Ready, set, Sölden: U.S. men prep for opener

Tag : Mens Boots
By Sam Flickinger Friday, 10 October 2008

SASHA REARICK admits to being a bit of a gambler. But the first-year head coachof the U.S. men’s alpine team isn’t ready to make anypredictions for his guys when it comes to how they’ll fare inthe World Cup-opening GS in two weeks.
"It’s not like NFL football where you get a fewscrimmages. You wake up in October and you’ve got togo," Rearick says. "We’ve had a great prep period,stressed the details, had race simulations … and nowit’s like, ‘Do all the cards fall into place and [arewe] ready for Sölden? … I would say we’re in agood place, we’ve executed the plan we’ve put in placeto be successful this winter.”
Nyman, Sullivan set pace at Portillo; Ligety impresses
Rearick and much of his coaching staff are now in Europe afterspending the latter half of September at the team’s speedcamp in Portillo, Chile. Having worked almost exclusively with themen’s technical team in recent years, Rearick this yearobserved a portion of the speed training in Portillo and came awayimpressed with his charges, particularly veterans Marco Sullivanand Steven Nyman.
"In terms of actually going fast and skiing fast, those twoguys are pushing each other, they’re challenging each other,they’re doing really good stuff," Rearick says. "Iwas pleased with the effort those guys were putting in and thefocus."
Sullivan and Nyman don’t kick off their seasons until Nov.29-30 with downhill and super G events at Lake Louise. But leadingthe charge for the U.S. men in Sölden will be Ted Ligety.Ligety—the reigning World Cup champion in giantslalom—participated in the Portillo speed camp where Rearicksaid he focused on getting more comfortable with speed, working onhis transitions between long, sweeping turns, and controlling theedge angle of his skis to improving gliding on the flats. That edgecontrol, Rearick believes, should also help Ligety better retainspeed through the flats on GS tracks with moderate pitches, likeSölden.
Ligety has always been a superb technical skier and a master atcreating edge angulation on steep courses. Rearick said given a fewmore years of focus on speed training, Ligety could develop into atop all-rounder for the U.S. team.
"The progress Ted is making in downhill is substantialcompared to what it was a couple years ago," Rearick says."In terms of really being fast in speed, I think it’sgoing to take some more years of getting comfortable with goingthat fast.
"Will he be on the podium in downhill this year? No. But if hecontinues making steps like these over the next couple years we canseriously talk about him being a four-event skier."

Solden starters
In addition to Ligety, the U.S. starters at Solden will be, barringany last-minute injuries, reigning World Cup overall champ BodeMiller, Erik Schlopy, Jimmy Cochran, Jake Zamansky and adiscretionary pick by the coaches. Rearick says he is leaningtoward choosing Tim Jitloff but there may be a time trial heldduring training next week on the Tyrolean glaciers. Cody Marshalland Tim Kelley could also contend for that final spot, Rearicksays.
Jitloff is rehabbing an ankle he sprained while playing volleyballduring the Portillo camp, but he doesn’t expect that tohamper his race prep. Jitloff also switched to Fischer skis andboots this off-season, a move the reigning U.S. national GS champsaid has improved his slalom technique immensely.
“The goal at Solden is to make the [top 30] flip, andanything else would really be a bonus,” Jitloff says.“I’m definitely a little anxious, a little excited. Youspend all summer working, studying and training as hard as you canto be in the best possible shape, and it’s just nice tofinally get going.”
Rearick said recent storms in the Tyrolean Alps have left soft snowconditions on the glaciers but temperatures remain cold. B Teammembers Kelley and Marshall, along with C Team member WillBrandenburg, are in Europe now through Oct. 23 training. Ligety,Cochran, Schlopy and Jitloff arrive in Austria on Oct. 15 and willtrain at least three days on the race hill at Solden before theOct. 26 race, Rearick says. The coaching staff and athletes willalso hold one more simulated race before Sölden to work outany kinks for the opener.

Other news and notes from the Portillo camp and Sölden raceprep:

— Rearick observed T.J. Lanning ski and train in his two-week “return to snow” sessionin Chile after the 24-year-old underwent knee surgery in thespring: “The GS skiing I saw him doing was better thananything I saw last year,” Rearick says. “He needs tocontinue to progress daily, and he was.”
— Rearick praised the performance of speedster Scott Macartney , who is back training after suffering a nasty concussion atKitzbuhel that ended his 2008 season. Macartney had some pain inhis back early this summer but didn’t have any issues on thebumpy speed track at Portillo. “To see him charging andseeing the way he was attacking was really exciting, a big step inright direction,” Rearick says.
— B Teamer Andrew Weibrecht , who turned heads with a blazing Birds of Prey downhill run lastseason, continues to progress and Rearick believes he can make asignificant move up this year in speed events after making atactical switch and improving his turn-to-turn transitions.“He’s not going exceptionally fast right now, buthe’s in a place where he can turn the gas pedal on here inthe next couple months in a serious way. That’s fun towatch,” Rearick says.
— Regarding the Solden opener, Rearick is excited to watchthe performances of his top three racers— Ligety, Cochran, and Schlopy —against the world’s best, and he assessed their formheading into the final training bloc. “I’d sayTed’s in a good place, Jimmy is in a better place thanhe’s been in a long time, and I’d say Schlopy isphysically fitter than he’s ever been in the last six, seven,eight years,” he said. “I’d say those three guysgoing into Sölden are in a better place than they’veever been.”