Sochi’s round of the Alpine skiing World Cup should continue after the 2014 Olympics, rather than simply being a test event for the games, the president of Russia’s ski federation said Friday.
The world’s best male skiers are in Sochi preparing for the first World Cup event there, which will take place Saturday and Sunday, with the women’s World Cup event to follow a week later.
“Getting a firm foothold in the calendar will be difficult, but we will attempt it and work for it,” Svetlana Gladysheva, president of the Russian Ski and Snowboard Federation, told RIA Novosti.
“These competitions are very necessary for us. They generate great interest within our country. With time, I think, these events will draw a sizeable number of spectators.”
Gladysheva said that it would be difficult to rival established names like Chamonix, Garmisch-Partenkirchen and Kitzbuhel, but that Sochi had the facilities to mount a challenge.
“The organization is at the top level, for sure. The people who’ve worked on the preparation have done everything to the highest standard,” she said.
Reigning Olympic super combined champion Bode Miller has claimed the downhill run is too close in design to a Super G run, but Gladysheva, Olympic downhill silver medalist in 1994, said she disagreed.
“There are difficult technical bends at the top, of course, but I don’t agree that it’s a Super G run. It’s a normal, good downhill run. The speed reaches more than 130 kilometers per hour. But everyone has their own opinion.”
Located at the Rosa Khutor ski resort near the town of Krasnaya Polyana, the Olympic Alpine area will host downhill Saturday and super combined Sunday.
