ALPINE:

Wind wipes out men's training Thursday at Lake Louise

Nov. 25, 2010 — The Canadian Press 

LAKE LOUISE, Alberta — Wind gusts reaching 100 kilometres an hour forced cancellation of Thursday's training for this weekend's opening downhill race of the World Cup season.

There were fears a skier going over a jump could be blown into the safety nets by a blast of icy wind. On some sections, turning gates were laying flat on the snow from the force of the howling gale. Swirling snow also reduced visibility.

"You can't run like that," said race chairman John Cassels.

Only one training run is needed before a downhill race. The men trained on Wednesday, which means Saturday's season-opening downhill race can go ahead.

Another training session is scheduled for Friday. The first super-G race of the season is slated for Sunday.

As soon as he heard training wasn't going to happen, Manuel Osborne-Paradis of North Vancouver, B.C., peeled a layer of black tape off his face. It was placed there to protect his skin from the minus-20 temperatures.

"We have three training runs, you only need one," said Osborne-Paradis. "There is really no point in having three.

"I don't think there was a lot of push to have it. If we really had to have a training we could of had one today."

Paul Kristofic, head coach of Canada's men's team, echoed those comments. "It's one less opportunity to run the track," he said. "That's for the whole field, so there's no real advantage or disadvantage for anybody.

"Cancellation is part of the game."

Kristofic wasn't concerned with the Canadian results from Wednesday's training.

Robbie Dixon of North Vancouver was the top Canadian, finishing 15th. Erik Guay, of Mont-Tremblant, Que., who won last season's crystal globe in super-G, was 21st while Osborne-Paradis finished 37th.

"For sure you want to see them going a little better than that," he said. "At the same time, there was a lot of things going on, testing different skis, trying different lines. You don't want to read too much into what you see on paper."  S-Magazine