KIDWCKED
02-15-2010, 06:19 PM
By James Christie, CTVOlympics.ca Posted Friday, February 12, 2010 11:15 PM ET
One of the glamourous marquee events of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. The Swiss are similarly keen to continue their mastery they've had over rival Austria on the World Cup. They haven't won Olympic downhill gold since 1988, when Pirmin Zurbriggen beat out countryman Peter Mueller.
The course, part of a $27-million makeover of Whistler Creekside in 2006-07, bears the name of late Dave Murray, one of the legendary Crazy Canucks. It's said to resemble the slope at Kvitfjell, Norway and on the World Cup circuit is second in length only to Wengen, Switzerland, It drops more than a kilometer over its 3.1-km length. It's not a glider's course but has a combination of colourfully named features from sweeping turns to demanding technical jumps to steeper fallaways. A section known as the Toilet Bowl is near the start of the course, where there is an abrupt rollover to a steep pitch. The Weasel is a steep pitch that got its name from Weasel workers who groom the course by boot-packing the snow in that area. Coach's Corner is a wide section about halfway down and a place where the race could be won or lost. If it's sunny, the track becomes naturally icy and hard here and speeds get treacherously fast, making it hard to negotiate the 180-degree turn.. Then there's Boyd's Bump - sometimes called Boyd's Chin in reference to the prominent feature on the face of the former World Cup winner and a Canadian coach.-and Murr's Jump, the last technical feature before the race to the finish.
The running-time is about two, knee-searing minutes.
Medal contenders: Two Swiss skiers, veteran Didier Cuche and upstart Carlo Janka, lead the World Cup downhill standing, but Cuche recently suffered a broken right thumb and that may make him tentative in the high-speed race. Local knowledge raises the opportunity for Manuel Osborne-Paradis to become Canada's first gold winner at home. He's third in the standing but has two World Cup wins this season. Werner Heel of Italy, Michael Walchhofer of Austria and Didier Defago of Switzerland round out the top six. Don't rule out Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, sitting 10th, and 12th place American Bode Miller, whose go-for-broke style may be what the race calls for.
Canadians: Osborne-Paradis has been tabbed for the gold medal by the Associated Press and won a World Cup downhill at Val Gardena, Italy. He obviously confident in finishing second in the lengthy Wengen downhill in January. He has a reputation for easing off the throttle on training days but.holds nothing back on race day.
One of the glamourous marquee events of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. The Swiss are similarly keen to continue their mastery they've had over rival Austria on the World Cup. They haven't won Olympic downhill gold since 1988, when Pirmin Zurbriggen beat out countryman Peter Mueller.
The course, part of a $27-million makeover of Whistler Creekside in 2006-07, bears the name of late Dave Murray, one of the legendary Crazy Canucks. It's said to resemble the slope at Kvitfjell, Norway and on the World Cup circuit is second in length only to Wengen, Switzerland, It drops more than a kilometer over its 3.1-km length. It's not a glider's course but has a combination of colourfully named features from sweeping turns to demanding technical jumps to steeper fallaways. A section known as the Toilet Bowl is near the start of the course, where there is an abrupt rollover to a steep pitch. The Weasel is a steep pitch that got its name from Weasel workers who groom the course by boot-packing the snow in that area. Coach's Corner is a wide section about halfway down and a place where the race could be won or lost. If it's sunny, the track becomes naturally icy and hard here and speeds get treacherously fast, making it hard to negotiate the 180-degree turn.. Then there's Boyd's Bump - sometimes called Boyd's Chin in reference to the prominent feature on the face of the former World Cup winner and a Canadian coach.-and Murr's Jump, the last technical feature before the race to the finish.
The running-time is about two, knee-searing minutes.
Medal contenders: Two Swiss skiers, veteran Didier Cuche and upstart Carlo Janka, lead the World Cup downhill standing, but Cuche recently suffered a broken right thumb and that may make him tentative in the high-speed race. Local knowledge raises the opportunity for Manuel Osborne-Paradis to become Canada's first gold winner at home. He's third in the standing but has two World Cup wins this season. Werner Heel of Italy, Michael Walchhofer of Austria and Didier Defago of Switzerland round out the top six. Don't rule out Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal, sitting 10th, and 12th place American Bode Miller, whose go-for-broke style may be what the race calls for.
Canadians: Osborne-Paradis has been tabbed for the gold medal by the Associated Press and won a World Cup downhill at Val Gardena, Italy. He obviously confident in finishing second in the lengthy Wengen downhill in January. He has a reputation for easing off the throttle on training days but.holds nothing back on race day.