The wind, a guest who becomes encrusted in the descent
After the men’s downhill was postponed for an hour, the wind confirms that it will be a determining factor in the conquest of the Olympic title.
The final training had already been canceled yesterday due to strong gusts. But the organization had let the 2014 Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer start followed by the Italian Christof Innerhofer, who quickly cut his effort, then the world number one in the downhill and super-G, the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, to the chagrin of the competitors anxious to tame this new track.
“There are still three favorites who made one run more than the others, that’s the big problem. If they had canceled this morning, there would have been no problem.summed up the Frenchman Johan Clarey, athlete representative to the International Ski Federation (FIS).
“On the jumps, I covered 60 meters. I was in balance, thank God”corn “It’s a good thing they canceled and decided to keep everyone safe for tomorrow”, Kilde said. If the wind is anything but a surprise, as it regularly sweeps the ridges of this arid massif northwest of Beijing, “It comes from all directions so it’s really hard to control it”described the Norwegian. “All of a sudden, there is nothing, then it blows full force, then nothing, and then it comes from the side, from behind, and on the jumps it came from below”at the risk of unbalancing the competitors in full flight, he continued.
If the risk was obvious for the descenders, they also need markers on “The Rock”winding track that none of them had ever skied, on dry and entirely artificial snow that burns the soles of their skis.
Meeting before the start, the competitors had agreed on an intermediate solution: “We were ready to ski hard where there was no risk, then to brake” on the very windy second section, before “re-engage on the last part”explained Mathieu Bailet. “I tried to discuss with the FIS, but they didn’t want to know anything (…) There you go: we’ll have to deal with it and not get too upset”continued Johan Clarey.
Annoyed, the leader of the big globe race, Marco Odermatt, also judged the decision “unfair”even if “with the wind, it’s not going to be the fairest race anyway”. “On an Olympic track where everything is new, you really want to have the same amount of training”he insisted. “Each sleeve helps to find the material and the perfect line”.
See you later, at 5 a.m., if the wind allows it…