ll be waiting for you all at 11.45am with the fourth Men’s DH of this season. Live on Rai Sport 1 and Eurosport.

[Show as slideshow]

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The 4th downhill race is going to start at 11.45.

Vedi la start list

Credits img: Marco Trovati – Pentaphoto

The slaloms scheduled in Zaghreb will be hosted on January 5 and 6 in Santa Caterina Valfurva (Sondrio) on the final part of the Deborah Compagnoni.

This is the programme:

January 5: women’s slalom

January 6: men’s slalom

The timetable will be communicated soon.

It was a trial of strength for Christof Innerhofer in the second and last official training of the Santa Caterina DH, which is going to take place tomorrow at 11.45am. The customs officier from South Tyrol is today’s fastest with 1’47″41 – 24/100 ahead of the second, the Austrian Hannes Reichelt (the fastest of the first official training) and 50/100 of Frenchman Adrien Theaux. Innerhofer created his advantage on the top part of the track, the most technical one, where the sequence of bends boosted his accuracy and the innate ability to make the most of the elastic response of the skis. This is a perfect result to be confident about the race, which, hopefully, should represent an awakening for him and for the whole Italian team.
“It’s a difficult course and that’s why I like it. There are a few passages that can make the difference. I like it more than Stelvio slope in Bormio”.

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