We had an excellent weekend in Wengen with another inspiring victory in the downhill and breakthrough in SL which led to a 3rd in the combined and a fifth place finish in the slalom.The week began with excellent conditions on the downhill track for training and Bode experimented with a set of boots built with different plastic and a pair of DH skis with slightly different construction. On the third training day Bode dialed it all in and skied very well and way in front of the pack so we were all encouraged.

For the combined event the start had to be moved lower due to wind so we started right below the Hundsof. This made the first section easier to execute because the speeds were down so everyone was skiing the michcante very cleanly. The exit on the road had a decent tail wind and the guys were coming into the shikane turn with substantially more speed and there were some good chatters in there from the previous days of training.

Bode trimmed the line and skied the first section well but tried to arc the shikane and got jacked on the bumps. He made a very athletic recovery but grazed the net and dumped all his speed. He executed the bottom of the course well but was 4th on the run due to his mistake. Cuche was the fastest by a second and chose to shut his speed down before the shikane and it paid off with a fast exit speed.

On to the sl where we scrambled back to the training hill to try a new pair of skis which the new ski engineer in the factory had just built the day before. He used his own extensive knowledge and the feedback from the coaches and Bode and whipped up a pretty darn good ski. It was clear right away that the ski was more forgiving but we were not sure how fast it was. Conditions for the combined sl were good with the whole hill injected and a consistent surface.

Bode started off a little passive through the first few gates but found his rhythm and began to snap those skis around easily. 15 gates in over a piece of terrain which fell away he fell on his side. In a heartbeat he popped back up and skied through the hairpin backwards. It was so fluid it looked planned. Bode’s open mind, split second decision and cat like reflexes pull through again. He dumped a bit of speed with the follie but skied the pitch and the remainder of the run very well. It was the first time in three years I saw him ski that well in a slalom race. Bode was dynamic, balanced aside from his bobble and skied with his feet off the pole allowing him to adjust to rhythm changes. He was also 5th on the split timer from midway down so he showed speed.

The following day the weather man forcasted snow so they changed the schedule and pushed the downhill to Sunday. It snowed 40 cm up top but probably only 20 on the slalom hill but it was heavy and wet so the swiss army busted ass and they got the hill prepared quite well.

The first run Bode started 31st and put down a solid run putting him in 14th place. The second run it was still snowing and the temp was warm so the surface began to break up. Bode skied once again solid on the top and then very well on the lower half, second to Mr. Ted Ligety who put down the winning 2nd run. 5th place and a lot of smiles after a trying few years in slalom and a lot of hard work by Bode and everyone involved. A great big congrats to Ted for a great podium after a first run where he almost came to a stop. Cody Marshall also had a banner day with his first WC points and a 19th place finish. After the race Bode shared with us that all the training he did on the other stiff and unforgiving skies probably helped because comparatively the new skis felt easy to ski on.

Sunday and the longest DH in the world. A majority of the course had to be groomed with snow cats because there was too much new snow to move by hand so the course had a much different surface than the training runs. The weather cleared up by late morning and there was just a slight breeze. At Noon the Swiss Air Force put on their annual show which was equally as impressive as other years. Lots and lots of spectators, countless beer and brat stands, and great energy in the air as the race began. A lot of guys skied the shikane tentatively after the combined but we decided it was a bit smoother and speeds were down slightly because there was no tail wind. Our course reports focused on surface conditions with the grooming, soft snow sections and berms. On a day like this if you get caught in the slough it is like pulling the e-brake.

Bode started off strong but was a couple tenths off in the first 45 seconds. Right before the Hundshof Bode was pushed deep and fell to the inside heading right for the net with his right ski in the soft berm. He put his hand down on the snow and once again pulled off a recovery. On the michkante Bode executed well and took good heat into the shikane. He piped the turn with out backing off and was now leading. The next section of the course is glide turns for 30 seconds and then into a section of SG turns before the Hannigshuss. Bode made big time here by cutting off the line and still keeping on the hard surface and stay out of the berms. After the Hannigshuss there are some big round house turns into a big jump. Bode dumped a little speed here as he went wide in the soft snow. He did not panic and kept things rolling into the final ziel S. He piped both turns and brought home the bacon .65 seconds in front of Cuche and another .5 in front of 3rd place Mannie. Another epic race out of the Showtime and a great weekend. Congrats to Marco Sullivan for a solid 7th place with sections where he skied well enough to find the podium. Steven Nyman also had a solid race but a couple of mistakes dropped him back a bit.

Next stop the Streif in Kitzbuhel. This is a kick ass hill and the preparation is usually as rough as any we see on the tour. It will be a long week and we have to train smart with the additional loads of slalom training. We had a good lifting session yesterday and today the training run was decent. Still a few things to sort out but I am confident he will be ready to rip come race days.

Stay tuned, think fast and ski ya later,
Johno

P.S. The pics include Johannes Erhard, who is a great friend, fan and European liaison; Marco Sullivan and the DH podium.

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