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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As an indication of an Olympic surprise in downhill skiing this Sunday, which was postponed to 1 p.m. local time (6 a.m. CET in the FAZ live ticker for the Olympics, on ZDF and on Eurosport) due to the wind, the result is not suitable.

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 finish passage, was absolutely suitable for the Olympics.

However, the wind from the Gobi desert whistles with power around the Olympic mountain Xiaohaituo.

"It's a difficult mountain, it's never windless here," said race director Markus Waldner.

And promptly the wind whirled the program up on the first day of competition for the ski racers.

Because of the strong gusts, the men's downhill was postponed twice.

At 12:00 p.m. local time (5:00 a.m. CET), a decision is to be made as to whether the two-hour shift is sufficient.

Even then, the race will not be completely unaffected by the wind.

New territory for the downhill skiers

Apart from the wind, the athletes were satisfied with the slope: "It's a relaxed descent," said the Austrian Matthias Mayer, who was allowed to open the route with start number 1 on Thursday. "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 runs and before the planned downhill race.

"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".