(Beijing Winter Olympics) "Snow Flying Swallow" held the first official training for alpine skiing men's downhill
Beijing, February 3 (China News Network) (Reporter Guo Chaokai) The National Alpine Ski Center, known as "Snow Flying Swallow", held the first official training of the alpine skiing men's downhill project at the Beijing Winter Olympics on the 3rd. 56 players from all over the world participated in the training, including China's Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu.
On February 3, the Beijing Winter Olympics alpine skiing men's downhill event held its first official training at the National Alpine Ski Center in Beijing's Yanqing District. The picture shows Chinese player Xu Mingfu in training. China News Service reporter He Penglei photographed
Alpine skiing is known as the "crown jewel of the Winter Olympics", and there are 5 sub-events for men and women, namely downhill, super slalom, big slalom, slalom and all-around, as well as mixed team events. Compared with other alpine skiing events, the downhill race has a longer track, a larger drop, and the athletes achieve faster sliding speed during the race, and the ornamental and dangerous coexist.
During the Beijing Winter Olympics, the starting point of the "Xuefeiyan" downhill track is located at an altitude of 2179 meters, and the vertical drop can reach 894 meters. Training began on time at 11 a.m. that day, and 56 athletes slid down from the starting point in order. Because athletes from all over the world are not familiar with the track, a total of 18 runners have made mistakes such as missing the flag gate, but the ranking of the downhill training does not affect the order and ranking of the main race.
The picture shows Chinese player Zhang Yangming in training. China News Service reporter He Penglei photographed
Sochi Winter Olympics men's downhill gold medalist and Austria's Matthias Meier made his first appearance in training, but due to missing two flags after departure, he did not perform as expected, ranking 37th with a time of 1 minute 46.44 seconds. Swiss-born Stefan Logentin, born in 1994, came in 23rd place on the day and finished first with a time of 1 minute 44.00 seconds.
On the same day, Chinese players Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu also participated in the training, and the two successfully passed all the flag gates and ranked 53rd and 55th respectively. After the game, Xu Mingfu updated weibo photos and said that "focus on him, the first day of public training is over."
The picture shows Austria's Vincent Krishmaier in training. China News Service reporter He Penglei photographed
According to the International Snow Federation, the official training of the downhill competition should be scheduled for at least 3 days. According to the official release of the competition schedule, the men's downhill competition will officially start on the morning of February 6. During the Beijing Winter Olympic cycle, Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu performed steadily in the fiat snow federation's multi-station points race, and this home battle strived to break through the best result.
Compared with the European and American powers, the gap between the Chinese national alpine ski team is not small. Since the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics in the United States, China has only participated in the alpine skiing competitions of the 6 Winter Olympic Games, except for the slalom, the big slalom and the super big slalom, the Chinese alpine ski team has no Olympic experience in other small events.
Pictured is American Bryce Bennett in training. China News Service reporter He Penglei photographed
In this "doorstep" operation, the Chinese alpine ski team won 4 places and qualified for the competition in 11 small events, achieving a historic breakthrough in the whole project. Men's athletes Zhang Yangming and Xu Mingfu and women's athletes Kong Fanying and Ni Yueming will represent China. (End)