10/02/2013 Ski Sunday

Hello and welcome to a very special Ski Sunday. This week we're in

Schladming, Austria, where the best racers in the world have gathered

to battle it out for global supremacy. Yes, that's right. This

old mining town plays host to the 2013 World Championships. Here in

Schladming, the fastest men and women on the planet will be looking

to strike gold. And whoever unearths precious metals will be

following in the footsteps of some Pirmin Zurbriggen. Bode Miller

leads the way. Anja Paerson has stolen the gold medal. Pirmin

Zurbriggen, a spectacular finish. The world championship, gold

So who will be crowed the King and Queen of speed in Schladming? The

big news is that Lindsey Vonn will play no part in the championships

after a crash and suffering a fracture to her lower leg.

Questions are being asked whether the race should have started in

such marginal conditions. More but later in the show but we which

Lindsey Vonn the speediest of recoveries. We will bring you the

thrilling action from the men's world championship downhill, but

it's not all likely and wax today. Later, you can experience what it's

like to film with some of the best riders in the planet as they take

There is undoubtedly gold in them there hills. So tell us to the

prospectors are going to be for the men's downhill? You have Kroell and

Reichelt. They live just down the valley. They will have a very vocal

crowd behind them in Schladming. have the two German-speaking

Italians. Paris and Innerhofer. They have won a two races this

season. What about Axel? He started so well and then dropped away

slightly. He did not defend his title. He will be looking to go

better. World Championships, I'm putting you on the spot. Give me

your top three. I would say, it's difficult. I would say Christof

Innerhofer, Reichelt and Svindal. Now it's time to take a look at the

course. The list of favourites his long and this race is wide-open so

who will discourse sued the best? It doesn't have the length of some

courses, but they have made it as tough as they possibly can buy a

building these jumps. She is the first run, pretty much straight at

the start. And then that you are straight into these rollers. You

Just got to carry as much speed on the top part of the course as

possible. Heading towards the I'm going to have to jump always

Right, now, watched these big wide, sweeping turns, which suit the

Now we're coming to the next to jump. This is where they have

really used to the projection bath. It's very I see here. -- it is very

icy here. You have got to fight to stay higher on the line. As

smoothly as possible. These are the technical terms that you really

have to do well. A nice little roller. And then hard on the skis.

You come back towards this date. Really rough and bumpy. Across the

line. Look at the crowd. What a stadium to come into. Just look at

that. What a place to finish. The World Championships. And the course,

really rough, really bumpy, you're going to have to have really good

colliding skills. As well as superb technique on the lower part of the

course. What a test. Another fascinating insight from the races

perspective. Never gets any less impressive, does it? Now it's time

for the big one. This is the blue Riband event. The one which will

men's downhill with a host nation desperate for a gold medal. Can an

Austrian racer turn himself into a living legend today? Romar from

Finland on his way into the mist at the top. Visibility improves after

a couple of hundred meters. Now he can see where he is going aided by

the definition from the forest on either side of this course. Sporn

is the current leader, 18.4, the interval, and Romar is 0.3 behind.

A little bit scruffy of that Panorama jump. A decent flight

decent line here, absorbing everything which comes his way. Now

downhill by four-tenths. He was not quick at the top of the course but

it shows how much time can be made on this very, very technical

section down towards the finish. It's all about skiing that left-

hander, and staying high, so you can carry the speed towards the

finish. He made up a huge amount of time. David Poisson at on the start.

The feisty little French man is a way. Good, aggressive skiing and

skating at the top from Poisson. Just missed the podium in at

Kitzbuhel. 4th there. Possibly France's best chance of a medal

today. And he is in front. Poisson, really quick across the snow on

these gliding sections. He is taking chances here. It is green

all the way. 0.35 up at the last intermediate time. He has lost his

pole. He is grappling for control. It has not affected his time. Four-

tenths of a second in front. Nice line coming towards the finish. The

noise levels enormous now at the foot of the course. Poisson has to

get this final turn right. He's just outside of the blue racing

Lane but has done enough to lead away. Terrific run it from the

French man. Poisson is off the back of a good result in Kitzbuhel and

approved he's got some technical ability as well. He came onto this

tight finish Turner. He did really, really well. I didn't think he

would have it in him to carry that speed to the finish but a good run

from Poisson. Erik Guay is ready to race, the reigning Men's Downhill

champion. He delivered back-to-back championships s success. Canada the

first man to retain a downhill crown for 40 years? The Canadian in

the start gate. He shaved his head in preparation for the big day. He

of a second. Good top section from Erik Guay. The light improving very

slightly for Guay's runner, a hint of sunshine, and he's got very good

speed. It's getting better. Three- tenths of a second up. Slightly

tense on that landing and he's off towards these bumps. A roller

coaster section, which absorbs nicely. And it is still good. It is

still green for Guay, the Canadian. just switched slightly towards the

outer blue lane -- good lie. Oh, he's in trouble now. Guay it might

miss the gate. He has managed to hold on, just, but he has gone into

the red. And I don't know if he'd lost too much speed to pull it back.

He's lost his concentration, certainly. Looking rather tentative

it right now, Guay. 14 hundredths of a second behind. 139.10 is the

next spurt from the current leader, David Poisson. Guay is more than a

second behind. Really shaky run. And there will be no successful

downhill title defence for Erik Guay, the Canadian. Aisle, and now

he's got the breaks on. He has jammed the skis sideways and is out

turn. He pitched too hard and he knew he made that mistake and he

did not have it in his head mentally to get himself back

together. He managed to miss the last gate. His chances are gone.

The big Norwegian is next to go. Aksel Lund Svindal is a racer for

the big occasion. A former world downhill champion and he won three

medals at the last Winter Olympics. He and his girlfriend both took

bronze. Can one half of the golden the week. Aksel Lund Svindal

appears to have lasted the course. He did not like it when he arrived

and it was warm and it was soft. It is harder and he is more at home.

He has made a good start. Faster than David Poisson at the first

intermediate. It is green all the way for Aksel Lund Svindal. Three-

Half a second up. Bronze medallist at these championships. He got the

bronze in Wednesday's Super-G. Terrific so far. His head bouncing

around. Nearly relaxed over his skis. Nearly a second up. My word,

this is a masterclass from Aksel Lund Svindal. Nearly home. He has

not put a foot wrong. He has speed to near perfection. And the final

10 is brilliant as well. He leads by 0.97. Catch me if you can!

Lund Svindal bid a very interesting move. It was on the third last gate.

He came in over the roller and then he put his skis sideways and he

waited, drifting into the turn, then hammering on the edges to come

out high across the Traverse. He had to smash the gate but that is

OK. He stayed high, within the Blue Line, meaning he did not run too

wide. He was quick at the top and at the bottom, which means it was a

great run. Next is the Italian Dominik Paris. The death metal

loving a rocky skied like a rock legend at Kitzbuehel. His run of

form is continuing. Can he reached big star at home but they love him

take something very tasty to deny Aksel Lund Svindal the gold medal.

Paris is right behind him. Great Italian. Not 0.35 behind. There is

a chance of snatching the silver medal. Possibly pushing David

of The Mall at Kitzbuehel. That was his warm-up. -- of them all. He

cannot beat the time to beat so he is second. Silver medal for Paris

of Italy. I really feared that Dominik Paris was going to spin out

of the course at the top of the finish. He came through the chicane,

and his body was twisted as he hit the roller. He managed to stay so

loose and that is one of the characteristics of his skiing. He

got back on track and got a good second place. Hannes Reichelt is

next. He was superb two weeks ago and just missed out on the podium

place on Wednesday at the Super-G. This course requires skill and

control and should suit his style. Possibly austere's best chance

today. -- Austria's. They have the home advantage in turns of

experience but this is a high Lund Svindal's time. Not bad. It is

getting worse. His chance of winning a gold medal is drifting

first training run. He has not to that gate flat and now his line is

out of shape in this section. He is three-quarters of a second back.

That was a lucky escape! Where is he going? He is not going to finish.

That is a nightmare for the Austrians. There goes one of the

home favourites and somebody that I tipped for the podium. He made that

mistake on that little jump, the roller. He got his tips up and he

was just lucky enough to land early enough. Otherwise he would have

landed clean on his back. Hannes Reichelt is out. Next up, Klaus

Kroll. The Austrians love to see him winning on the snow. It is 10

years since their last champion. He will need at this key of his life

on this course which is not really suited to his impressive style. --

he will need their three of his life. Can he score Austria's first

bit wide of the blue line. 96.9 through the speed gun. Read all the

way. It is getting worse for Klaus Kroll. He will have to produce a

miracle finish now to get himself in among the medals. Risky all the

way. He is stiff and tight and his body language does not look totally

relaxed over the skis. Collective groaning in the finish area. Klaus

Kroll is the last chance of success and it is not going to happen for

the Austrians who so loved skiing. He has made a mess of the finish.

He is outside of the medals, only for off. -- only 4th. The last

Austrian World Champion was 2003. Klaus Kroll really blew it on the

lower part of that cause. If he had speak it well he could have knocked

David Poisson out of third place, but Aksel Lund Svindal's run is

looking stronger and stronger. I Private for his -- pride for his

country? Swiss skiing has been in be something. Silvan Zurbriggen is

OK but not spectacular in training. Some nervous moments for Aksel Lund

Svindal, David Poisson and Paris at tidy. Good line. He is 1.26 behind.

It has gone now. There is no chance of fighting back and getting

himself a place on the podium. Top 10 would be a boost for the Swiss

team. He is out of steam now. His legs have turned to jelly. He is

just about holding on and he is in 6th place. Good result for number

27, Silvan Zurbriggen. Aksel Lund Svindal gets gold, with Dominik

Paris in silver and David Poisson with bronze. One a skier who failed

to impress today, Christof Innerhofer. The Italian could only

manage 14th place, two seconds off You have done it before. How much

better is it to do It again? That is difficult to answer. It feels

very good every time. Maybe the first time was the best. It is hard

to beat this. 4000 spectators. That is a good feeling when you cross

the finish line. I skied very easy, so I take not so strong on the snow.

It was good. He savages the season with a glorious win at the World

Championships. -- salvages. Was it a case of whoever made are the

least mistakes that won? He skied within himself in the lower section

but he was very fast all over. about Paris? He looked very

comfortable. He was so loose and relaxed. Very exciting to watch. A

good race for David Poisson as well, backing up a good performance at

Kitzbuehel recently. Now it is time for our final feature on our

journey through Alaska. We went up against the riders that pit

themselves against the steepest slopes on earth. It was an

emotional week for everybody During my trip through Alaska, I

had come to realise why this place has long been regarded as the final

frontier for back-country snow sport enthusiasts. And the ultimate

proving ground for the elite skiers and snowboarders. Visiting at the

end of last season, Alaska was serving up its final days of good

snow conditions. So time was certainly of the essence in making

the most of this last opportunity. And, for the final chapter of my

trip, I had a very special assignment. I would be heading

north via the town of Juneau to meet up with one of snow boarding's

most respected film crews. An outfit renowned for capturing back-

country snowboarding in its purest form. A team that is constantly

pushing the boundaries. They work with the best riders in the world

in the best locations in the world. And for the next few days, I'd be

joining them. But what I couldn't know was the extreme danger that

the team would face along the way which almost ended in disaster. It

was set to be a very interesting couple of days. We're that far

north, it's extremely light at quarter to six but there is a light

cloud of haze, high cirrus cloud. It was clear last night but the

windows are so, so short, so we have got to be ready to take it.

It's about 20 minutes' drive up to the heli take-off point. Once we

get there, a decision will be made. It was clear from the outset that

the crew were very close-knit. Expertly led by renowned snowboard

film-maker Justin Hostynek. A dedicated veteran of back-country

cinematography, he's a perfectionist with an acute eye for

detail. You're in very good hands with Justin because, obviously,

it's what I would call the upper echelon of snowboarding,

cinematography. I appreciate all the space he gives us to make

decisions and I open my ears as wide as they'll go whenever he

talks because he's an incredibly knowledgeable person. I'm trying to

make a film for the riders that are in it. That's my ideal audience.

That's who I'm trying to please because they are on the forefront

of snowboarding. And they are the It's no frills. We've got to get up

there and just film lines. That's the only purpose. There's no lunch,

no messing around, no sightseeing. These guys are focused on one task,

getting the last shot squeezed out of the season. As we made the

ascent, and with the weather gods shining down on us, I got the

feeling the stage was set for I don't know if I'm going to make

This is the equivalent of having front row seats at the Nou Camp for

a Champions League final. I'm about For me, personally, that was one of

the best moments of live sport I've This morning when we got up it was

anticipation but not too much nerves or anxiety. And the closer

we got, I noticed you guys got a bit quieter and a bit more focused.

That must be quite a difficult period to deal with. Until now,

there is elation. You're getting relaxed again. But that build-up of

pressure must be huge into the first run? You just know that

you're going to go out and ride the biggest, amazing train. Biggest

line of the year, maybe. Maybe the biggest line of your life. You're

going to get dropped in from a helicopter, towed in. One ski

barely dangling. You're going to jump out. There will be thousands

of tons of pressure from the snow hammering down on you. The biggest

line I've ever seen. You guys always make me feel comfortable

getting out of the heli. He has no problem getting out on a kitchen

table. The sheer drop of the backside, you know, the exposure.

The first time we did, I saw him hop out and I thought that's how

you do it. Hop out and stand there. Thumbs up. Give the thumbs up and

take off. All right, here we are. Blair and Gigi seemed all most

euphoric with relief at what they had achieved as we headed to the

second location for the day. But, as the boys were about to make

their runs, the mountain let out an What happened there, Justin? They

had a bit of a release on the top of that thing. It looks like any

part of that slope they touch will release too. So they are not going

to want to ride into that. That's Lots of ups. A few downs. The risks

in reaching these areas are all too apparent with weather fronts and

avalanche a constant and unnerring threat. But with a hunger to push

the snowboarding movie genre to places its never been before, these

risks are an accepted yet unwelcome occupational hazard. Knowing your

limits is something you often learn There is a big learning process to

be able to thrive in these mountains. And it's pretty easy to

get in over your head. It happens all the time. And, yeah, it's a

humbling situation when that happens. I remember my first heli

trip, looking out of the heli at the lines, thinking, "Yeah, I can

get down there easy. Connect that." And then you get on there and

you're like, this is way bigger than I thought! It's easy to say,

"Yeah, I got that. I'm going to ride that." But it's pretty

difficult to say no and to pull out. And if something isn't right, you

get a funny feeling. Being able to say no, even though you have four

guys who have spent two hours getting ready for a shot.

I had no control at all. And it's a feeling I don't really want to

experience again. I got her. She's rolling. She's on top. You can see

the fear in their eyes. That's something I watch for. If you see a

lot of signs of fear, that means the confidence is not there. And if

the confidence is not there, something is probably going to go

Day two, 5.15 in the morning. It could be, by the sounds of it, our

last day. The weather comes in really hard apparently at some

point today. That's the forecast. So if it's out there, we've got to

make the most of it. The waiting game had begun. An all too common

trait in this most unpredictable of environments. Have you developed a

routine for dealing with Alaska? You could say there's kind of a

routine. One is having patience. Not to freak out. Probably the most

overwhelming thing up here is, once you step out in your snowboard

clothes, it's on. The really difficult part for them is to go

from not knowing whether they are going to be snowboarding, to being

on the mountain and laying it all on the line in a really short

timespan. You know, going from zero to 100. It must feel like,

immediately. And then that time eventually came as a clearing in

the weather appeared later that day, but with fading light, time was

against us. This was the last chance. Look at this. When Justin

I've been watching the weather all day. An hour-and-a-half of light

left to go fly. We just found out the helicopter isn't available

tomorrow so this is our last hit. Gigi and Blair have got to get in a

head space of riding that terrain. Al, the pilot, is going to fly back

to Juneau tonight which means this We had an hour to do something that

had never been done before. And we failed. We kind of knew, going into

it, that we were not set up to come out of it with what we were hoping

You know, we went to drop Blair off. I thought he was getting out onto

the rock. The snow bridge collapsed and he fell in this hole. He went

out of my view pretty quickly. A lot of it was maybe because we

raced into it. It's a dangerous Blair fell through a chasm in the

snow. He was very nearly killed. The team struggled desperately to

get him back. I went to get out of the helicopter, I turned around,

lowered myself down and held on to the middle bar. Put both of my feet

and dropped straight through. was clear that he was in there. He

was kinda on the rock side of a mountain, not the corner side, so

that's where I would prefer he was. He was straddling this rock.

Sitting like this and then the whole thing opened up and they flew

off. I didn't have my board or anything. I just sat there. I knew

he had to be just terrified because he was in a scary spot. Blair put

his arm out to me and I had to grab his arm and just like put one foot

on the step. They connected hands like that and then, on a head nod,

basically he jumped into the helicopter grabbed his backpack and

threw him over my lap into the other side of the helicopter and we

flew away. I'm just happy that I'm all right. I almost fell off a

1,500 foot mountain. Oh, Alaska. I'd be more than happy if that

never happens again. Definitely quite a way to end the season. But,

hey, I'm all right so... I'll try again next year. The team were

clearly shaken after the incident. In their eagerness to capture the

ultimate shot, and race against the weather and fading light, Blair

came very close to not returning from the mountain. The risks in

pushing the sport beyond previous parameters are well known. Although

managing those risks at all times Having the opportunity to glimpse

the extraordinary lengths these film-makers go to for only a brief

moment within a movie was truly astonishing and gave me a new

appreciation of what goes into delivering these images to the

My time in Alaska had come to an end. But I know I will be back for

more soon enough. Alaska, it's been The dangers of the mountains are

never far from your mind when you are riding a not just in Alaska.

Here in the Alps, too. No one is more aware of the many perils of

this environment than Olympic champion. Ski racing is like no

other sport. The risks are high and the margins for error are slender.

You are competing against the clock, the mountain and all that it throws

That was a really long day. We were sitting in the large, pretty much

all day, getting ready to race. was hard, of course, to wait and

conditions were difficult. After a while, a lot of us didn't think we

would be racing but then, of course, the fog cleared miraculously and we

are ready to go and that's how ski racing is. After a four-hour delay

All eyes were on a 28-year-old American, the darling of downhill,

hospital. She had torn her cruciate ligaments and fractured her tibia.

Her season was over. Such a pity what happened to her. I wish her

all the best that she will recover quickly and come back stronger.

Afterwards, actually seeing the crash, it was really horrible.

is a strong athlete and ensure she will manage to. Do you trust the

organisers that the conditions are safe when you go skiing? It depends,

it's not always so easy. The there was injuries, and the race was

broken because it was dark at the end, so, for me, it was the wrong

It goes without saying, we wish Lindsey Vonn the speediest of

recoveries. The big question now, with just under a year to the

Olympics, is whether she can make a full recovery. She will have the

best medical attention. She's had a knee reconstruction, and it will be

six months before your back on the snow, so she is looking at

southern-hemisphere skiing. She will push it, definitely. Do you

think that race should have gone ahead? They started a very late in

the day. In marginal snow conditions. Lindsey Vonn crashed

and in the end, they ran out of time and some of the races could

not start, so the short answer, grown know. Pretty emphatic. Now

it's time for the rest of the news from winter sport. Britain has

pulled out to the World Championships after injuring

herself in downhill training -- Alcott. She has been told to rest

after a high-speed crash. Katie the summer haze recorded her best

result with a silver at the World Cup event in Switzerland. More

British success in the 1,500 short track speed skating World Cup

yesterday. At the World Championships, the US beat he had a

reason to smile again after sealing victory in the men's super-G on

Wednesday. Germany got the gold in the women's Super combined. Plenty

more World Championship action if you press the red button after the

show, then you cannot highlights of the Womens Downhill on Ski Sunday

Extra. And you can watch the remaining races on the red button

and the website plus keep your questions coming on Twitter. Next