Lauberhorn!!

It's an exciting week for Ski Racing fans- time for the 76th annual Lauberhorn! After perusing tomorrow's start list on FIS-ski.com, I noticed two amusing points: 51 gates, IN A DOWNHILL and of course 100, count 'em, 100 competitors. How many racers do you think brush the fence at the last bump after they have been on the course for a good 2 minutes 20 seconds?

More good Lauberhorn memories come to mind such as 1984 when Bill Johnson caught an edge, nearly crashed and hit the fence, and then pulled it together for his first world cup win ever. I cut out the frame by frame summary from Ski Racing (I was in the eighth grade) and taped it to my locker for the rest of the school year. U.S. Ski Racing fans probably also remember some tough times here as Chad Fleischer essentially ended his career on this course before the Salt Lake City Olympics. We'll take a look at the splits after tomorrow's training run to get an idea of who will ski fast here this week. I have to think that Walchofer will be a factor, as could Kjus and don't rule out Miller. Rahlves has been skiing well, but I don't think this course is nasty enough for his liking. I don't expect Raich to do anything crazy, but he will want to be comfortable for the super combined and slalom later in the week.

Here are a few takes on U.S. men's team results over the last week of World Cup action:

Bode Miller: I feel obligated to address the Miller scene since it has been grabbing alot of attention this week. Today, the news was about Bill Marolt getting ready to fly to Europe to have a little chat with Bode about his comments made on 60 minutes Sunday night. How do you think that conversation goes? "Hi Bode, do you have a few minutes, I'd like to share a little feedback with you." I've been on the Bode side of those conversations, and they typically don't go well. You have to give Bill credit though- even though he understands that he needs Bode more than Bode needs the USST, Bill is still doing the required dance. Expect this one to end the way things went after Bode was fined by the FIS for not submitting to an equipment test after blowing out of the first run of slalom in Kranska Gora: there were a few days of posturing and ultimately the USST paid the fine and Bode was at the start for the next race. For more perspective on the 60 Minutes episode, check out Steve Porino's excellent column on Skiracing.com, and look for Bode's column from today's Denver post (www.denverpostonline.com) I'll get better at providing links in the future...

Bode should ski pretty fast this week at Wengen. I expect a top five in downhill, a podium in the super combined and a first run exit in the slalom. He is skiing well, but I have to wonder if there is more to the reported knee issues is being reported. Just speculation on my part. He has fought through knee challenges before, and the bigger factor is his motivation. It was very high at Beaver Creek, it should be pretty good for the next two weeks (Wengen and Kitzbuhel) and then if he is healthy, he will be a contender in the Olympics.

Erik Schlopy: some people are probably looking at his less than stellar second runs at Adolboden as a sign of lackluster performance. I see the opposite. He's just starting to gain momentum on the tough hills. It looked to me like Erik skied well above his expectations on both first runs (4th place in GS, qualified for second run in SL after starting back in the 70's) and did not have the mental game plan for similar second runs. I'm not being critical here, I think he was ready to race, it's just that his confidence in the gate for the second run was probably not at the same level as the first. However, for the next race, he will go into both the first and second runs expecting to do well. I wouldn't be surprised to see him put together a few top 10- top 15 runs in the next two slaloms to clinch an Olympic slalom spot.

Ted Ligety: hits his third podium of the season, and he almost pulls off the victory. I love watching this guy. I saw his second run of slalom at Beaver Creek in December and it was amazing- clean arcs every turn, kept it going downhill and blindingly quick in the combinations (he was second on the run and moved up in the overall from 12th to third). His turns reminded me of Bode Miller's second run at the combined slalom in Salt Lake in 2002, which was the greatest run of slalom ever skied. He was putting together more runs like that at Kranska Gora and Adolboden, but he wasn't quite as clean as Rocca. Absent a few mistakes, he is the best slalom skier out there. Watch him compared to Rocca or Raich and tell me who turns over sharper angles and makes a shorter arc. While Rocca is the odds on favorite for Olympic Gold, I think the slalom has frequently gone to a dark horse candidate, so Ligety has to be considered.

Let's throw out a few kind words for Chip Knight as well. He qualified for the second run of GS for the first time in his career and followed it up with a very solid finish the next day in the slalom. His timing was fortuitious since any American not named Ted Ligety who finishes a WC slalom at this point will be in contention for an olympic spot.