05/01/2014 Ski Sunday

Happy New Year, welcome to Bormio in Italy where the best downhill races

in the world are preparing to tackle the punishing Pista Stelvio. It has

been a strange season won the World Cup circuit, the stars are showing

glimpses of brilliance but there has been a lot of uncertainty. Goodness

me! She is in trouble there, we will call it a day. This course in Bormio

is so brutal, there is no margin for error. Who will hold their nerve?

That is the men's downhill from Bormio, and for those of you of all

freestyle persuasion, there is plenty more.

Strange days, Graham, the men's World Cup circuit, definitely. There

is no real standout this season. Certainly not in men's downhill. Two

years after Kuche retired, there is no one taking the bull by the horns,

and also there is the elephant in the room, the Olympic Games. I spoke

to Maria Hoefl-Riesch, and she was saying the World Cup is so intense,

you have got to be in the moment. If you get are good result in that, it

will help you in the Olympic Games. Here is what some others think. I

just play it race by race and see how it goes. It is good for the ego,

for the confidence, and to have a blaze in the Olympic Games we have

to ski well in the World Cup. What is more important, the World Cup

downhill all the Olympic Games? For sure, the Olympics. If I show up to

have a race, I will try to be the best in anything. Who is the man to

beat here? Is it Svindal? He has definitely been the most consistent,

but Hoffer is one to watch, and Eric Gay, but this could also be Bode

Miller's contest. It is a really icy, dark, gnarly roller-coaster.

You get yourself in the zone, because it is time for his course

Rome. -- run. I will try my hardest, but it has been snowing and there is

a lot of new snow on the track which will slow things down.

There are two sections you have to get right on this course, this is

the first one. You have got to ski through these technical turns and

carry the speed onto the bumpy Traverse. If you run low, you are

going to lose all your speed. You have got to take a high line, and

then you can convert that into speed. Out towards the San Pietro

jump. Onto the gliding section. Now we are approaching the second part

of the course that you really have to nail if you want to win here.

This is the finish. You have got to come through really high and carry

maximum speed down these bumpy, icy turns. Over the last little hop and

out towards the line. As fun as you remember it? Fun is a peculiar word

to use. It is really rough and bumpy, the visibility is dark. They

turned the lights on up there and it is still dark. If that was a

Christmas present, it was delivered by a very bad Santa clause. I will

let you get your breath back. Now it is time to the big boys to get on

the course. Matt Chilton has the commentary.

The start has been delayed because of bad snow but now the conditions

are good enough. The light and fresh snow add another uncertain dimension

to the men's downhill. Defago, out of the gate. It is rough and bumpy

today, the visibility is poor. The Olympic downhill champion on his

way. He has shown few signs of returning form in the opening part

of this season. Did the double back in 2009, the famous double which he

won in successive weekends. The following season he won the Olympic

downhill. It is rough and bumpy along there. This looks pretty solid

for the moment for Didier Defago. A little hop, skip and a jump, landed

solidly, and flies the big San Pietro jump. Two thirds of the way

through, Travis Ganong leads. Nice work so far from Didier Defago and

he is getting quicker. Experience counts for a lot on a day like

today. They raised two training runs earlier in the week. He knows this

course well, and he skied it well as well. Good stuff from the downhill

champion. Didier Defago, the Olympic champion,

takes an early lead but there is a lot of new snow on the course, and

does that gets brushed off, the track should get quicker. He will be

hoping it starts to snow again. Bode Miller, never far from the podium in

Bormio. If the downhill winning comeback will happen anywhere, it

should be here. Bode Miller is away, and it looks like he means

business with a powerful start. Quicker than Didier Defago at the

intermediate. A couple of emergency manoeuvres here from the American,

who once lost his ski on this course on the way down. 0.27 behind, and he

has a high line, back into the tuck position for as long as he can. He

is a crowd favourite, wherever he goes. Off the San Pietro jump,

stretches his legs on the landing. A couple of clicks slower than the

Swiss through the gum. The timing is heading in the wrong direction as

far as Miller and his fans are concerned. Another shaky,

left-handed turn. He looks absolutely shattered, he has put

everything into it. Tough conditions, and your legs hurt even

more when you cannot really see where you are going. Miller has

failed today. 1.25 behind Didier Defago. He was just trying a little

bit too hard, even coming onto that bumpy Traverse run late in the

line, the outside ski bouncing around the place. He doesn't like it

when the light is not good, but no excuses, that was not a great run.

The self-proclaimed womaniser but was Christof Innerhoffer up next now

has a girlfriend so the others can rest easy. He shared victory with

Austria in his last competition. Giving them something to celebrate

in 2009. Five hundredths behind the current leader, Didier Defago. This

is an encouraging start. There will be a lot of noise as he reaches the

mid part of the course. A couple of thousand Italians camped out there.

Now they can see that it is looking green for Christof Innerhofer. It is

a good, high line. Nearly got twisted, that was not so clever.

Clipped the control gate, sets up for the San Pietro, started his

flight well, then straightened his legs to make sure of the landing.

How close is he to Didier Defago hear? He is in touch. Travelling

well. That was a brave line from the Italian, shows an original way into

this section of the course. The final role, keeps it low, tucking in

for home, and Innerhofer has it. An Italian leads the way in Bormio, and

that is great cause for celebration for these supporters. He made a

little mistake as he went past the mid-station, and that cost him a

couple of tenths. He invested an awful lot then, staying really high,

and that meant he was slow on the last intermediate time, but then

that height convert it into speed and he flew into the finish and made

up all of that time and more. Lets see if this year, Erik Guay can turn

things around. Erik Guay, on his way for Canada. Like a speed skater

coming out of the start, trying to generate some fast velocity across

the snow, which is getting a bit quicker as each racer comes down. He

is already a winner this season. He took the downhill classic on the

21st of December. And Eric A maintains his lead. Not

really taking risks here. -- Erik Guay. The left footed turn is where

Innerhofer made a mistake. Guay comes through without any problems.

What a jump from Erik Guay! We have not seen anybody smoother in flight

than the Canadian was there. Fantastic to watch. And he has got

the reward. He is getting quicker all the time. A little mistake from

Guay, almost ending up on his backside. Looks like he is into his

reserve tanks of energy now. And he is quicker than Innerhofer. Erik

Guay, with a storming run on the Stelvio. So Erik Guay takes the lead

on the top part of the course. He was absolutely flying. And in the

midsection, beautiful over the San Pietro jump. Perfect technique in

the air. If I have got to be picky, the lower section was not very

good. He lost a huge chunk of time down there, so his run could be

beaten. Although Aksel Lund Svindal has won the world downhill title

twice, his pedigree over the top downhill tracks remain somewhat in

the balance. He has never placed on the podium in Kitzbuhel, and only

once here in Bormio. A win today would go a long way to silencing

those doubters. Aksel Lund Svindal is enjoying a

brilliant start to the season. This is the second of three down hills

that have taken place so far. Aksel Lund Svindal then had a top five and

has enjoyed great success. He seems to be winding up for an assault on

the forthcoming Olympic Winter games in Sochi, and what a top section.

The Norwegian is leaving it all on the hill a in Bormio. He is just

about matching Guay. Svindal gets a bit of air under the tips of his

skis. This is a real attack. He is hungry for this. He wants it. Pretty

solid. Guay had a little mistake at this next right footed term. --

turn. If Svindal can get this right, he might get the better of

the Canadian. It looks a little smoother. 14 hundredths of a second

are all that separate the leader, Erik Guay, and the man on the

mountain at the moment, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway. Svindal is one of

the fittest of them. He will not be feeling any pain here as he skis for

the lead in Bormio. Yes, he has got it! What a finish from Svindal.

So, Svindal punishes temp won for that mistake he made on that last

term. He was behind all the intermediates, and then when it came

to the last split, he did not make the same mistake as Erik Guay, and

that has given him the lead. That could give him the win.

Good start from Reichelt. Competition building all the time

within the Austrian camp, as Olympics election draws near. Only

four men and women per nation and take part in the games, and the

Austrians have a dozen downhill as to choose from. So they need to

start performing now to be sure of a trip to Sochi. Reichelt do his

chances the power of good with another solid result here. That was

a good jump as well. Reichelt still potentially good enough for a top

three. This was where Svindal got it just right and where Guay's mistake

came. Just a bit of sunshine to show the way. Reichelt has got better

visibility. Excellent finish. Second position. Reichelt pushes Svindal

close. Excellent run from the Austrian.

The Austrian downhill team have not been performing well this year, but

Reichelt does love this course. He was joint first here last year and

was able to put down a really good, clean one. It looks like the sun is

starting to break through, so maybe this race is not completely over

yet. The French have a really good

tradition in the Olympic downhill. They got the men's gold medal in

cheering in 2006. Theaux's season appears to be building towards the

Winter Olympics games. He has made a good start here as well. He had to

adjust his balance. Seems to have recovered his form. This is good

from the Frenchman. He has had good results so far this season,

including a first place in the first downhill of the tour in Canada. This

section of terms can make or break a racer's downhill. The last

left-handed turn, and he tucks in for the line. He has skied into

fourth place. Great result for Adrien Theaux, due

to the fact that the sun is starting to break through. Although the

course is bumpy and the track is getting slower because of the bumps,

if you can see them, it certainly helps an awful lot. And if it does

clear up completely, it will speed it up by over a second. So it could

be that the race is not completely over. We will have to wait and see.

Meyer is certainly focused on getting a place in Sochi. He has

started well. There are 34 Austrians who have been better than him in

World Cup races so far. Now would be a good day for Mayer to really turn

it on here in Stelvio. Squashes himself up into an aerodynamic ball.

That was a good jump. Svindal was the one who was strongest on that

section. Mayer will not be able to catch Aksel Lund Svindal. He is too

far behind. He could just cement his place in the Austrian Olympic team.

That was an excellent run. So, Mayer, taking advantage of the

fact that the sun is starting to break through. That will give the

Austrian something to look forward to. It will make for an interesting

qualification for the Olympics in Sochi. Varettoni not only has local

knowledge, but he has sunshine as well. It is much easier to

anticipate the little lumps and bumps that come very regularly on

this downhill course. This is good from the young Italian. That was

solid as well. Gave himself a really solid start. And he might give

himself a personal best result here in Bormio. I think he will be

kicking himself. The Russians have one or two decent slalom and giant

slalom skiers. They will want the chance of scoring a home medal in

their home Winter Olympics. Svindal is still the leader. Glebov has good

conditions. The snow has eased off. The light has improved. He is in

trouble. Glebov is going to tangle with the nets here. Ouch! Goodness

me, that is a big shunt from the Russian. I hope he is OK. No way

back from here, he just has to sit tight and hope for the best. The

soft snow cushioned his fall. The ski patrol are there quickly.

This is a racer who has been on the cusp of the top French downhill

skiers for the last six or seven skiers. Look at the conditions for

the Frenchman, racing in bright sunshine. A massive jump. Goodness

me, he was lucky to escape away from that. Took him by surprise. Fayed

having a bit of a moment here. Got a window in the weather. Maybe Gill

Fayed can do something similar here. He is not far away. Something to

celebrate for the Frenchman the sun is breaking through, and that is

definitely helping the racers. The track is bumpy, though, and that

is costing them time on the lower part of the course. At a great run

from Fayed shows that it is possible.

So Aksel Lund Svindal wins in Bormio for the first time. What do you

think made the difference today? I don't know if you watched the race

today but he Innerhofer -- was amazingly fast on the last split. It

is dark, and you need to have enough power and guts and courage to let it

run down there. Last year I lost this race on the last 100 and I was

determined not to do that. They had really bad luck, but the top group

when they were starting, the light was OK. Did you see your

intermediate times? Did you see how fast you were? I had a great top

section, I really pushed it where I needed to. I just couldn't get the

new ski to pick up but those things happened and I am satisfied with my

racing. Is that man the new Colossus in the men's downhill? He is

certainly a powerful man. You have got to say he rules the roost of the

men's downhill. If you when Kitzbuehel, you are the best in the

world. Now it is time to look elsewhere in the world of winter

sports, this is the news. Calgary bore witness to unprecedented scenes

for British winter sport two days ago. Freestyle skier rowing Cheshire

became the first British woman to win the World Cup half pipe event.

You have to look back over two decades for any similar British

success. It propels her to second in the world rankings. This is what I

have been working towards. It is one place closer to Sochi as well. In

the women's World Cup, Austria's Marlies Schild having success. You

can see now why so much as expected at these games. Now another member

of team GB who is expected to do well is Jenny Jones. The past decade

she has the discipline and now she has a chance to win an Olympic gold

medal. I caught up with her to see how she is preparing and to take her

on a little stroll. The woman in the yellow jacket is

Britain's most successful winter sport athlete, I will not disturb

her up for the last ten years she has dominated slope style

snowboarding. This is one of the qualifying events for the Sochi

Olympic Games and she is currently in first place.

Jenny Jones! So good. Does that mean you are all but guaranteed a spot

for the Olympic Games? I never like to say unless I know for sure. It is

a massive step. Just to get a podium as well, I haven't had a podium for

a while. I was like, will I ever get a podium again? And I did! Go and

rest, you have got a big day tomorrow. After her impressive

second place, we set off on a journey that I hoped would take

Jenny out of her comfort zone. We were using split boards, snowboards

that split into two, allowing you to access remote parts of the

mountains. Our guide explained what was in store. This is goal number

one, wearing shorts! For stride length! It will look like the same

pace but I will not be getting as much distance. It is probably the

best place in the world to learn how to split board. Yes, that is what I

am talking about! It has been a while since I carried this kind of

weight. Get it all in the right place, sitting on the hips. For

added humiliation, the first section of downhill so you have two ski it.

Bear in mind, I have not skied for a week in my whole life. That was more

adrenaline than I was expecting! More adrenaline than yesterday? Yes,

let's try the lunge again. Jenny has dominated her sport for almost a

decade but I wanted to get her into the wilderness to see if it gave her

a different perspective on what she has achieved and still hopes to

achieve. I thought I was taking Jenny out of her comfort zone, but

by the looks of it she is very comfortable after about three hours

already, and after an initial problem with her foot, she has got

her teeth stuck into this. I like to do this, because otherwise my pace

drops off and goes into Jenny Short legged mode! I feel like I have gone

into another realm, into survival mode. I feel all right. I definitely

had a little bit earlier on but now I feel we are on the home straight.

I have done it! There was a period there when I thought you might not.

That took her about an hour longer than it was supposed to, and Jenny

went through about three different phases of total and utter

frustration, physical exhaustion, then elation. I think she is pretty

tired now and she will eat like a horse and sleep like a baby, but she

is pretty excited as well. I have not split boarded before and I was

excited this morning to see what it was all about. I was definitely

tired, so a lot of adrenaline had been in me yesterday and I didn't

realise how draining that was to have it all come out of me. When I

saw the hut in the distance, I was like, glory! And I did have a sense

of achievement, doing something different. It was really nice.

The last time we met, you had known that slope style was going to be in

the Olympics for about six months and you were equal parts terrified

and excited about it. Has that changed? I don't know, probably

equal still, but in different ways. Still just as excited, and less

terrified because obviously I have got some better results under my

belt. If you had spoken to me two days ago, I was still very on edge,

I needed more points, nothing safe yet. I wonder if competition is

something you have learned to do, or if the two come hand-in-hand. I get

a buzz out of landing a trick, but also I get a buzz of landing the

tricks when it counts in the competition. One event at a time,

and trying hard to remember why I like snowboarding, and again, coming

back to the same thing, enjoying the tricks. We are going to go and make

the most of the sun. I think it is icy but the slope is gentle and

nice. It will be nice just to try the board. And the split board. Are

you excited? Yes, I am excited to put it into snowboard mode.

Unfortunately, despite the early promise of sunshine, the weather

quickly closed in and we were forced to retreat to the hut. It was so

nice to get taken away from the environment I am usually in, its

trade up to the park, checking what the jumps are like, getting ready

and that sort of thing, but to come and do this, I have had a really

nice time. It is difficult not to get really excited when you listen

to her talk and you see her arrive at this level, that something really

good will not happen when we get to Sochi. We wish Jenny all the best as

she recovers from the concussion she suffered after a training accident

last month. We cannot wait to see her back in action in Sochi. Now it

is time to catch up with one of our stars from the future. Let's see how

one of Yorkshire's finest young Cossacks is getting on. I am James

Woods from Sheffield, and I am a slope style skier. It is going to be

drawn out, down the hill. Every course is different, all the

competitions have different courses. The idea is just to express the best

that you can do and it is judged sport. There are no rules, no one's

saying you cannot do this, you cannot do that, there is none of

that. It is your way of getting down that slope. Obviously stoked to be

in the Olympics, it is fantastic to have the exposure of the widest

audience in our sport. Feeling the pressure of expectation, obviously

it will be fantastic but I just want to do my best. I want to bring that

medal back the Great Britain. I will certainly go out and strive for it,

I just hope everyone realises I will do my best, and we will see how we

do. That's all we have time for. We are heading to Switzerland next week

for the men's giant slalom, where the battles continue. Before that we

have live coverage of the women's downhill next Saturday from

10:30am. You can watch it on the red button, the BBC sport app, or the

full race afterwards on the iPlayer. Press your red button in

approximately 30 seconds, we have the coverage of the World Cup

skeleton competition from Germany. From Bormio, ciao. 18, 17, 16...