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U.S. Ski Team Speed Center at Copper Mountain to open full course Thursday

Sebastian Foltz
Summit Daily News
Lindsey Vonn carves up a training run at Copper Mountain earlier this month. The U.S. Ski team will start full downhill training on their speed course Thursday, Nov. 20.
Tripp Fay / Copper Mountain |

Better late than never was the feeling at Copper Mountain Resort this week.

Officials at the resort’s U.S. Ski Team Speed Center announced the opening Thursday for the full top-to-bottom early season downhill training course.

“It’s a full go now,” U.S. Alpine Team Director Patrick Riml said.



The men’s and women’s World Cup teams had their first full downhill training session starting Thursday morning, Riml said..

“With the limited speed training that I’ve had, I’ve definitely changed my focus to starting at Lake Louise … For right now I’m just going to focus on speed.”
Lindsey Vonn


Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety was among those training.



Copper’s Mountain operations staff has been able to gradually increase the length of the speed course in the days leading up to the opening. Prior to its opening, the team had been training on upper portions of the mountain.

“We’ve gone a little farther each day,” Olympic skier Marco Sullivan said.

Feelings regarding the delayed opening have been mixed, but the consensus is that it’s still early enough to get significant training in prior to the World Cup season getting underway.

Last year, because of early snowfall, Copper had top-to-bottom skiing when the center opened Nov. 1.

“I don’t think it’s as big a deal as everyone is making it out to be,” Sullivan said. “It’s definitely late, but we’re all in the same boat.”

Sullivan went on to say that the team has been spoiled the last few years with early openings.

Four-time overall World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist Lindsey Vonn — who’s been continuing her on-snow comeback in Colorado since early November — was also at Copper Mountain on Wednesday for an afternoon training session.

She said she, too, was pleased with the course’s progress.

“It’s almost full length as it is. I think everyone’s been pretty happy with what we’ve been able to get, especially considering before last week we really didn’t have any snow in Colorado.”

Vonn added that she thought conditions were probably better than anywhere else in the world right now.

While the women’s World Cup races in Aspen on Nov. 29-30 had been an outside possibility for Vonn’s return to competition after last winter’s knee injury caused her to miss the Olympics, she said she is planning her comeback for her original target, the Wold Cup races at Lake Louise, Alberta, Canada on Dec. 5-7.

“With the limited speed training that I’ve had, I’ve definitely changed my focus to starting at Lake Louise,” she said. “I just don’t have the time to juggle all of the events. For right now I’m just going to focus on speed.”

Teammate and fellow gold medalist Mikaela Shiffrin also was on hand Wednesday. Unlike Vonn, Shiffrin was there to participate in two women’s FIS Super G races Copper hosted. She took part in the small races to gain some additional race experience in the discipline, in which she recently started competing.

Shiffrin finished 15th and 16th in the two races.

“I’m learning in Super G still, so I’m not too disappointed with myself,” she said after the races.

The men will have a few days of full downhill training before traveling to Lake Louise for the next World Cup event, Nov. 29-30, while the women will have an additional week at Copper leading up to the World Cup technical races at Aspen next week.

The Winternational women’s giant slalom is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 29.

The women’s slalom in Aspen will be Sunday, Nov. 30. Both races will be held on Aspen Mountain’s east side..

“It’s been kind of a struggle,” Sochi Olympic super G silver medalist Andrew Weibrecht said, calling the limited training offerings “a little monotonous” leading up to the full course opening.

But Weibrecht added that a few days on the full course should be enough to be ready for Lake Louise.