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SKIING

Norway skier bows out with silver at world cup in Sweden

Olympic champion Aksel Lund Svindal retired from alpine skiing with a bang Saturday as he won world downhill silver in a thrilling Norwegian one-two led by teammate Kjetil Jansrud.

Norway skier bows out with silver at world cup in Sweden
Second placed Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal and winner Norway's Kjetil Jansrud celebrate with a Norwegian flag. Photo: Francois Xavier Marit/AFP
Jansrud, skiing with his left hand strapped into the pole to protect two fingers he broke training in Kitzbuehel last month, laid down arguably the run of his life on the Olympia course, shortened to that of a super-G because of 
overnight snow and later fog.
   
The 33-year-old clocked 1min 19.98sec for his maiden world title, Svindal roaring through the finish line just two-hundredths off the pace.
   
Austria's Vincent Kriechmayr claimed bronze, at 0.33sec, to go with his super-G silver.
   
“I've been sharing the podium with Aksel for quite a few times throughout our career and doing this on his last race at the world champs is an honour. This is a perfect day,” said Jansrud, the 2014 Olympic super-G gold medallist.
   
“You keep on believing and fighting. After what happened in Kitzbühel with the hand, I had to fight harder.
   “
It's nothing to explain, you fight every day as an alpine skier and sometimes you succeed and sometimes not.”
   
Svindal admitted to huge pre-race nerves, saying: “This is more than I expected. I knew I was fast enough to get a medal… but to make it happen on the day is another matter.
   
“The last couple of days building up to the race, I've been nervous,” he said. “But I wanted to give it all I had on my last race. It was a great show.”
   
Hitting speeds around 130km/h, racers had to negotiate a testing course in limited visibility, the race having twice been put back in the hope the fog would clear.
   
Organisers it safe to go ahead and what a white-knuckle race it turned out to be. The rolling terrain propelled skiers 40 metres into the air at times and the top section included a bumpy traverse that saw many go wide on a tight right-turn re-entry.
   
When Jansrud came through to the finish, wearing bib number six, it was as if he already knew he had done enough for victory.
   
He punched the air, quickly unhitched his right ski, grabbing it and shaking it towards a stadium seemingly full of Norwegian fans.
   
“Getting the roar from the all Norwegians and Swedes on the stand was one of the most amazing feelings in my career, just almost getting blown over from the sounds! It's a very emotional day and I'm going to enjoy it,” said Jansrud.
   
Then it was the turn of Svindal. The big screen first flashed up Jansrud sitting on the leader's chair before cutting to Svindal in the start gate.
   
The already-pumped up crowd went mad, their roars drowning out the cowbells of the Swiss and Austrian fan clubs.
   
Svindal gave his all, but had to be content with finishing second to his close friend in a reverse of the Pyeongchang Olympics downhill result. “It's a great race, a close race,” beamed Svindal.
   
“The roles were switched at last year's Olympics, yep, perfect today.”
   
His silver medal brings an end to a career that ironically saw him win his first gold medals (downhill, giant slalom) in Are, back in the 2007 world championships. He won another downhill gold in Schladming in 2013.
   
His silver meant Svindal joined compatriot Kjetil Andre Aamodt (seven) and Luxembourg's Marc Girardelli (six) as the only skiers to collect a medal at six world championships. US women's star Lindsey Vonn can also achieve that feat in her farewell downhill race on Sunday.

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SKIING

Snow report: What’s the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

Good news for skiers in France, as a mild December has given way to a cold blast in early January that's bringing some much-needed snow.

Snow report: What's the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

After a mostly dry and mild December, snow returned to the the Pyrenees on Friday.

Meanwhile most resorts in the Alps have been able to stay open after a promising early start to the ski season, thanks to fresh snowfalls, with more on the way this weekend.

Pyrenees

Snow has returned in the Pyrenees. Some 5cm fell overnight into Friday, January 5th in eastern parts of the mountain range, with forecasts predicting a further 15cm to 20cm to be on the ground 24 hours later. The region had not seen any snow since December 2nd.

In Angles, 20cm of snow had fallen at higher altitudes by mid-morning on Friday.

Further west, numerous resorts in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département remained closed this week after early December snow had melted in mild conditions that have dominated France in recent weeks, but significant snowfall is expected over the weekend into Monday, and resorts are hoping that they will see enough to open.

One resort, Artouste, has been unable to offer skiing since the start of the season on December 23rd due to a lack of snow. A scenic rail service – usually reserved for warmer months – has kept the resort going. It is set to stop running on Friday, amid expectations of enough snow to finally open the slopes.

READ ALSO Climate crisis: ’90 percent’ of Europe’s ski resorts face critical snow shortages

Alps 

Many ski resorts opened on time, or even a little earlier than scheduled last month, after significant early snow fall, and have enjoyed deposits in the first days of 2024. But, even here, resort managers welcomed the promise of more significant snow this weekend.

Some resorts weren’t so fortunate. Ski areas in Gérardmer, in the Vosges, were still closed in the week leading up to Christmas because of poor snow conditions, but they are hoping for enough snow to finally get started this weekend, while La Bresse-Honeck was using ‘stocked snow’ made by using snow that fell earlier in the winter months to stay open as recently as December 30th.

In the Northern Alps, resorts such as Alpe d’Huez benefited from fresh snowfall on December 22nd, while Val d’Isère had new snow on December 29th. In the Southern Alps, Les Orres’ last pre-New Year snow was on December 8th.

And the French Alps have enjoyed more snow since the start of the year. There’s at least 50cm of fresh snow on the higher slopes of Les Gets and Morzine, for example, a significant improvement on the same time last year, when the resorts were among several that had very little snow to speak of.

In Chamonix, meanwhile, snow has fallen on eight of the last 14 days, with more expected every day between Friday and Monday.

Massif Central

As the post on X / Twitter shows, the Massif Central has not had the best of winters for snow so far. But between 30cm and 50cm is expected in Le Lioran by Monday. 

READ ALSO ‘So many barriers since Brexit’: The French ski businesses no longer willing to hire Brits

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