THE NIGHT RACE COMETH!

SCHLADMING TOMORROW NIGHT!

The boys rolled out of Kitzbuehel last night after their slalom on the Ganslern slope. Then they drove a couple hours east to Schladming, from “The Race” to “The Night Race.” We once had dinner with Night Race Director, Hans Grogl and his family in Schladming in Charly Kahr’s restaurant, directly across from the Planai finish area. Charly was a legendary Austrian National Team coach and Hans and Charly invited us to eat with them one evening when we were in Schladming training. Anyway, Hans and Charly told us of the battle with the OESV and other entities to try to get the Night Race in Schladming. They were convinced they could sell it and it would be a success. Now it draws over 50,000 people inside the venue and one of the largest TV audiences in ski sport. One thing that is rarely mentioned about these live numbers is that there are usually another 20,000 revelers in the town square watching on TV. AND, the ticket sales numbers do not count the people who skied in from above to line the upper part of the course. Some people quietly mention that there might be 70,000 people on the hill for the second run. This, of course, is outside of the permitted amount so no one ever brings it up. Another number that is often not mentioned is that the town of Schladming nets approximately $10M EURO in one Tuesday night. I do not know what the real numbers are but it is not surprising if these numbers are true. Sarah Schleper once fore-ran the race there and said as she skied the top 1/3 of the course, out of the view of the public, she was calm and there was little noise. And when she turned the corner at the top of the very long and steep pitch that heads to the finish, the roar of the crowd was deafening. “It scared the s**t out of me!” she told me later between runs. Regardless, it is a huge event and a lot of fun to be a part of.

The weather looks pretty questionable for tomorrow night. Some rain during the day then possibly having a bit of a temperature drop and the precipitation will change to light snow. The temperatures look to be hovering just above 0 degrees and then dropping below and getting considerably colder as the evening moves along. I do not remember which season we had that happen but it did. The first run was a battle; the hill broke up in places and was very rugged at the bottom. And then, as the night wore on, the hill froze. It literally froze solid between runs. And as the boys inspected the second run, the water in the snow was smoothed out and it froze in the cold, night air. It could happen again, causing equipment and edge adjustments between runs.

The draw has been done and Hirscher (Mr. Straddle) goes first. I am just joking, Austria, don’t go crazy on me. It is tough on him because who knows what he felt or what he knows? It is not ONLY his responsibility to pull-out when he knowingly straddles. There is a TV monitor right next to Hujara on the hill. The boys are watching in the start area or in a restaurant nearby. There are coaches all over the hill who are supposed to be watching and calling it in if they see something and there are numerous television crews with expert analysis personalities in the booth who could call attention to it. But, the rule does state that the athlete who knowingly straddles he is to ski out or be fined 999 CHF. But as I said yesterday, if he did ski out on the second run, we would have been deprived of seeing one of the most entertaining slalom runs of the year. Anyway, he has a great number, especially if that forecast holds. Then come Andre Myhrer, Matt, Neureuther, DeVille, Grange and Kostelic. There is little doubt the winner will come from this group. And to the Ivica’s detriment, he got the worst possible draw if the weather goes as forecasted. Hirscher obviously can win the event, but his best here is 11^th. Grange won last year and he certainly has the speed and skill, but he is going through a rough patch right now and nothing is tougher than getting a series of straddles out of your mind. Andre was second last year and has a history on this hill that is strong. His break out run on the world cup was a second run win a number of years back. Matt has a love/hate relationship with this hill. He has a ton of DNF and DSQ over the years but also 2 wins and a 3^rd place finish. Neureuther can do well anywhere but he has only a 5^th place finish here to sow for his efforts. I think Ivica will be too far behind based on the weather but if it holds up he should compete. One of the things I find funny about Ivica on this hill is that his skill-set should match up well with is and he should have had much more success over the years. But he really has not done extremely well here. Of the guys in this race, the true kings of this hill over the years have been Herbst and Raich. But honestly I cannot endorse them for a win right now. Benni, as great a skier as he is, just has no punch to this skiing and his quickness is basically gone. And Herbst, well I don’t know what has happened to him. I have my theories but they are far too involved to get into here. But his career was made on one slalom ski, and now it has changed a bit and his old boots wore out and he is searching for material that works for him.

AMERICANS

So, we have Ted starting 17, Nolan 21, Brandenburg 32, Jimmy Cochran 33, Granstrom 34, Ankeny 52 and Seppi Stiegler 57. Yes, I said Seppi Stiegler, son of Pepi, sister of Resi. Ted has had a mixed bag of results t Schladming over the years. His best single run was lost to a straddle when he won the first run by almost a second. The highest and lowest moments of my career with the ski team within seconds of one another. I always stood up on the upper half and watched Ted rip by me after flailing on the first 3 or 4 gates. He went out of view toward the finish and I was thinking, “Wow, he just killed that!” I heard the roar of the crowd and heard our finish guy read me the time. He was wearing number 1, it was January 2006. Anyway, everyone kept coming at him and they can’t come close. Then my phone rings, it’s Phil McNichol, our Head Coach. He says, “Did Ted straddle up there?” I said, “No way, he looked clean.” As I hung up I turned around and Guenther Hujara was beckoning me to the TV monitor on the side of the hill. I walked up there and watched, it was clear, and my heart sank. I told the others on the radio that it was clear and I felt like that unlucky messenger that gets killed for delivering bad news. By then they posted it and put it on the Jumbo and everyone saw what I had already seen. Ted was out. Anyway, I digress. Nolan is back at it and skied very well in a tough Kitzbuehel and he was 13^th in Schladming last year, along with a football TD catch and spike it the finish area. Will Brandenburg goes 32 and Will really needs to put a quality run through the finish line at this point. Jimmy Cochran, coming off some points is 33 and Colby Granstrom is coming off his first-ever points to start 34, which is a pretty sweet spot from which to qualify again. Mike and Seppi are going to have to jam from the back and hope it holds up ok.

CANADIANS

I think Mike and Brad, starting in the 30 should be able to score. I think the best thing for them would be to hold their positions and get a good start number for run 2 so they can move up. Schladming has a history of pretty good reversal on run 2. Stutz at 39 can get in the second one but I have a feeling that might be the last of it for the whole field. I think anything over 40 as a start number will be very tough unless there is a lot of attrition early.

DARK HORSES

I think you have to watch out for Dopfer. At this point he is not really a dark horse or an unknown, but he could end up in the top 5. The Nordica set up seems to be working well, he skis with little risk and seems to have enough speed. Watch out for the top 5 for this guy in Schladming.

Patrick Thaler has been bringing it all year. He could crack the top 10

Naoki Yuasa (JPN) is the true dark horse at this venue. He was 10^th last year, 8^th the year before he was 14^th. He started 30, 39 and 42 respectively. This year he starts 27, he could be even better.

PODIUM: Kostelic, Matt and Myhrer with Dopfer and Grange lurking for the back end of the podium.

Comments

[Martin Bell]

I always thought the straddle rule was a strange one. How do you prove or disprove the "knowingly" part? Hook the guy up to a lie detector? Oops, shouldn't be giving Günther Hujara ideas :)

[Muck]

Yeah the whole straddling thing is kind of dumb. If someone straddles and gets away with it, did they REALLY gain anything by it? Maybe, but then again they could just as well have been slowed down by it.

Which brings up more questions about the direction ski racing is going. Bashing gates is fun if you're doing it, but then again can the average skier (or non-skier for that matter) who might see some slalom on tv relate to armor-plated skiers Muhammad Ali-ing their way down a ski hill? Probably not. So is it at least a spectacle worth watching week in and out? I seriously doubt that.

Somebody needs to get creative with ski racing formats and fast.