Mikaela Schiffrin is back!

[Montana St Alum]

I'm quite a fan of MS, as she's such a dominant competitor. Reminds me of the old days of Killy, for example. Her father was a shining light for her and this is her first time stepping into the winner's circle since he passed last January from a head injury sustained in an accident at only 65.

Bravo!

[corlay]

she had a tough debut run yesterday...

I hope she bounces back for other upcoming events.

[Stephen]

Big respect for people who can ski at this level.
So much fun to watch the skill, control, and technique they demonstrate.
Refined to the Nth degree.

[KDog]

I hope Nina OBrien recovers from that horror show of a crash! Last turn of her 2nd run! Compound fractures and ligaments. Such a promising up and comer for the US Team! This whole Beijing "Winter" Olympics thing is a bunch of crap! It doesn't snow there in winter! All man made snow, which is causing all kinds of issues. I think about 1/3rd of the women d/q'd in the GS including Mikaela! It looks like they are racing in the hills of Los Angeles! Sucks!

[corlay]

It looks like they are racing in the hills of Los Angeles! Sucks!

agree.

funny part is the NBC/USA coverage commentators keep talking-up how great the conditions are...

meanwhile 1/3 of the GS skiiers are crashing, and the nordic's are all wearing adhesive-patches on their faces to prevent frostbite...

[randoskier]

I hope Nina OBrien recovers from that horror show of a crash! Last turn of her 2nd run! Compound fractures and ligaments. Such a promising up and comer for the US Team! This whole Beijing "Winter" Olympics thing is a bunch of crap! It doesn't snow there in winter! All man made snow, which is causing all kinds of issues. I think about 1/3rd of the women d/q'd in the GS including Mikaela! It looks like they are racing in the hills of Los Angeles! Sucks!

The problem is not the course, and I have not heard Shiffrin blame the course.

These are highly trained, highly paid elite professional skiers, snow is snow; ski it. I think Miss Shiffrin is feeling some pressure and maybe suffering some psychological issues, she will have to deal with that, and I think she will if not this games then in another. She is human and having a very human moment. She is still young, though maybe not for a woman skier- her idol Janica Kostelić (who many think was the most talented female skier ever) retired at age 25.

The Olympics are not so important- it is one meet- the World Cup is a far more important sporting event as it shows your strength/skill over an entire season, and on a variety of mountains. I think Americans over-focus on the Olympic Games perhaps because of their elevated "importance" during the Cold War era. There is certainly a bit of nationalism in the Olympics. It also receives media saturation while the World Cup is not on the U.S. media A-list.

Lake Placid 1980 was totally barren- it was 100% barren except for the man-made. The 1964 Innsbruck Olympics was also completely barren- the Austrian Army trucked in the snow in a incredibly massive logistics/civil-engineering project. If they had had the Olympics in the Dolomites this year it would have been largely man-made snow.

It is quite frequently the case that the early season World Cup races take place on 100% artificial snow.

"The first time that artificial snow was used at an Olympics was in 1980 at the XIII Winter games held in Lake Placid, New York, USA. Machines were used to produce the snow, ensuring the games took place during an exceptionally dry winter in Lake Placid."

https://www.northcountrypublicradio.org ... r-olympics

Don't blame the snow.

[spopepro]

The problem isn't the snow. WC races happen on water injected ice anyway so the course doesn't get all rutted out. The problem is that it isn't a real ski venue. Every other olys had a preview comp or used past stops on the tour. No one could get on any of these runs until race recon because they didn't exist. Makes it really tough.

Now... the XC racers... pure artificial snow is really bad there. But certainly not the first time a big xc event has had to be contested on bad/trucked in/dirty/ice/artificial surfaces. It isn't ever a good thing though.

[KDog]

Don't blame the snow.

I guess I'm not blaming the snow because they aren't actually skiing on "snow"

[randoskier]

Don't blame the snow.

I guess I'm not blaming the snow because they aren't actually skiing on "snow"

Yes exactly like the Lake Placid games.

They are all skiing the same surface some are handling it, others not.

[randoskier]

No snow problems in Albertville! This is my former biz partner in my first brewery in Savoie. Goin' for Gold and gettin' it. This was a great win for Edgar (the Edge) because it was a home-game and the very first time Moguls was in the Olympics. Solomon his main sponsor gave him some shite about being involved in beer (after the Olympics) but he told them to F-off. These days he is often a sports presenter on French TV. Great mountain biker too, tree-trunk legs. One of the nicest people you could ever meet.