Adur Etxezarreta from the Esqui Navarra club hasn't really arrived in the Ski World Cup yet.
The 26-year-old Spaniard's best result was 47th place on the downhill in Gröden 2020. On Thursday, Etxezarreta finished second on the Olympic course in Yanqing with start number 37 - of course only in the first practice session.
Achim Dreis
sports editor.
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However, the result is not suitable as an indication of an Olympic surprise in downhill skiing on Sunday at 11 a.m. local time (4 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ZDF and on Eurosport).
The athletes' approach was too different when they first got to know the Olympic course.
Some drove some passages almost upright, others left out one or the other gate.
Everyone agreed that the work of the Swiss slope designer Bernhard Russi, which was christened "The Rock" because of the characteristic target passage, was absolutely suitable for the Olympics.
New territory for the downhill skiers
"It's a relaxed descent," said the Austrian Matthias Mayer, who was allowed to open the slope with start number 1.
"It was a bit of an honor for me," said the 2014 Olympic downhill champion jump.”
Because the Olympic dress rehearsal on the course last World Cup winter had to be canceled due to corona, all downhill skiers entered new territory when they came to the ski station in the Yanqing National Alpine Skiing Center these days.
With the exception of Mingfu Xu and Yangming Zhang, but despite their home advantage, the two Chinese were a good twelve seconds behind on the 2950 meter long course.
The start is at an altitude of 2,179 meters and the finish is at 1,285 meters after a journey time of just under 1:45 minutes. In between, a varied and technically demanding descent stretches along the white artificial snow band between brown-green mountain peaks. Fast curves, wide jumps and steep passages with gradients of up to 68 percent and top speeds of 140 km/h are part of it. One problem could be the susceptibility to wind of the route, which runs openly along the mountain tops, as was to be found out promptly in the further course of the training drives.
"A few traps" are also possible, said the German Dominik Schwaiger, who was particularly lacking in orientation points in front of the key points in the barren mountain landscape.
But there are no passages where you have to overcome yourself, such as in front of the Mausefalle on the Streif in Kitzbühel, according to his teammate Josef Ferstl.
"I had fun from top to bottom," said Simon Jocher.
And Andreas Sander found it "great for skiing".
158 snow cannons and 30 snow lances
For seven years, the former Swiss ski star Bernhard Russi, himself Olympic downhill champion in Sapporo in 1972, worked on not moving mountains, but blasting boulders and moving earth to form a world-class speed course.
Russi, now 73, has been the landscape architect responsible for Olympic downhill skiing from Calgary to Pyeongchang since 1988.
His goal is always to create “a challenge” for the athletes.
Because it practically never snows in the barren mountain region, 158 snow cannons and 30 snow lances were used.
Sustainability looks different.
But the quality of the artificial snow is universally praised by athletes.
In contrast to the downhill classics in the World Cup such as Kitzbühel, Wengen or Gröden, the established in Yanqing do not have any knowledge advantage over the younger ones.
That's why the favorites had to practice first: Switzerland's Beat Feuz (17th), Italy's Dominik Paris (27th) and Austria's Mayer (37th) and Vincent Kriechmayr (39th) finished the first practice session well behind slipped.
The Germans were faster there: Jocher (6th) and Romed Baumann (8th) were on par with the World Cup leader Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (7th) from Norway.
A total of three training runs were on the pre-program.
In addition, there is a visit in each case, during which the drivers are allowed to stay on the track for 90 minutes, they slip, and they try to memorize the most important passages, waves and transitions.
You shouldn't "drive yourself crazy", says Baumann: "Learning runs" is part of the requirement profile of a good downhill skier.
Kilde then dominated the second test drive on Friday, which had to be postponed by an hour due to the strong wind. Outsider Adur Etxezarreta was seventh. The third downhill training had to be stopped after three starters. The reason was "too strong wind", as the World Ski Association (FIS) announced. The other drivers were only allowed to inspect and were therefore at a disadvantage compared to Kilde and Mayer, who were lucky enough to have an early start number. A “wind lottery” is now also feared for Sunday.
The fact that no other favorites have emerged in the supreme alpine discipline apart from Kilde is less due to the unknown piste than to the volatile course of the season so far.
There were six different winners in eight World Cup downhill events, as well as six other athletes who took podium places.
A German was not there.
But Ferstl, who, like Baumann and Schwaiger, has been nominated for the race by trainer Christian Schwaiger, remains optimistic: “We are a powerful team.
And we can do big events.” This is probably one of the reasons why Sander, second in the World Championships, was given preference over Jocher and the fourth German starting ticket after the third training run was interrupted.
Ultimately, the conclusion of Pistenbauers Russi applies: "Don't think too much, stay open and positive."