The world’s best alpine skiers have called the Olympic ski runs of Russia’s Black Sea resort of Sochi excellent. Participants of the alpine ski World Cup held their first training there on Wednesday . The skiers have highly appreciated the ski runs and now they are getting ready for an interesting competition in speed downhill which is to be held this weekend.
The alpine skiers cover the 3.5 km long run in 2 minutes. They are literally flying along the slope building up speeds of 130 km per hour. This is not a record time yet. For alpine skiers it is always important to become familiar with a new ski run. In total 80 of the world’s strongest alpine skiers are taking part in World Cup qualification stage in Sochi. Many of them have heard about the unique slopes of the Caucasian range.
After their first downhill all the skiers said that the place is just perfect for holding Winter Olympic competitions. The 37-year old Swiss alpine ski racer Didier Cuche, who was the reigning World Cup downhill, and Super-G champion for the 2011 season and the silver winner of the Olympics in Nagano is really excited about the ski run: "The ski run is fantastic. I was asked if I could compare it to other ski runs but I think nothing compares to it. It is really a very interesting downhill, which is technically challenging. It has ski-jumps and the snow is different uphill and downhill, so you have to slide differently. Anyway it is a really great ski run indeed".
Canadian alpine ski racer Erik Guay, who is the current World Champion in downhill, also highly appreciated the ski run. However he was not as emotional as the French skier and his results during the first training were far from his record achievements. Probably the Canadian skier was tired after a long Trans Atlantic flight. But he promised that he would show better time during his second training.
On Wednesday, the first official competition was held at the Laura ski biathlon complex. It was a qualification for those Russian alpine skiers who are only trying to enter the national team. The competition was held in conditions which are close to the Olympics ski race. The first starts have proved that the Sochi Olympic facilities are ready to host the Olympic ski events.
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