Olympic course needs work

THE CANADIAN PRESS

After getting their first look at the Sochi Olympic downhill course, Canada's top speed skiers can see the potential, but they're not impressed with the setup for this weekend's World Cup competition.

While reigning world downhill champion Erik Guay called the setting for the Rosa Khutor course a "sweet area," he saw some room for improvement following his training runs this week.

"The track also is a really nice track," the Mont-Tremblant, Que., native said during a conference call Thursday. "I think they could have set a really cool course on it. Unfortunately, it's a little bit tight and turny in my opinion for a downhill."

The upper half of the course features narrow and steep turns. It eases out near the end, although there are large jumps all the way down.

"(It's) one of the coolest downhill runs we've ever had in ski racing," said Calgary's Jan Hudec, who won gold last weekend at the World Cup downhill in Chamonix, France.

"It's just a matter of setting up a good course on it and making it flow ... It seems like the perfect open canvas, if you will, for an artist to build a downhill track. It has all the terrain that you need."

The athlete reviews this week have been mixed.

Switzerland's Didier Cuche, a four-time winner of the World Cup downhill title, called it "magnificent," while American star Bode Miller complained that the turns on the upper section are too much like super-G.

The amount of water used has also made it icy.

But Guay pointed out the course may look completely different at the Winter Games in two years.

"Even if you do win here (now), you know it's going to be completely different next year and the year after," he said. "If it's as icy as it is right now, it's going to be a very challenging slope. ... If it was a grippy easy snow to ski, I think the track would be completely different."

Newcomer Ben Thomsen, 24, of Invermere, B.C., is the third member of the team who took part in a conference call from Sochi.

The trio is coming off a 1-3-5 finish in Chamonix -- Thomsen surprised many by coming in fifth -- that was one of the best ever for a group of Canadian skiers.

It was particularly satisfying for Hudec, who is coming off a punishing series of injuries. He's had six knee operations and persistent back problems.

"Everything came together on that weekend and I felt good physically and legitimately felt in the start like I could win the race," he said.

The Sochi course is nothing like Chamonix but Guay says that shouldn't matter.

"We're looking to be competitive on every track and I think we have a team that can do that," he said.

Even Guay has been surprised by the strength of the team this season.

"I thought this year would be more of a building curve for myself and also for the team with so many guys out with injuries," he said. "Obviously, I underestimated Jan a little bit because he came back full force and strong right from the beginning."

Perhaps the biggest surprise has been Thomsen, a newcomer without sponsors who supported his dream of joining the team by working in landscaping and construction.

"I don't really like shovels anymore," he said.

Hudec says Thomsen's success is a great sign for the future of Canadian ski racing.

"It's amazing to have a younger guy on the team that's just been laying runs down like that because we need it, Erik and I are both 30 now," said Hudec.

"I knew Benny, I knew he had potential but I didn't think he had top-five this early in the season," added Guay.

Thomsen says he's living the dream but feels even more pressure now that he's had some success.

"I am a little nervous going into this weekend which is uncommon for me," he said. "I don't usually get nervous."

.Coach John McBride, who plucked Thomsen from a prospect camp, says they have to make the best of things with the track in the condition it's in. He too is hoping for a change before the Olympics.

"I would hope it's a little different ... but I don't know, there's no guarantee and it's not like it's set by committee."

Unlike other disciplines, downhill courses are set up by one individual designated by FIS.

"I'm sure athletes would be more than happy and coaches as well to give their feedback, I just think it would probably fall on deaf ears," he said.

This weekend's races are the first major test events for the 2014 Olympics. The World Cup downhill race is set for Saturday, followed by super-G on Sunday.

Next week, the world's top women will get a crack at the Sochi course.