New course, good snow conditions thrill Alpine skiers at Beijing 2022

YANQING, Beijing, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Top skiers were thrilled by the new speed course in the men's downhill first official training at the Beijing Winter Olympics here on Thursday.

The course, named "Rock," played host to China's 14th National Winter Games in 2020, but has yet to hold any international event because of the pandemic.

Two-time Olympic champion Matthias Mayer was the first to start the training. The 31-year-old Austrian missed two gates in the top section and finished 37th.

"I was a little nervous," admitted the defending super-G champion, adding that the training was more of an inspection than a race, as the new course posed challenges as well as excitement to the skiers.

"Nearly every section is difficult. It's the first time for everybody here," said the world champion Vincent Kriechmayr of Austria, recalling a few jumps that caused trouble, while others named some gates behind bumps.

"I like the challenge. I like the risk," said the four-time Olympian Christof Innerhofer of Italy, who was thrilled that the course setting allowed him to try his aggressive way of skiing.

Dominik Schwaiger from Germany agreed that a new course stirred up excitement in him.

Artificial snow is used to ensure a higher density of the snow, which was widely deemed as a guarantee for high-speed skiers.

"Of course the snow is really good and really hard," said Mayer. "In the middle part where the speed is high, some guys had more than 135 kilometers per hour."

35 out of 57 skiers' speed surpassed 130 kilometers per hour at one point during the training run, with Aleksander Kilde of Norway reaching the highest 137km/h before spurting into the final phase.

"Yes, it's safe," said German skier Romed Baumann when referring to the course, which was homologated by International Ski Federation (FIS) in 2020.

While most European skiers found it hard to compare the "Rock" to any other course, the Americans felt like home as they sensed a similarity on the "brand new course".

"The snow is really good. It's pretty similar to some of the stuff we get back home," said Bryce Bennett, giving an example of Beaver Creek, a mountainous area where regular FIS World Cup is held annually.

Bennett's compatriot Ganong Travis also mentioned Colorado, where Beaver Creek is located.

"It's very dry here and really similar to Colorado. It's very similar to what we do there," he said.