The ÖSV speed ladies Christina Ager, Lena Wechner, Magdalena Egger, Nina Ortlieb, Ariane Rädler and Michelle Niederwieser are jetting from Munich via Frankfurt to Denver on Sunday. From the capital of the US state of Colorado, they will then travel another two hours west by rental car to the ski resort of Copper Mountain. Over the next two weeks, the downhill skiers will be fine-tuning their top form for the Speed World Cup opener, which will take place on December 14 and 15 in neighboring Beaver Creek with a downhill and a super-G.

Challenging, but...
"It's really cool that the ladies can start on the Birds of Prey slope this year," says a delighted ÖSV group coach Christoph Alster, who competed in five World Cup races there himself and is already starting his trip to the USA today. "It's certainly a very challenging course. But the ladies have other slopes on their calendar - including the Tofana in Cortina - where one or two of the men also struggle. As we saw two years ago when two super-Gs were raced there."

Better than China
In general, the 44-year-old Egger, who is entering his twelfth season in the ÖSV and is therefore one of the longest-serving coaches, is satisfied with the World Cup calendar. Even the fact that he is going back to the USA to Sun Valley for the final doesn't bother him. "To be honest: I'd rather fly to America twice a season than have to go to China again - as the FIS grandees have occasionally suggested," explains Alster, who decided to break new ground with his ladies this summer. Instead of going to Chile as they did recently, they went to New Zealand for training.

Even though the wind was a bit of a spoilsport in Mount Hutt, Alster is clear: "I would do it again. We had good giant slalom training as well as downhill elements, where you could jump 40 meters at 115 km/h," reports the Wälder.

Race comeback in Beaver
Downhill vice world champion Nina Ortlieb was not yet part of the action in New Zealand. The 28-year-old only started training later after breaking her tibia and fibula, but is now looking optimistically towards Beaver Creek, where she wants to make her race comeback. "She is an athlete who is in the here and now and can tick off what has happened when she feels good," says Alster. "The only thing that could limit her is the pain factor. But fortunately that's looking very good so far." 

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