St. Moritz, Switzerland – The ladies were able to execute their second successful downhill training run at the St. Moritz Alpine Ski World Championships after waiting out the fog, revealing blue skies above their course. World Cup downhill standings leader Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia clocked the fastest time for the second day in a row. The men’s training run followed but had to be stopped after the 24th starter due to fog resettling over the middle of the mountain. Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr logged the fastest time down the men’s track at 1:40.31, almost two seconds ahead of Tuesday’s quickest time, before the training run was cancelled.
The ladies waited out a one-hour delay before Stuhec led the training, 0.53 seconds ahead of Fabienne Suter of Switzerland and 0.80 seconds over Christine Scheyer of Austria. Suter also finished in the runner-up position in the first ladies’ training run on Wednesday. American Lindsey Vonn was fourth, 0.82 seconds off the pace. The ladies will race alpine combined (including a downhill run) on Friday starting at 10:00 CET.
The men’s training started soon after the ladies had finished but was halted several times due to fog resettling over the course. Kriechmayr, with bib 2, held the quickest pace 1.30 seconds ahead of Swiss Beat Feuz prior to a long hold after the 24th competitor. The training run was announced as cancelled when it became clear that the fog clouds were there to stay. However, in a quick reverse of fortune, the clouds miraculously dissipated and the training resumed after athletes were called back to the start. Six more skiers were able to complete the course before the fog returned again and the run was officially cancelled.
The men will try to hold a downhill training run on Friday, timing yet to be determined.