Downhill Race Day - for real real

I was up at 5 am reading the weather forecast - it looks excellent....for our DH and at Yongpyong for the Ladies GS.  This is great for the hundreds of folks who have worked so hard to get us to this point at both venues.
With the numerous changes to the schedule, I am not sure how many folks will be in the stands but it will look great on TV.
Note, my spot in the start tent has not changed and I am wearing the same blue & grey FIS suit. The only changes are the camera positions. With 62 cameras on the course, they have lots to shoot besides me. Luca, the starter (in the red jacket) works for Omega/Longines/Swiss Timing. They pay a ton of dough to be the Official Timekeeper and get the primo spot at the start. I can get my work done by being a step behind Luca.  All good.

I was on the lift at 7:15 am and it was a bluebird start to the day. I have the gondola cabin to myself for some reflection - or rather that internal conversation of ‘don’t screw up’.
Downhill day is always a long one because it is a DH race which after the race leads into the SuperG race the next day - we have a Super G free ski and Super G course set and coaches inspection and safely adjustments after the DH race......and then off to 4 pm team captains meeting....and pack up to leave the hotel after the SuperG race.

There is a slight hint of a breeze as I can hear a whistle through the windows of the gondola cabin. We are bit sensitive to wind so any indication of wind has everyone getting twitchy but it is so much better than the many days that the wind has shut down the gondola completely.

With the sun up and the wind down - everyone is upbeat and excited about crowning an Olympic Downhill champion today.
Our jury inspection is at 8 am and a much larger group of coaches has joined the inspection including Canadian coaches Martin & Serge:

 

The day's program is confirmed and the racers jump onto the course at 9 am for their inspection.

Canada's Ben Thomsen (from Panorama) came through the start...

 

The TV production crew is pretty relaxed. I cant say I have seen wheeled chairs on a race course before - only at the Olympics, I guess.

 

 

My fellow FIS folks took the opportunity to come through the start. We don't come this way again for another 4 years.

 

The police force at the top of the mountain were pretty relaxed as well...

Bernhard Russi, the race course designer and 1972 Sapporo Olympic Downhill champion came by the start for a chat. As everything was coming together, he commented ‘Today, we are sport’.

I have time to install a good luck charm at the start.. I have my stash of loonies and I buried them next to the start posts.

It is not centre ice or at the finish line but I was hoping it would give the Canadians a bit of luck.

Everyone in the start is excited including the the forerunners who lead the lead the way with Didier Defago in bib F1 followed by two young Korean athletes.

Our start intervals of 2 minutes and 30 seconds feel like an eternity compared to the 1:30 from the training days.

The race went very well operationally - from a jury perspective and from a TV production viewpoint. The Norwegians and Swiss ruled the day....and the podium.

We had no course holds and there was a point where the jury radio channel was silent for 11 minutes during the race. I announced a racer leaving the start just so everyone didn’t think the radio system had failed. Because the race went so well it put some slack in the schedule giving us a few minutes for a break before preparing for the next day's SuperG....

 

The crews deserve to be happy, the running of an Olympic downhill takes an amazing amount of effort - years of effort.

 

The race directors deserve to be happy as well...

After the downhill, the crews prepared for the next day's SuperG.  It starts with a free ski on the course before we set the gates.  Because we are so far into the season and they have had plenty of opportunities to train this week, there were only 7 athletes that showed up for the free ski. At Lake Louise in November, they all would all have been chomping on the bit to get onto the hill.

The hotel was quiet as The Norwegians and Swiss went to the medal plaza to celebrate and the rest of the teams were preparing for the SuperG.

B.

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