FollowIt’s another lovely day, and the World Cup ski racers are having their first training runs on the racecourse. Lots of competitors, coaches and officials at the start hut on the Lauberhorn.
Training runs are compulsory, and if you haven’t completed at least one you can’t enter the race at the weekend. The racers aren’t the only ones who learn from these training runs. All the supporting services like marshals, timing technicians, television and rescue services use these runs as a dress rehearsal for the big day on Saturday.
First competitor to go was Stefan Rogentin of Switzerland.
It takes the racers about two and a half minutes to ski the 4.4 kilometres to the finish down at Innerwengen. Once the races are over we are free to ski the course, and even at top speed it would probably take me 20 minutes, assuming I didn’t stop for a beer on the way down of course. It’s the longest World Cup downhill course in the world.