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For those of us eager for the Winter Olympic Games to get here, there was a teaser this weekend as the season began for world cup skiing at the FIS Audi Alpine World Cup event in Solden Austria. Results included:
Men’s Giant Slalom: Daniel Albrecht (Switzerland), Didier Cuche (Switzerland), Ted Ligety (USA)
Women’s Giant Slalom: Kathrin Zettel (Austria), Tanja Poutiainen (Finland), Andrea Fischbacher (Austria)
The next event will be November 15 and 16 in Levi, Finland.

Park City, UT – It was a match made on the U.S. Ski Team. Two-time Olympian Lindsey Kildow (Vail, CO) and Team alum Thomas Vonn married Sept. 29 at Deer Valley Resort’s Silver Lake Lodge. A fresh dusting of early season snow on the mountains provided the perfect backdrop for the skiers’ nuptials.
(Source)
Skiers tie the knot on “a fresh dusting of early season snow on the mountains” as backdrop. They called it perfect. It made me nauseous. Heh. Er, didn’t you find it a tad bit overkill? Fine, fine. It’s appropriate and downright typical for skiers to wind up getting …read more

It’s not a common practice here in Light the Torch but I thought I’d share some of the things — from rowing to sailing, triathlon to skiing —that’s online right now.
A SINGLE-MINDED PURSUIT OF GLORY
Irish Rowing team to compete in opening World Cup regatta
ISAF World Sailing Rankings
FIS releases 2007-08 sport calendars
Triathlete Robertson to return in Madrid
It’s all about the athletes and the sports in World Cups, World Championships and, of course, the Olympic Games.

Hmmm. Bode Miller decides to go off at this whole ski thingie on his own, eh? Brilliant.
(Tell me — is he competing in Vancouver 2010 again? :mrgreen: )
I reckon the mere fact that it’s on the news, it means it’s a big deal. Oh sure, it means he’s free of the *club* rules set by the US Ski Association. He practically has complete control over where his career should play out and how. But it also means his sole shouldering of training and racing costs. Real bummer.

Three-time Olympian Kirsten Clark, the only skier to win four consecutive U.S. downhill titles, will retire after this month’s Alpine championships.
(Forbes)
She’s been in the competitive skiing circuit for the last thirteen years.
The Olympic Games she participated in are the following:
Nagano 1998
Salt Lake City 2002
Torino 2006
Clark won the silver medal in the super-G during the 2003 world championships.
Source: Forbes

The super-G could be eliminated as an Alpine discipline to shorten the number of races on the World Cup calendar.
[washingtonpost.com]
According to the article, the reason behind the “contemplation” is because the skiers complain about having to race too many and they’d end up tired and yea, I guess, the risk for injury is higher. Ultimately, it’s for the FIS to end up with a clearer racing calendar.
This would mean if truly dropped from the World Cup circuit, the Super G will no longer be raced in the Olympics, too. Hmmm.
I reckon there’s a way to go about this dilemma. …read more

2005 FIS World Champion Nina Li successfully defended her title Saturday at the 2007 FIS Freestyle World Ski Championships at Madonna di Campiglio. Ranked 4th after the first jump, she reclaimed the gold with a solid second jump as leading athletes made mistakes.
[First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine]
Kudos to China for bagging the gold. It’s a strong indication of what the rest of the world can expect from them in Vancouver 2010 for the Winter Olympics.
Assoli ‘Oly’ Slivets of Belarus won the silver and Jacqui Cooper of Australia, World Cup ski season’s star, was left with bronze.
Hmmm. I’ve never seen snow. …read more

TARVISIO, Italy (AP) — Julia Mancuso won a World Cup downhill Saturday and Renate Goetschl finished second to take the season’s discipline title.
(Read the article)
Winner
Julia Mancuso (1 minute, 52.67 seconds)
1st Runner Up
Renate Goetschl (1 minute, 52.84 seconds)
2nd Runner Up
Emily Brydon (1 minute, 52.88 seconds)
Current World Cup Standings
Marlies Schild (1,148 points)
Julia Mancuso (1,139 points)
Nicole Hosp (1,103 points)
Renate Goetschl (1,099 points)
I just thought you guys would like to know. :lol:
Source: USA Today

Austrian skier Renate Goetschl did contemplate on retiring around this time a year ago but look at her now — she will be competing as the favourite in the super-G event at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Are, Sweden this Sunday.
Goetschl has won six races this season and vaulted atop the overall World Cup standings last weekend with two victories and one runner-up finish in San Sicario, Italy.
[Summit Daily]
It was just a decision to compete for one more season after she had her knee fixed. She’ll be competing against Americans Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Kildow.
Goetschl is part of the …read more

Bode Miller will defend his downhill title at the World Championships that will be held in Sweden. Miller is also defending his super-G title. Both titles were won at the 2005 worlds in Bormio, Italy.
The American skier had considered skipping the downhill on the Olympia course, which is notorious for its big jumps. It was the same course used at last year’s World Cup finals, where Miller hurt his knee.
[International Herald Tribune]
If you’re interested with what the article had stated on what Miller’s side had to say about the matter, I recommend a looksie. Hehe.
Quick trackback on LTT’s coverage on …read more