Adelboden - Slalom Ski Sunday

Happy New Year. It is a time for

looking forward.

Being positive.

Making resolutions to be better.

Whoever you are.

Step one - be more active.

Get out more.

Two... Improve time

keeping.

Where were you?

Sorry. I was busy.

He's done it. 900ths of a second.

Three, learn something new.

Have you seen... Four, travel the

world. There's only one destination

on everyone's mind - South Korea.

Welcome to Ski Sunday.

With Christmas and New Year behind

us, we're getting very

excited about the next

few

months as we build towards

the biggest Winter Olympics

ever.

Yes, we're heading into

the classics season - we've got

Wengen, Kitzbuehel and Schladming

coming up in the next

few weeks, and it all starts

with today's slalom from

Adelboden.

There are 20,000 fans

here ready to cheer on

their idols in the men's slalom.

Feast your eyes on this.

What are you thinking now? Wish you

hadn't drawn that picture?

Why have you built that jump?

To

find that rush that we used to get

as a kid - that big John Major in

the park.

Trying to recapture that,

oh, my goodness feel -- that big

jump in the park. Trying to

recapture that, oh, my goodness

feeling.

The people in the village thought it

would avalanche on them. It is

ridiculous. Back to the men slalom.

The depth of talent is incredible.

right in the mix is

our own Dave Ryding.

But at the top of the pile is modern

great of Alpine, Marcel Hirscher.

The World Cup leader is the very

much the man to beat at the moment.

The golden double for Marcel

Hirscher...

Takes it by a mile!

Hirs hirs has crushed the

opposition.

The master of slalom and

giant slalom...

He's in the form of his life. Where

does he stand in your list of all

time greats?

He's close to being the

greatest all of time. Six

back-to-back wins. The only thing

missing is that Olympic gold. He

could go and potentially win three.

What sets him apart from the rest of

the field?

I think when he was a

junior racer, he always attacked

100%. He makes great recoveries when

he makes a mistake. He also doesn't

blame himself. If he makes a mistake

on one run he will change his set up

and go at it hard on the second run.

That is why you sometimes see these

great second runs from Marcel

Hirscher.

We have seen Henrik

Kristoffersen pushing hard. He seems

to have dropped back. Has Marcel

Hirscher ground him down or has

Kristoffersen lost his mojo?

At the

start of the season Kristoffersen

wasn't on the form of last year.

He's got fired up into this classics

run. He's pushing very hard and he's

got that fire in his belly.

What

about Dave Ryding - he set high

standards last year.

He's made

massive improvement from last year.

He was the fastest on the mountain.

Crashed out a few gates from home on

the second run, but that was

basically a win in the bag. He had

problems with his vision and

couldn't see, ended up 19th. He's on

a run. In Oslo he was fourth. That

took him ahead of my brother's

record for top ten British

performances. A few days ago, in

Zagreb, seventh. If he puts down his

best skiing he will be the one

challenging them.

We are lucky to

have a race at all. Torrential rain

created a landslide that washed away

half of the only road into

Adelboden.

Organisers and competitors whatted

to get in via helicopter. The

atmosphere is bubbling up nicely

now. Only the fastest 30 race again.

Matt Chilton has the commentary for

run 1.

Michael Mat...

He's first to go. He's got a nice

clean course under foot. The younger

brother of Mario, who won here in

2008 and is the reigning Olympic

champion. Won in Sochi two years

ago. A sea of faces below. Not

particularly friendly if you are an

Austrian, because they are keen

Swiss ski racing fans, most of them.

A decent run from him. He's setting

the pace in this first leg and

finishes cleanly. 56. 03. A pretty

good run.

That is a great run. He 's very good

at skiing a longer distance with his

skis. Skis very much from behind. He

does nothing to slow himself down.

Coming on to that is a big offset,

the gates were set a long way, from

side to side and that played into

Matt's skills.

Ready to race is

Andre Myhrer. The Swede is a World

Cup veteran, 25 podiums and eight

victories. When he's not racing, he

loves to play guitar and is a big

fan of Jimmy when distribution. Can

Andre be the wild thing and take

victory today?

THE COMMENTATOR: Andre Myhrer from

Sweden.

A tall, rangy figure. Out of the

stall from number two. Myhrer has

enjoyed success here in the past. He

was second in the Adelboden slalom

back in 2014.

The winner of the Oslo parallel

slalom race on New Year's Day,

coming into Adelboden full of

confidence. Trails like mad at the

intermediate, by a third of a

second. Now it has gone from flat to

seriously steep. And the Swede has

to work hard.

A little late with one or two of

these closing turns.

Point 3.4 behind. A couple of skids

on the steep. It looks as if Andre

Myhrer will finish.

Myhrer, of Sweden chasing Michael

Matt's time.

Dave Ryding progressed to icy alpine

pitches and is a top performer. He

has a love of football. He grew up

supporting Liverpool. Can the Rocket

cop it and pocket Britain's first

ever World Cup win?

THE COMMENTATOR: Racer number three

in the start. Dave Ryding, from

Great Britain. Back in the top group

of starters now. Following a

consistent run of form.

Early start for Dave. So a nice,

clean track under foot. Should be

good on the flats. That is his

speciality. There's a seriously

steep section to finish this run

coming up at the bottom. Current

leader Michael Matt. Ryding is not

far behind. 0.3.5. Seventh in Zagreb

last week. Fourth in the Oslo

parallel event. Ryding hits the

steep. Nice and high on the line.

Excellent ski from the man who

learnt his trade on the plastic

slope of Kennedle, Lancashire. 1.9

behind a point of heavy edge sets

from Dave Ryding. Now he's back in

the group. Starting to accelerate

again. How close can he go? 1. 57

second between Matt and Ryding.

It

was just one section of the course

where Dave lost about a second over

Michael Matt. That was coming on to

the steep. Those four offset gates,

Ryding couldn't find the edge. He

couldn't get that acceleration out

of the turn over that section of the

course. That was a second gone.

THE COMMENTATOR: Next Marcel

Hirscher. Winner of the last three

World Cup slalom races. 51 World Cup

wins now, following victory here

yesterday in giant slalom. He's

looking for the Adelboden double. He

also won just before Christmas. He

won the Zagreb slalom last week.

He's in a league of his own. Fast on

the flats. Effortless slalom skiing.

Now it is harder work for Marcel

Hirscher. Brilliant! So light on his

edges. He's comfortably inside that.

The Austrians could go one, two,

here. Marcel Hirscher delivering a

masterclass in this first run.

This is quite fantastic slalom

skiing and he leads by a quarter of

a second.

Marcel Hirscher miles ahead of the

rest yet again.

A great run from

Marcel Hirscher. Dynamic on the top

part of the course. Almost got

jetted out a mistake after the first

split. When he was on that final

section, those big gates on the

massive offset, he had one little

skid, other than that, coming out of

the last one, really accelerated

fast and carried his speed from

there all the way to the finish.

THE COMMENTATOR: Henrik

Kristoffersen, from Norway. The

winner of the last two World Cup

slaloms here in Adelboden. Looking

for the hat-trick now.

Still looking for his first win of

the 2018 World Cup season.

And he's in hot pursuit of Marcel

Hirscher, his great rival's time T

Marcel Hirscher, the early leader,

with a quite brilliant first leg.

Kristoffersen's hunting him down.

Not much wrong with this. 24.43.

Kristoffersen, close behind.

Here's the steep section now.

Kristoffersen shouldn't have any

troubles here.

Steep is good as far as he's

concerned.

Next intermediate time, still good

enough potentially for a top three

finish. Marcel Hirscher leads for

Austria. Andre Myhrer, third, for

Sweden. Henrik Kristoffersen skates

across the line to go fourth.

He's happy about that.

Alexis Pinturault, potentially the

best of the French today.

Third yesterday in giant slalom. Has

been a winner in World Cup racing

this season.

Pinturault flying through the flats

here. That is really good, fast,

aggressive skiing. But the toughest

part of the course presents itself

now for Alexis Pinturault. Now he

has to dig deep and keep these short

slalom skis carving through the

final turns and he's a little late

in the lie. Gravity there to rescue

him. He didn't lose too much speed.

Pinturault just over a second behind

Marcel Hirscher.

The top five or six is a realistic

prospect, he is fifth, excellent

racing. Other notable performances

coming from the Italian, the winner

here in 2015, he was eighth. And the

two Swiss who came sixth and seventh

in the first leg.

Yet another amazing display from

Marcel Hirscher.

What was

particularly expressive, taking the

lead on this first run shows what

good form he is in.

Dave looked like

he struggled a little.

One section

of the course, coming the steep,

maybe took too much respect in first

run.

We have seen the course

break-up, it is really warm, it's

only getting hotter, how much of a

factor is the course going to be?

It's a classic example of a soft

snow slalom which is why they

reversed the top 30. 30 is not going

to win, anywhere between 30 and 25,

they will have a huge advantage and

could really leap forward. Dave

Ryding in joint tenth has the worst

of both words, he is 1.8 down on

Marcel Hirscher and he will have

guys early in the second run flying

in behind him which he has to defend

so a lot of work to do yet for him.

Lets see how he gets on.

Dave Ryding ready to go, equal tenth

after the first round. His advantage

is .3 one.

He beat Marcel Hirscher twice in

Oslo in head-to-head racing in his

semifinal, he had a heavy fall,

damaged his hip and he is studying

in a little bit of pain. 1200s of

second behind. Dave Ryding reaches

the steep. It's like skiing down a

cliff face. Nice Highline and he's

back in front. He might silence the

Swiss here if he can finish clean

here in Adelboden. Dave Ryding of

Great Britain skiing for the lead in

the World Cup, he's just missed it!

Great top section and really good on

the steep, the highest from behind

we scene any racer, but not able to

carry the speed through the

verticality and onto the finish

line, just missing out on the lead.

0.31 his advantage. The Swiss

youngster leading the way here in

Adelboden. The majority of the fans

are hoping each one of the later

starters are part from the two Swiss

guys who are yet to come, failed to

eclipse the leading time. Cutting it

fine. Nine hundredths of a second,

still in front. Onto the steep pitch

now. This is where the race can be

won are lost. He's back in front.

Three tenths. A significant

advantage. Can you convert it into

top spot? Yes! 100th of a second.

Doesn't get any closer.

Winner here in 2015,

. Gross Has an advantage of 0.30.

The Italian adding to his lead all

the way down. Now he reaches this

plateau, a couple of mistakes just

before that section. Now he has to

drive and try to harness the speed

before the ground literally drops

away beneath them, round the corner

he goes. This cliff edge finish.

Gross dealing with it nicely. The

course is rotted and bumpy

underfoot. The Italian is cruising

through the final few turns. It's

fast, it's direct. Its first

position for a Gross of Italy!

Really has great hip and elation so

it means he can keep his centre of

mass going in a straight line as

possible while his legs go either

side of the gates and that's

important when you have a big offset

like we do on this really steep

finish section here in Adelboden.

The Frenchman in good shape after

the first run. His advantage is

reasonable. 0.35 he brings into this

second run, over the man in the

leaders cheer, Gross. Little mistake

just at the bottom of the first

steep, comes on to this flat

plateau. Still in front. Yes, but

only just. Two hundredths of a

second. That means it has to be

absolutely perfect on the pitch.

Onto this final steep section. He is

making a meal of it, one or two of

these turns are a little laboured.

He's into the red zone for the first

time.

He's done it! 6p of a second.

Henrik Kristoffersen ready to race,

he was nicknamed wild child as a

kid, apparently unable to sit still

and always having energy to burn.

But things might be slowing down off

the slopes, settling down with his

pooch and childhood sweetheart. Will

he make a dog's dinner of this tough

course? Or will he be howling with

the light in the finish area?

COMMENTATOR: Henrik Kristoffersen

looking for the Adelboden hat-trick,

winning the last two World Cup races

on this hill. Starts his second run

with an advantage of 0.46.

Dave Ryding assets equal eighth.

Good start for Henrik Kristoffersen

who is still in search of his first

win of the World Cup season. 0.43 in

front. Goals from flat to steep. All

of a sudden. He's got to try and

stay light on his ages. Maintain as

direct line as possible. As he tries

to hunt down the leading time. He is

doing supreme slalom here, this is

remarkable, he leads by miles! 0.6

seven.

In the finish, in the lead,

did not look happy with the run, the

timing just off on a couple of turns

and when you don't get into the rut

you bounce late and it takes away

all of your energy particularly when

it's getting chopped up like this.

You need to make sure you are skiing

round and from behind.

COMMENTATOR:

Quarter of a second the advantage

over Henrik Kristoffersen. Not the

cleanest start. Took a couple of

wider lines in the first few turns.

Now he settling down. Needs to come

off the top steep section and all to

this flat section below and carry

the speed, now he's got to drive and

try to pick up further acceleration,

looking all right. Remember how good

Henrik Kristoffersen was on the

steep, from here on in the Norwegian

was in a different league. He

arrives on this final pitch in

Adelboden. He's lost his advantage,

he trails by more than half a

second. And with just two to come, I

think Henrik Kristoffersen will be

guaranteed a place on the podium. No

luck, second for the moment with two

races to come. Henrik Kristoffersen

will finish on the podium.

Mike, the

Austrian isn't even the best skier

in his family but there is no shame

in your brother is the Olympic

slalom champion and a former ski

cross world champion. Now he is

emerging from his siblings shadows

taking his first World Cup victory

last season and finishing a close

second to Marshall Fisher in Zagreb

this week. Can he become the

favourite son in the family with a

victory in Adelboden today?

COMMENTATOR: His advantage almost

half a second.

0.49, good start, clean start, no

mistakes from Matt. Now off the

steeps and onto the flats, this is

where he's going to have to move

through the gears. Try to pick up

some pace. He's doing just that,

slightly over the tales of his skis

and he recovers well, onto the

steep, little sideways scared for

Matt but did not seem to lose too

much time. This is where he nailed

the bottom pitch, Henrik

Kristoffersen, can Matt match him?

Still green for Matt. The last few

turns, starting to let them run and

allowing his body to follow, he's

got it! 0.03! Might Matt leads the

way.

Henrik Kristoffersen is not

having no luck like he had last

season denied by Mike by just three.

Skiing from behind, getting the ski

into the rat and carrying the speed

all the way. No big mistakes, let's

wait and see.

The last man Marcel

Hirscher. In the red bib as the

leader in the World Cup standings,

and won the giant slalom here 24

hours ago. He loves the course in

Adelboden. He adds to his advantage

on the top. Now he hits the flat.

The acceleration is sharp and

dynamic from Marcel Hirscher. Now

the transition. The calm before the

storm. The flat before the speed.

He's on top of them, early and high

in the line. It's sensational from

Marcel Hirscher. He's getting

quicker! He's almost home. This

could be World Cup win number 52 for

one of the greatest of all time. He

wins! Eggs and Austrian 1-2 on Swiss

snow. World Cup win number 52.

It

seems like Marcel Hirscher can do no

wrong with a coarse chopped up like

a field, able to get acceleration

out of each turn and absorbing the

bumps between the gates. Absolutely

out of each turn and absorbing the

bumps between the gates. Absolutely

brilliant from the Austrian.

Thinking back to where you wear in

November coming back from the broken

ankle did you really think you would

be sitting here on the back of three

back-to-back victories?

No chance.

It's different when you have no

space for let me say training,

nearly every training run was a

race. I had to push it really hard

because I had to gain five tenths

per second each day because I was

that far behind in training at the

beginning. Three seconds around it.

I was completely on fire to push it

as hard as possible, maybe more than

ever.

Very challenging conditions

here, first run, were you happy?

The

first run was good at the top then I

made some mistakes at the bottom and

a silly one right at the bottom so I

knew I could do better, I just did

not take advantage of my start

number which annoyed me. But came

out firing in the second round, it

was just very difficult.

What a race

from Marcel Hirscher, doing the

Adelboden double again.

from Marcel Hirscher, doing the

Adelboden double again.

from Marcel Hirscher, doing the

Adelboden double again.

from Marcel Hirscher, doing the

Adelboden double again. The British

number one finishing equal 12.

With the World Cup in full swing,

and everyone looking forward

to the coming Winter Olympics,

it's easy to think that the pinnacle

of snowsport is in competition.

But that's not always the case,

especially in action sports.

At the very heart of

those disciplines is

a culture of creativity

and progression, where athletes push

themselves to do things that have

never been done before.

Tim Warwood went to Livigno in Italy

last year to see British freeskier

Paddy Graham do just that.

I am here in Livigno in Italy. You

are probably wondering, what is he

doing there - there's no snow. Wait

until you get up the mountain -

something pretty special is going

down.

What you thinking now? Wish you

hadn't drawn that picture?

That is

some pile of snow you have built

there. Why have you built that?

I

think basically we have build this

jump to find that rush that we used

to get as a kid hitting the big jump

in the park. Recapture that, oh, my

goodness feeling. When you jump off

the middle diving board you think, I

will go to the five metre and you

get to the top and you think, that

looks bigger up here. You edge out

and it takes so long for you to go,

but then you jump off and you are

like, oh, that was easy, I can do

that.

Should you get from the take

off to the landing, then that's

going to be the biggest kind of

freestyle jump ever done, isn't it?

Apart from going big, we want to

break an air time length of over

four seconds in the air.

Wow! In the

air for four seconds.

There is a lot

you can think about for four

seconds.

How are you feeling no now?

Are you tingling inside a little

bit?

We arrived this morning. It was

the first time I have seen the jump

fully built. I was blown away when I

saw it the first time.

When Paddy said, I want to do this

jump. What did you think?

I thought

this is what we are waiting for,

break the limits and push the sport

further.

Give us the facts and figures - what

has gone into building this jump?

You measure the terrain to see how

much snow you need. 150,000 cubic

metres of snow to build this. A

normal park jump has 30,000. Five

times a normal park jump has to be

pushed around. It ended up being

eight cats running for eight weeks,

24 hours.

It was complicated because

the inclination is over the maximum.

How jump is this from the take off

to the safe part to the landing?

It

is around 47, 48 metres.

Goodness, gracious! That is a big

old jump.

A normal is between eight

and 12. A medium jump for good

riders.

His biggest undertaken yet,

he tests the jump with the legs of

steel crew.

It is like, I was...

If

you have constant 110 and working to

120...

We like to ski together. We

have a tight crew. It is fun to hang

out with all the guys.

We filmed the final section in Dubai

for a movie working on that year, it

was called Passenger. The finale

were 16 skiers jumping over each

other on six or seven jumps.

Do you see what you're trying to do

here as a continuation of that? Or

is it something different?

It is a

project for myself that I have been

working for a while. But at the same

time free-skiing isn't just about

one person. It is about sharing your

experiences with other people and

that's why I've got some of my best

friends have come and skied with me.

Expectations for the next few days?

Expectations are high.

16 metres

high. 17 metres. 18...

40 metres

long. I want to have a good time. I

want the jump to work. I want to

make that dream become reality of

flying the longest on freestyle

skis.

Day two then, up here on the

mountain and the conditions couldn't

be any better. Everybody's really up

for this. Are we going to see the

four-second jump today?

Scary.

For sure flying.

Yeah!

CHEERING

That was absolutely huge!

He seemed to hang in the air

forever. I've got goose bumps all

over. Opens the account.

Whoa!

Yeah! #18

How did it feel?

It was

unreal, mate. Unbelievable! It was

really nice to see the boys.

Once you're in the air and you know

you'll make it...

Yeah? Best feeling

ever?

Yeah.

It's kind of mellow.

There you have

it, the session was immense. Whether

intentionally or not Paddy Graham

and the Legs of Steel crew have

pushed the boundaries of freestyle

skiing. What did it feel like to fly

like that?

It was such... It was so

unreal going into the jump. There

was nothing more you could do than

go as fast as you can. As soon as I

knew I wasn't going to land on the

knuckle, I felt good.

But one of

Europe's most accomplished

free-skiers wasn't done yet.

Once we

get back up to the jump, we'll do a

speed check. A second straight air

and then I'd really like to get on

with some tricks.

What do you think, man?

The mood shifted, everybody has got

their game faces on. I think we will

see someone hit this jump right now.

# Oh, come on

# We've got our backs to the wall

# Get on

# And watch out

The moment I left the lip of the

jump, I knew it. I knew I was going

too fast.

If I would of run out of degree to

land on, then I would have been in a

much worse place, you know.

I've done what thousands of other

skiers have already done, ruptures,

and had a small fracture in my other

foot, in the ankle. I came away

pretty unscathed in that sense.

We're on the edge of what's possible

and we're taking those risks, but,

you know, that's what skiing is.

And I'm delighted to say

that Paddy's joined us.

Firstly, how's your leg?

How is the rehab?

It was a long

summer. I am happy to be on the

slopes and ready for 2018.

I am surprised it was just the knee.

That jump was ridiculously big. Is

it fair to say that projects like

yours are if not more important than

competition when it comes to

progression in free-skiing?

Freestyle skiing is a young sport.

In the end there were no

competitions. You would go out with

your friends, film each other and

put out ski movies. It is what we're

doing today. It is one way to

progress the sport, definitely and

you see stuff going from videos

andedits online into the

competitions and vice versa and they

really bounce off each other and

that's what makes free-skiing such a

well-rounded discipline, I guess.

Well now is the time we do Ski

Social. We normally ask viewers to

send in videos and pictures. Can we

give it a blast?

Let's go and have

some fun.

MUSIC

I LOVE TO WATCH THEM IN

NONINTIMIDATING TERRAIN.

WE DON'T

EXPECT YOU TO match Paddy Graham's

skill. Please keep on sending in

your videos.

Getting ready...

Amazing!

And abroad.

Just use the hashtag Ski Sunday. And

we want your questions as well.

Sheridan wants to know, who

classifies the runs in ski resorts?

Who decides which constitutes a

blue, a red and a black It is the

resorts who decide. So a blue run in

St Anton would be red anywhere else.

It is important to go online and

read reviews before you book.

I have

done all the blacks...

Next question

from Gunby. He dislocated his

shoulder a year ago. He wants to

know, what is the best way of

getting his confidence back up to

get back on the mountain? Does he

wear a brace? Does he wear body

armour?

I think braces and body

armour do well to help you cope. I

think you are a year on from your

injury, is just physio. Spend time

in the gym. Wrap that joint up in

muscles to protect it. Get yourself

a couple of kung-fu shoulders.

That

is all we have time for this week.

Next week we have a contrast between

loud and quiet.

We have the serene

and inspiring story of a young

disabled woman taking her first ever

snowboarding trip.

And we will be in

Wengen where thousands will be

scheming as their heroes take on the

fastest downhill slopes. The volume

levels will be peaking.

They have

come from all over the world to

marvel at the fastest men in the

mountains.

4,200 meters to ski.

He's

going for it.

He's led by half a second.

Oh, a

horrible crash!

No!

He's getting quicker all the time.

Yet again...

He leads the wasmt the

noise at the finish is astonishing!