2010 Twenty Ten –

Live Blog - Alpine Skiing Live Blog

Mens Downhill - final result

16.02.10 / 10:07:07 AM

Gold: Didier Defago, SWI
Silver: Aksel Lund Svinsal, NOR
Bronze: Bode Miller, USA

Aussie's Craig Branch - 34th and Jono Brauer 39th. Excellent results for the embattled veterans with all the injuries they've been carrying.

For full results visit our results page

the final runners

16.02.10 / 07:17:52 AM

Marcus Lasson is on course now, a technical discipline skier by nature but a strong contender for the super combined so is using the downhill today as a tester for tomorrow's event.

The super combined is the hardest of the competitions, demanding alpine skiings fastest ski technically and alpine skiing's most technical turn on the speed - the one who can transition the best will be the victor.

But it looks like we have the results in this, the blue ribbon event of the Olympic Games. There's been a few upsets, favourite Didier Cuche just not on the top of his game this morning, a disappointment for the champion who despite a phenomenal career has only one Olympic medal to his name - a silver in super G in 1998. It might be noted though that the great man broke his thumb in a recent training accident. Not that skiers race with their thumbs but any small weakness in the body will disadvantage when you're travelling 130km per hour, at that speed even holding your poles at a slightly off angle - say because of a sore thumb - will cause drag.

Bode's medal haul is also low considering his career - two silvers in Salt Lake - will he be pleased with the Bronze? considering he is sitting at 12th in the world ranking list he can't be disappointed in unseeding so many of the top ranked racers.

And Svindal must be ecstatic. His results this season would suggest downhill is not his premier event, the more technical GS is where he's been doing his best work, but all of that is by the by now as he's sitting in the silver medal position with only 6 racers to go.

What a result

Jono!

16.02.10 / 07:09:14 AM

Jono next on course after the Chillian racer Maui Gayme, who is looking ok, but no threat to the top guys.

Jono Brauer is in the gate now, this is his Olympic moment!

he pushes out of the start confidently and is looking smooth thorugh the top of the course. a bit wide coming into coaches corner but is great coming out the other side.

He looks to be in the top 30 and is coming into the finish still standing! The replays show the obvious pain on his face as he battles the forces of skiing at 130km per hour. Well he can only be happy with finishing despite the trouble he has faced this season.

Buddos!

16.02.10 / 06:59:53 AM

Craig Branch is on course, number 39. He's hoping for a top 20 finish. His best Olympic downhill finish is a 32.

He was relaxed this morning according to friend Steve lee and is looking ok through the middle section but is being a little thrown.

he comes into the finish with a 33, perhaps a little disappointing but with a season plagued by injury but the biggest controversy is the course worker who was standing on the course as he came into the finish.

The runner behind him, Andrej Krizaj from Slovenia has actually been flagged off the course because of workers on the track. This is a pretty big faux pax for the Olympic organisers, it can't help a racer's performance to be pulled up half way through and asked to start again.

While we wait for things to get fixed up we're seeing a shot of a coach 100 feet up in a conifer, determined to get the best view of his racers coming through the course.

Krizaj has been snowmobiled to the top of the course to restart his run but we're not waiting for him and Ferran Terra from Spain has been sent out on to the course. He's looking for speed and comes through the time checks at about 112km per hour.

The fastest part of the course is around coaches corner, where the guys are getting up to about 130km per hour, though it's hard to know as the time checks, where speed is measured, are not in the fastest sections and the speeds are around the 110 - 115km per hour mark.

We're getting closer to Jono Brauer now, Jono has crashed in every Olympic race he's been in in his career, can he give the race of his life today?

His knee has been troubling him this season - an 11th knee reconstruction last year is taking its toll - but Jono is not one to let pain hold him back, he'll want to finish his racing career with a bang.

mens downhill - lower order

16.02.10 / 06:52:09 AM

The Slovenian Rok Perko is on course now and commentator Steve Lee is raving about the quality of this downhill course, which is one of the best of in the world.

As we get into the lower orders they are starting them closer together. We hope they show our Jono and Bud from the start.

No one is posing any serious threat to the top three at this point and as we get further into the bottom of the field it becomes less likely that there will be an upset.

These guys will have smaller aims, top 20, personal bests, they are racing for what so many of these Olympic athletes are - the satisfaction of knowing they have done the race of their career.

Steve Lee has put the question out there - can anyone upset? he doesn't think so, perhaps the top 10 will have some shakeups but we have probably seen the best this Olympic downhill has to offer.

technology

16.02.10 / 06:46:19 AM

With a break in the racers we get to watch the comparison footage, which is an excellent way to see how a better line equates to a better time.

Technology enables us to overlay two skiers on the screen in a replay to compare their performances. We see Defago and Svindal's runs, put like this it's easy to see how Defago's tighter line served him well - that's why he's in the lead.

The Canadian Jan Hudec is on course now with incredibly high speeds through the middle section he's only .84 outside, but he's slipped further from the pace. he comes through coaches corder with a good form and into a bullet tuck for the final section. he's racing for a home crowd but it's a 23rd place, over a second off the front.

Defago, Svindal and Miller are looking safe in the top spots at the moment, can one of the back runners surprise everyone and upset them?

working down the list

16.02.10 / 06:39:20 AM

We're getting out of the big names now, expectations were huge for the two Didiers, one has delivered, the other - with just a slightly off day - is heartbreakingly out of medal contention, showing there is nothing separating the field of top racers.

Johan Clarey from France is on course now. he is ranked 21 in the world, but anything can happen. coming round the carousel he is a little bit slippery and is not set up well for the weasel.

He's clean through coaches corner and gets into a solid tuck as he comes into the lower part of the course with a nice flight off the last jump to finish in 22nd place - a solid run but no threat to the top order.

With the favourites all gone, there is a good chance we're already looking at our medal standings.

The course is holding up very well as are the racers, with no major crashes in the first 29.

The Italian Patick Staudacher gives a solid run but finishes well outside the top and 3 seconds off the pace.

anything could happen

16.02.10 / 06:33:53 AM

Downhill is a slippery event, any one of a huge number of these racers could give the performance of their lives and steal the gold. Even Cuche, clearly dominating this year's World Cup, has no hold on olympic glory - as was seen by his lacklustre 6th place.

But the door is open for anyone, including this man - the USA's Marco Sullivan, who has been a WC fixture, he has won WC before, a poor line at the top has not disadvantaged and he is just in front at the first split. he's half a second off pace coming through the second though and it will be very hard to pull back.

the side hill seems to be where everyone is loosing time, and Sullivan is no exception.

He's off!

a bit of wind under the ski tips coming off the jump and he lands doing windmills with his arms. it's a soft fall for downhill and he skis off quickly through the finish line.

mens downhill - the Italians

16.02.10 / 06:26:48 AM

Christhof Innerhoffer of Italy waiting for the course to be clear.

He is well down the WC standings but is a well known name. This is his first Olympics, and he's under way.

A perfect day for alpine racing this morning and Innerhoffer is using the perfect visability with some big air in the top section. HE comes into the middle of the course and is dead equal with the leading time - astounding - and now he's inside!

A strong performance through the bottom and he could upset the standings considerably at just 25 - relatively young for a top downhiller.

he lost it on the final approach to the finish though, perhaps his inexperience counting against him at the end with a small imbalance on landing the final air.

Next is Peter Fill, also Italian and a famous pop singer in his home nation. how will he perform on this stage?

He does solidly, but it's not nearly enough to unseat Didier Defago.

Dixon crashes

16.02.10 / 06:26:37 AM

Canadian favourite Robbie Dixon is next on course and the crowd is going wild.

His World Cup standings don't reflect what he can do.

Oh, he's off! he makes an error of judgement at a top gate, perhaps putting his head into it, and has a moment in the air that looks like he might be the day's first crash.

but he's pulled back a couple of hundreds of a second. it wasn't a major mistake, but this was!

High sided just in the weasel and he becomes the first casulty of the day.

He looks ok, a moment on the snow and he is up and shaking his head. The replay shows he'd been a little out of control from the start, perhaps a bit too much adrenalin with the expectations of the home crowd.

Course officials reset the damaged gate, which doesn't look good after being headbutted by a man at 120km per hour.

Dixon takes his time leaving the course, giving the waiting racers a moment to reflect.

Didier Cuche

16.02.10 / 06:16:31 AM

We're just one racer off the World Number One Didier Cuche, Werner Heel is doing well through the 'weasel' section of the course, only .32 outside the pace which gives him a chance to pull into the lead if he gives a good race through the bottom section.

And now Cuche - what can the 35 year old do today?

He will have to steal his team mate's top position to live up to the expections that are being placed on him, the favourite, here.

He has been dominating the winter season but has a low Olympic haul - only one medal, 1998 in Nagano he won a silver.

he is looking good into the fall away and his split is .03 outisde Defago at the top split. he is still 0.06 outside but he is coming into the fastest part of the course at 120km.

But he can't do it!

The big man finishes in 6th place, disappointing for this year's Kitzbuhel winner.

Bode is still in third place.

Carlo Janka

16.02.10 / 06:11:59 AM

Manuel OSBORNE-PARADIS is on course, a Whistler local and Canada's top ranked downhill skier - 3rd in the world.

He has a small hiccup through the middle section of the course and is .37 outside Defago's time in the middle of the course, but the Canadian does have the ability to pull it back.

Another small hiccup, taking it very wide coming out of coaches corner will probably cost him the lead. he is 1.13 off the time and in 11th place, a dissapointing finish for the world number 3.

And now the world number two Carlo Janka, part of the Swiss contingent that dominate World Cup. He's won several WC's this season including the opener in Beaver Creek USA and his home ground race in Wengen.

He is holding his line well and looks a lot better than some of the others, but is a little behind the split time as he comes into the bottom of the course with some big air, finishing in 10th place, dissapointed.

Bode beaten

16.02.10 / 06:03:34 AM

The first of the Norweigens, Aksel Lund Svindal, is hitting the course now, a big name in World Cup skiing from winter sport's home.

Norway has won more winter Olympic medals than any other nation, considering the size of the country this is phenomenal.

Svindal is looking solid in through the 'expressway' section of the course, good air off the rollers and in to the lower section of the course, he's pulled back to just 0.04 off Bode, can he beat Bode by the bottom, he's holding it as he comes through the final checkpoint and he's coming into the finish can he do it?

HE dOES! by .02

Bode's donwhill Olympic gold hopes are over

downhill - going quickly

16.02.10 / 05:58:49 AM

The race is running smoothly thus far, racer 14, Ambrosi Hoffmann from Switzerland is already on course and there have been no major mishaps, perhaps miraculous considering the speed of downhill racing and the difficulty of the course.
Hoffmann could not haul in Bode, but now we see the world number 1 Didier Cuche zipping himself into his suite, Cuche has the number 22 start bib, it will be interesting to see what he can do here.

Now we have another Austrian, without a doubt alpine skiing is Austria's event - they are the only country with a full contingent of 22 athletes in their alpine team for the Games. Schiebber is pulling in Bode's time but finishes 12 hundredths of a second behind the American, taking silver. A sensational run, though as he's 4 above Bode on the world rankings not neccessarily something he will be pleased with.

mens downhill, Bode holds

16.02.10 / 05:52:34 AM

Andrej Jerman, the downhill world number 7, is on course next. the Slovenian won the Bormio World Cup this year, which is a huge achievement, but he's well outside the Bode's time at the moment and skimming the blue lines that indicate the outer edges of the best line.

He comes into the finish with a tidy air over the last roller but is well outside Bode's time.

At the Torino Olympics, Bode made his mark for being alpine skiing's maverick - perhaps with the attitude of a new school freestyle skier rather than the seriousness of alpine skiing's old guard. It didn't work for him at Torino, he won no medals and finished 5th in the downhill. Can he do better now?

Canadian on course

16.02.10 / 05:48:36 AM

The first of the canadians - Erik Guay - now on course and getting a cheer bigger than Bode.

The season ending crash of Cadandian and reigning world champion Johnny Kucera before christmas was a major blow for the Canadians.

Guay does the home crowd proud, skiing into the silver medal position ahead of 7 members of the field but there is a long way to go.

Now we have Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein, who is giving Bode a run for his money, he's keeping lower through some of the fast sections. However it's not enough and he slots into fourth

downhill - course injections

16.02.10 / 05:37:02 AM

David Poisson is looking solid through the injected sectioion. This is his first Games but the Frenchman has made a name for himself on the World Cup curcuit.

The injected section was nearly his undoing, course injection has become a matter of controversy, with some athletes saying the practice - which is to make the course almost solid ice, is too dangerous

154.82 is Possion's time, making him the new leader.

Austria on course

16.02.10 / 05:34:08 AM

The first of the Austrians, Hans Grugger is on course, he's skiing the top well, but as Steve Lee points out, with so many good guys to choose from, Austraia's Olympians will be the best of the best - every country is limited to 4 althetes.

He's had a small hichup, shouldering a pannel but has kept going coming into the finish with a 1.55.81 but his mistake may disqualify him.

mens downhill 2

16.02.10 / 05:30:38 AM

This race has generated some controversy at the Games, being postponed from day 2 due to the kind of bad weather Whistler's critics claimed would always be a problem

1.56.58 for Patrik Jearbyn, the first racer, setting the pace for the field here with a solid, solid run

Alpine Skiing - Mens Downhill

16.02.10 / 05:29:19 AM

Goooooodmorning skiing fans!
Well, here we are, moments away from the premier event of the Olympic Games,