Author of Story: Doug Haney

Olympic Preview Set for Aspen

ASPEN/SNOWMASS, CO (Aug. 4) – World champion Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) and Olympic gold medalist Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) will headline ski racing action in Aspen over Thanksgiving weekend, as the Audi FIS World Cup comes to one of the tour’s most legendary classic stops in Aspen. It will mark the sixth straight season the women have highlighted the Aspen Winternational and the only American stop for the U.S. Ski Team women before the 2010 Olympic Winter Games.

Ski racing action opens on Saturday, November 28 with giant slalom followed by slalom on Sunday, but festivities will be planned throughout the week beginning on Thanksgiving Day.

“We are really pleased with the long term partnership we have with Aspen,” said U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Vice President Events Calum Clark. “It is a massive undertaking to prepare a World Cup slope for Thanksgiving weekend, but Aspen has always produced incredible snow conditions for what truly is a world class event.”

Aspen has long been a classic stop on the World Cup with the town being among the most popular on the circuit.

“Aspen has a great history of World Cup racing going back to the origins of the series,” said Clark. “The athletes love coming here and experiencing the great enthusiasm of this historic community.”

While this winter will mark the sixth consecutive year of World Cup racing at Aspen, the town’s storied World Cup history began in 1968 when the former mining town hosted its first World Cup race in only the second season of the tour. However, its roots in ski racing date back to 1939 when the mountain held the earliest sanctioned races. Later, thanks to the efforts of local skiing legend Dick Durrance, Aspen hosted the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in 1950.

“Aspen Winternational is a true backbone event for our community,” said John Rigney, Aspen Skiing Company VP Sales and Events. “The tremendous community support we receive is vital to the success of the World Cup. The races and surrounding events, in turn, are vital to the overall success of our season. Nearly 10 million fans watch Aspen Winternational live in Europe. There is no better message to these potential visitors and the rest of the world that Aspen/Snowmass has snow and is open for skiing. Plus, it’s just a fun kick off to our season.”

Not only do the people of Aspen embrace the World Cup, but the athletes love Aspen. The relaxed setting provides a perfect venue for U.S. Ski Team athletes to spend the holiday with their families. International racers love it too as it gives them a great opportunity to work on some pre Christmas shopping.

“Aspen is such an incredible venue for racing,” said Vonn, who became the most successful female skier in U.S. history last season. “The crowd there is always so supportive of all racers. I love seeing all the young racers with posters. We get such a boost racing in front of a hometown crowd. I’m hoping Vancouver feels just like Aspen.”

Last season, Vonn was fourth in both slalom and giant slalom at Aspen while racing with a knee injury. The reigning World Champion in downhill and super G has World Cup wins in all disciplines except giant slalom.

“I was really hoping to get a podium at Aspen last winter and hopefully I can make it happen this year,” said Vonn. “I feel like my slalom is really good after last season and I’m going to do some more giant slalom training this summer with the goal of scratching a GS podium off my ‘to do’ list before the Olympics.”

World Cup racing begins October 24 with the annual giant slalom in Soelden, Austria followed by a slalom race in Levi, Finland before swinging to North America with the Aspen Winternational.

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Tags: 2010 ski season, Julia Mancuso, Lindsey Vonn, US Ski Team

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 8:44 pm and is filed under Alpine Ski. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.