Schladming Ski Sunday

Since the dawn of man, our gaze has been firmly fixed on the stars. The

birth of the star requires the right conditions. All the elements are

drawn together into a swirling vortex until the star bursts into

life. Our obsession with the night sky remains strong to this day and

when night falls over Schladming, the stars of slalom come out. They

too were formed over many years, under huge pressure, releasing vast

amounts of energy. COMMENTATOR: Oh yes he's done it! A

constellation of superstars has gathered here, each looking to dwarf

the other's achievements. When it comes to the night slalom in

Schladming, they can be only one name written in the stars. Who will

shine brightest in Schladming? Hello and welcome to Schladming,

home of the famous night slalom. This is a race like no other. A

floodlit slope with 50,000 fans flanking the Planai. The noise can

go from a day into an eerie silence if the home favourite stone go so

well. One Brit hoping to silence the crowd will be Dave Riding. But we

know it will be contested between two standout skiers from the

technical disciplines. Later in the show, Jenny Jones has

been spending some time with the GB freestyle team at the Laax Opoen. I

don't want to laugh but I think he has just gone straight off the back

of the quarter pipe! First, though, it's the night slalom here in

Schladming and where else to start but Henry Christofferson.

He has won five of the six World Cup slaloms this season, including the

last three. All classic races. COMMENTATOR: Henrik Kristoffersen

has one of the all-time great races to take the win. It will be an

historic event in ski racing not seen since the superstars of the 70s

and 80s and 90s. It's like a tennis player or golfer winning all four

majors in one season. The press and media are obviously making a fuss,

and Kristoffersen himself is keeping a steely focus on the job at hand

and won't give interviews just before the race.

You need to work on your strangulation technique because I

saw that at the finish! It's joking, at it was a really good fight

against Henrik. At the moment he is for sure the favourite and a guy to

beat. We really thought he was unbeatable and then comes this

really young Norwegian who is probably half the weight of all the

others and he's just flying through the gates. He doesn't use the power

that the others have, because so skinny. What do you think that

Kristoffersen is doing this season that has given him the edge to catch

you up, basically? So, if there is no Henrik Kristoffersen, nothing

changed. He would get better and better. He seems to me to be forging

new territory for slalom technique like a pioneer. Definitely. We were

working on that turn for five or six years and now it starts to be off

and we have a little bit of a different approach in traditional

slalom terms and it seems to work. It doesn't matter if he makes

mistakes or he is not perfect in each turn, his ground speed is

definitely way higher than mine. I'm pushing it as hard as I can. It is

really nice to watch him, how smooth and clean he is going through all

those terms. It spurs me on. It's important to put in context

Kristoffersen's results, because he is not consistently beating weekend

fields, he is consistently beating world champions. And particularly

Marcel Hirscher, who has owned the technical disciplines over the last

three-year is. Kristoffersen has been lucky on a couple of occasions,

just a few hundredths of a second separating them into two races. Is

there anyone who can challenge those two at the top? I think everyone

else is actually racing for third place. Probably last year's winner

as got the best chance, Alexander, but those two have got a

stranglehold on slalom right now. Looking a bit lower than third but

not too far, Dave Ryding, the Brit. Was he unlike in the last race? Very

unlucky. He let it rip on the second one. But it was such a tough course.

Hopefully he can produce a good result tonight. Confidence is high.

The first thing Dave has got to do is secure himself a second run. We

always get a tight finish here in Schaldming, and it always

delivered. The field tried and failed to match his time. Closest

was the Italian, Stefano Gross. Prerace favourite Henrik

Kristoffersen had his mum in the crowd cheering him on. The defending

champion skied into fourth place. The soft conditions after warm

temperatures and rain on Monday made the Planai particular difficult to

navigate, but Marcel Hirscher couldn't use that as an excuse. But

he did complain that his goggle lenses were incorrectly fixed. The

Austrian finds himself way back in 20 Second Place. Britain's Dave

Ryding will race again in round two, skiing from 20th, his earliest ever

start number in a World Cup. He finished in 18th place. What

happened to the stranglehold of our two favourites? Marcel Hirscher had

a goggle problem, his lenses were put in the wrong way round so that

the antifog which is normally on the inside was on the outside. All the

winter splashing from the gates made it go all blurry and he couldn't see

anything. He had a bit of a shocker. Henrik Kristoffersen just didn't

adapt to the difference in slope conditions. But we do know that he

can make up deficits greater than this, so he's still a threat. It's

possible but Felix loves conditions like this and he said this is the

first time he's felt well. His girlfriend is here in the crowd and

he wanted to prove to her that he could still ski. It's time to fired

out if Dave Ryding can finally cracked the top ten. Over to the

commentary. COMMENTATOR: It will be misty mayhem

for the second run in Schladming. There is not a vantage point

available anywhere. Marcel Hirscher's goggles have been looked

at and studied, wiped and double-checked by the various

coaches and technicians around. He had a problem with the first run,

the lens had been fitted the wrong way round, would you believe? He had

fog in his vision and was unable to see clearly down the Planai. P is

off to a good start in the second leg, though. Good advantage. Look at

Marcel Hirscher here! He is attacking the second run and more

than a second in front. Hirscher wants to fight back after the

disappointment of the first leg. He had fog in his goggles on the first

run and there is fog in the air in the second leg, flares on fire at

the side of the course and Hirscher is on fire on the Planai. A

brilliant run for Marcel Hirscher, who leads by nearly a full circuit.

That is the perfect way to fight back.

That has made these guys very, very happy. Marcel Hirscher throwing down

the gauntlet on the second run. Still an enormous mountain to climb.

His second... That is a very present second run. Just shows what you can

do when you can actually see where you're going.

The German 21st after the first run, Dominik Stehle. His advantage is for

hundreds of a second and this has two big a run of his life to compete

with Hirscher. -- has to make the run of his life. He is .63 behind.

1.13.7 eight. No danger to the Austrian leader in the Austrian

night slalom. Next to go will be Axel Beck of Sweden.

Dominik Stehle home and dry in second for the moment. Into second

position and happy with that. Next to race, 29-year-old Dave Ryding

from Great Britain. His lead over Marcel Hirscher is 1800s of a

second. What a season Ryding has had. The highlight being that

personal best 12th position at the Valdez air slalom before Christmas.

Can he backed it up with another top 15 result that would be his third

top 15 result of the season if he can? Marcel Hirscher's league is

1.12.80 nine. Ryding is more than a second down, that is how good Marcel

Hirscher was on the second run on the Planai. Ryding looking to

consolidate his position. Once again he is skiing beautiful slalom here,

Dave Ryding. 1.23 off the pace. It could be good enough potentially for

a top five finish provisionally but he won't do anything about Marcel

Hirscher's lead, and it is sixth place in the end for Ryding. No

disgrace. He will have to wait and see where he finishes. Another solid

result at the pinnacle of his sport. That was a strong performance from

Dave Ryding, couldn't quite match Marcel Hirscher but I'm not sure

there will be many that could. Interesting that Marcel Hirscher --

Ryding picked up a bit of time in the middle section of the course,

that where is Marcel Hirscher made a slight mistake and it will be

interesting at some point because someone will take some time off

Marcel Hirscher. Nor .87, his advantage over Marcel

Hirscher. Can he convert that into an advantage? That is a nice start.

Moving nicely from turn to turn. Foss-Solevaag. His advantage might

have been even further reduced following those mistakes.

Foss-Solevaag clocks 1.13.60 one. 1.72 now the best he can potentially

hope for. I would think now a top five. After such a good start. Nor

.82 down, now. Just about holding on. And then he's in trouble! Opened

the tale of his skis for a split second.

Foss-Solevaag goes into third. The top two positions still the same. As

every racer comes down and failed to beat Marcel Hirscher, these guys are

getting more excited. It is only a matter of time before her should get

beaten. Marcel Hersh can't believe it!

Should he take his first ever World Cup victory here tonight, you can

bet the Austrian crowd will be claiming Fritz Dopfer as one of

their own. Fritz Dopfer is still looking for

that elusive first World Cup win. His advantage over Marcel Hersh,

here's ill three quarters of the second and so far, then he is late.

He has paid the price for the mistakes.

He meet the next intermediate time, half a second down. Herschel's lead

is safe. Fritz Dopfer can do nothing about it. Fritz Dopfer comes home to

go third provisionally. Her show can now finish no worse than seven.

These guys knows that Fritz Dopfer is an inform skier and they are

getting very excited now at the finish!

As he hits the intermediate, he is holding on a fairly decent time.

This is the tricky part of the course which is cutting up

dramatically underfoot. The roar goes up from the Austrian fans and

it is over for Mattias Hargin. He is out. The skis have to go the same

side of the control gate. That is instant disqualification.

Now it is looking like her show could even make the podium for an

incredibly bad first run. If he were to win, it would be one of the

biggest comebacks in slalom ever. The American had the run of his life

in the first leg. His lead over Marcel Hersh is significant. He has

got to throw caution to the win if he wants to get involved in the

podium places tonight. Six tenths have fallen by the wayside somewhere

along the way. As he hits the next intermediate, he too is behind

Herschel. That calls for instant celebration from the Austrians. They

will blow their pawns and wave their flags in an effort to further

distract Dave Chodounsky here tonight.

Last year's winner is having a frustrating season but he is never

short of support and he has inspired his daughter to take up skiing on

his own skis. Can Alexander make this race seem like child's play and

prove he is the daddy? The Russian who won this race 12

months ago. For after the first run. Nearly a second and a half after

Marcel Hirscher. A little back-seat driving for the Russians. Most of

his advantage has been scraped away. It is 0.75 in front. He has got a

big chunk of time in his favour. He cannot do anything about it. Listen

into the raw! Another one has tried and failed. Hirscher stands and

watches at the foot of the Planai as racer after racer after racer comes

down and misses the target. He is 0.35 down. He might go into the top

three provisionally but can he beat Hirscher? I don't think so. It is

close, he is second. 0.16 down. He came close with a fast finish.

Last year's winner has got the closest so far. Every skier that

goes down, the track is getting rougher and bumpier and that is what

is slowing the guys down. The ticker lily on the top of the course. That

is when they are missing most of their speed.

-- particularly on the top of the course. Henrik Kristofferson seems

the winning everything at the moment, and that includes this rally

race against Hirscher. Kristofferson drove to victory and he is hoping

his speed and skill will give him victory tonight.

Henrik Kristofferson from Norway. He has won all but one of the slalom

races this season. That was a slightly stumbling start, but no

matter, he is off and running. His advantage over Marcel Hirscher is

1.24 seconds. At last, someone offers a serious challenge. Another

slip from the Norwegian. His lead has been reduced to just 0.38 of a

second. It has been a run peppered with mistakes from Henrik

Kristofferson. But still the green light on. It is a bit laboured

through the soft snow at the bottom of the course. Still in front, half

a second. Is Marcel Hirscher's long time in the leader 's enclosure

finally coming to an end, as Kristofferson accelerates to the

line. He has got it! He is first for Norway, 0.61 in front.

Kristofferson started that run brilliantly but then a big mistake

as the piste doglegs round to the left, it cost Kristofferson almost

all of his time. The crowd thought it would happen but nor -- normal

service resumed. Two more left to go. The penultimate

race in the night race, Stefano Gross of Italy. He is skidding and

slipping, he is having to work hard to keep it carving. His advantage

over Kristofferson was half a second, it is now just two tenths.

Gross has got a long way to go into this particularly difficult part of

the course. A couple of really challenging gates and it is read for

the Italian. He is all over the shop! Goodness me! Gross is just

about hanging on to some phlegm blimps of slalom skiing here but he

is going to be behind -- some semblance of slalom skiing. I think

now Marcel Hirscher is probably guaranteed a place on the podium,

having finished only 27 in the first run. The Austrians celebrate. Marcel

Hirscher will be on the World Cup podium tonight.

That is a shame. A big mistake from Stefano Gross in the steep section

of the course. The tip rolled into the start and that is what cost him

the race. The man left at the start, he loves these conditions. He could

win this race still. This is not necessarily all about Kristofferson

and Hirscher. His advantage over the current

leader is more than a second. Neureuther can afford a mistake or

two. Lots of German fans here cheering Felix Neureuther through

every turn. Now into the trickiest part of the course. He is a little

bit over the tale of the skis. It is a green light still for Felix

Neureuther. He is looking for his first win of the season. He has got

to keep it clean on the bottom part of the course. And he straddled it

out! Neureuther does not finish the second run. Two stories here

tonight. Kristofferson's sixth win of the season. But also the tale of

Marcel Hirscher's incredible comeback, from lowly 22nd to

finished second overall. Spare a thought for Felix Neureuther.

That is a shame that Felix Neureuther crashed out because he is

widely admired and respected on the World Cup tour. It was a topsy-turvy

way of getting to it, but the three predicted favourites finished in

one, two and three and that confirms Kristofferson as winner of all the

classic slaloms this season. I did not expect this. I knew I

could be fighting for the wins on the podiums, but to win six out of

seven races, and now four in a row, and all the big classics you have in

the World Cup tour, words can't describe it. Tell me about the

problems on the first run, vision problems?

Yes, form the fifth gate to the finish, I couldn't see nearly

nothing. I thought, are they joking on me? What happens? The second run

was quite phenomenal, to make up from 22nd to finish on the podium? I

pushed it as hard as possible. On the podium, you had your daughter, a

special moment? Yes, she is always asking about me and misses me. We

don't spend much time together. She sees me and always wants to go to

me. Dave, 16th place, are you happy with

that result? Yes, a good day at the office. I could have been slightly

faster at the top but I was really pleased. I have done a lot of work

this summer on my technique and I seemed to be pretty good down there,

so a good night. Win number 64 Henrik Kristofferson

of Norway. An incredible second position for Marcel Hirscher and

third place for last year's winner Alexander Khoroshilov of Russia.

Britain was that Dave Ryding was in 16th.

On Saturday, we have live coverage of the women's downhill race which

you can see on the red button or online.

We have had alpine on our minds here in Austria but last week, over the

border in Switzerland, Laax had a prestige event where the best

snowboarders in the world were competing in freestyle and half

pipe. Jenny Jones has been speaking to people to find out how they

prepare for one of the biggest events on the calendar.

We are just driving into Laax now in Switzerland. We are driving to one

of the many contests that snowboarders do in winter. We are

hoping to meet up with the team GB crew to find out what goes on behind

the scenes when you are competing. Although you are in this beautiful

places, you only see them for one or two days and the focus is to land

your tricks on some snowy jumps, hopefully get into the top three and

then leave again! That is once I have found the hotel!

Is it important for you guys to tick all the boxes and go to all these

competitions, or do you like it? When I am there, I think I do not

enjoy this whole contest thing, but I keep taking myself to contests.

You must love them a bit, you must like the challenge? When it is good,

it is good. It is all right when you land on your feet. Is that how you

feel? I like them now. Did you not like them before? I did, but I was

way more nervous. Should you be in bed yet? No, you have got ages!

Are a MUSIC

Generally, this weather seems to help the contest, which I definitely

don't miss, waiting around. Let's chat to a few people. You all right?

Can't see anything! What have they said about you starting the comp?

Apparently they're going to do about 45 minutes when you can see. What's

fascinating about that is that actually every single course is

completely different. No one knows what they're going to get. Sometimes

it will suit different types of riders and you just generally don't

know. But they all have to get down the same course. I managed to sneak

out your way so we can have a fewer little runs together on the powder.

For me Katie is one of the most exciting new riders. How has your

season gone so far? Yeah, really good. I thought maybe that meant you

got the invite. Does it mean quite a lot to you? Yes because it's one of

the biggest events and is one of those things that you just want to

get when you're starting snowboarding. I'm just so excited.

You must be aware that people are seeing you as the next big thing,

aren't they? Do you feel that pressure? I need to ride at my best.

It's getting easier and my riding is getting better in a competition and

it just makes you less nervous. Katie's competition in Laax never

really got going. A minor injury to her shoulder ruled of qualifying.

This is where the judges are, in this tiny little box. We can see the

whole course from top to bottom. We've got three sets of tricked

judges that will each put a score in the two features. -- four of two

features. Now they can micro-focus on just two features. It allows them

to evaluate the trick that is done in a more meaningful way. And

comparison to all the other riders. Exactly. I've always wanted to ask,

do you ever watched an athlete so many times that you know every

single trick they're going to do? Does that sometimes devalue the

tricks in your mind without them realising -- without you realising?

The evaluate it for the rider on that day. The answer is no we don't.

Sometimes we will say I've seen that better, but it's still compared to

what happens on that day. We actually heading into the rider

coral 's zone, how would you feel right now? With the good, I woke up

this morning and the weather doesn't get much more perfect than this.

This is your start guy right here. This is serious stuff for him. He

doesn't like to get in the way but he needs the note... A bit of

camaraderie with the athlete sometimes? Yeah. Oh, he's ready,

with better get out of the way. With Katie out, GB hopes in the British

comp rested with Amy Fuller. You went to big on the back three? I

went to the bottom, absolutely gutted. Second run done and over.

I'm out. In the men's competition, packed with slopestyle Superstars,

Billy Morgan had done brilliantly to make the final. I knew he had the

tricks in his locker to podium but he didn't start well. No! Not cool.

I don't want to laugh but he has just tumbled off the back of the

quarter pipe! Maybe he's OK. Off the back of the quarter pipe! Nice!

No! Oh no! He just fluffed the quarter pipe. How do you feel about

that whole scenario? I've got to just take it on the chin. I had a

lot of fun. What happens now? I'm probably going to get drunk! There

you have it. Ebert in all that effort and that is four days of

training for 30 seconds and it's over, it's just the nature of the

beast. -- he put in all effort. Onto next contest.

If you want to see more action from Laax, the half pipe and slopestyle

are on iPlayer. Canadian Spencer O'Brien took victory. In the women's

ski slopestyle, there was a youngest ever gold medal winner, just 13

years old. Mark McMorris took the men's title. James Woods rides in

the ski slopestyle final. Victoria from Germany took the win.

In the men's downhill, this Norwegian recorded his first victory

in a World Cup race. With the winter season in the Alps in full swing,

it's easy to forget that our options for skiing and snowboarding on our

home snow. Tim has been to Glencoe in Scotland, a forward-thinking

resort that has also been looking back to a very special anniversary

year. Leave the great shipyards of Glasgow

and head north and the scenery begins to morph around you. Just one

and a half hours drive from Scotland's largest city you will

find Rannoch Moor, one of the last remaining wilderness-- wildernesses

in Europe. By trial and error and a lot of

energy we decided that Glencoe was the place that gave us the chance of

a permanent long straight drift of snow that you can actually rely on.

Glencoe is the nearest thing to an Alpine slopes there is. It's got the

angle and you really do look down. Philip Rankin was one of many

enthusiastic post-war skiers that's simply grew tired of slogging up

this mountain the hard way. He left his job and through his bowler hat

into the River Clyde and quite simply never looked back. In 1952I

got charged with the Scottish journal and I started to bang my

drum about this mountain in Glen Coe. Having shut my mouth off, I was

put in charge of it. The ski club can claim the credit for the first

ski lift in Scotland. In the summer of 1955 it was erected.

These guys were real hard-core. They had a vision and it was going to

happen, whether they had helped or not. It's all thanks to him that

skiing is happening in Scotland really, because without his

inspiration there wouldn't be any of the resorts, I don't think. On the

60th anniversary of the first permit lived here on Glencoe I'm going back

to my roots, because believe it or not the very first time that I'd

snowboarding on snow was here over 20 years ago. -- that I snowboard

it. Just look at this. You wouldn't think you were in the British Isles,

would you? I'm following the same route that Philip and his colleagues

used to transport tonnes of machinery up by hand 60 years ago.

The overnight slow is perfect to ride and luckily for me, pretty

soft. Amazingly, I still have two more lifts to take to reach the

summit, where I'm meeting the owner,. Here we are at the top,

breathtaking views from up here. It's hard to imagine Philip and the

boys back in the day lugging all that equipment right up here to the

top. It was incredible. We are almost 3700 feet up here and they

have got all the kid from about 1000 feet below. They got all the kit and

brought it up back in those days. Proper dedication there. We've made

it to the top, we should head down, I reckon. Yes, bit of local

knowledge! I think the first few years there were probably more

mountaineers than skiers! They are all quite used to walking a

long-distance. Because the weather can be surprisingly new do get a

good day it makes it all the more worthwhile. Beautiful blue skies,

powdery snow, it doesn't get any better than this. Andy is taking me

to meet ex-British slopestyle Champions Cup McMorris and a local

hero. With the weather closing in we take one last right at the top but

this time we aren't taking the T-bar.

It's got the best natural terrain. This is where the best riders will

come. It's hard-core compared to the other ones.

We have that hard-core of skiers who actually don't like us to groom the

piste. They like the bits that they can play about on. Whatever they've

done all over Scotland now, they have still got nowhere near the

standard of Blanco for the standard of skiing -- near the standard of

Glen Coe and you can see it in the standard of skiing. This question

wants to know how to progress from straight Bears to spinning on a slow

board? We need some snow. And a little bit of daylight. -- from

straight airs. A ridge like this works perfectly because you can

cheat the angle of your rotation. You can start nice and small. There

is backside, when you turn your back to the landing and then there is

front side, when you open up your front to the landing. A backside 180

and a switched side 180 together, you get a backside 360. The only

thing keeping you from a 1260 after that is speed and commitment! That

was much harder than it looks because the snow was incredibly wet

and soft, that's my excuse anyway! A couple of questions in about your

run down the course last week. Holly wants to know what time you actually

did the course in? Time for my excuses, I am skiing in an over suit

carrying a camera and trying to talk! Really rough there! I got down

in two minutes 20, 28 seconds behind the winner, Phil. It means you came

20 Sixth Place! For others crashed! To answer your question, I haven't

rest doing a camera run yet. There's nothing wrong with a little tumble,

is there, Steve? You can send them in. Ben Burley wasn't put off by his

crash either. We were shocked by the crashes last week but despite

tearing his ACL, the Finnish skier was in remarkably good spirits,

playing Rock paper scissors for who would go into surgery first! You've

done a bit of this? I have, but not on the open roads because that's

technically illegal. You guys are awesome! Keep sending

in your pictures, videos and questions. Use the hashtag Ski

Sunday. We will feature the best next week's show. That's all we've

got time for but we will be back next week from Pyongchang in South

Korea ahead of the test event for the Olympics. They will have Olympic

glory and history very much on their minds.

COMMENTATOR: Going for the kamikaze technique!

There's the time, it's coming up now, 1.45.7! The crowd go wild!