Ski-Alpin: Decision on World Cup opener made in Sölden

On Thursday, the official “green light” for the Ski World Cup opening on 28. and 29. October 2017 in Sölden. Snow control was carried out by Markus Mayr, FIS race director, Isidor Grüner and Rainer Gstrein. They found perfect conditions due to the well-prepared runway and the many fresh snow conditions.

“If you had written a diary, it couldn’t have been better,”Grüner said about this year’s preparations. Sufficient snowfall and suitable temperatures provided ideal conditions for the preparation work. The recent fine weather had not only benefited the organizers, but practically all nations had trained sufficiently on the demanding race slope.

This will be presented in 2017 in a slightly new design. At the end of the escarpment, an artificial wave was incorporated to shorten the eternally long flat section until the finish. The rear side of a shaft always provides a certain steepness that can be actively used to pick up speed again,”explained Grüner on APA request.

The teams will be able to train until this Saturday, and then the 3,000-metre-high race track will be completed. This mainly includes the installation of certain safety devices such as air fences and cabling.

Finally, the track is also treated with water “We will certainly not make an ice skating rink. It’s a compact, fair track on which the starting number 70 should also have a chance,”Greener promised.

This means that nothing stands in the way of the traditional glacier start of the Alpine Ski World Cup, at least for the time being. The current forecasts are predicting good weather at the race weekend as well. As always, the programme includes two giant slalom runs. On Saturday the ladies drive, on Sunday the gentlemen.

Starting times are 10.00 and 13.00 o’ clock. For the men’s race on Sunday, however, it is already CET, i. e. winter time (normal time) instead of CEST. The clocks are turned back on Sunday at 3.00 o’ clock in the morning to 2.00 o’ clock. Turning it back “wins” an hour.