WHISTLER, BC - FEBRUARY 10: Bode Miller of United States competes in the men's alpine skiing downhill practice held at Whistler Creekside ahead of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)
WHISTLER, BC (Feb. 10) – It's going to be a busy Thursday at Whistler Creekside with both men's and women's downhill training runs scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m. local time. The men's training run is the second of three scheduled sessions prior to Saturday's medal event for downhill. For women, it will be the first of three scheduled downhill training runs before the super combined Sunday and the first chance for Lindsey Vonn (Vail, CO) to test her injured shin.
"At this point I really don't know how it's going to feel," said Vonn, whose status is day-to-day. "I'm hoping that tomorrow when I get on skis things will be OK. I'm just trying to stay positive and continue doing therapy. We'll know a lot more tomorrow after I get on the snow. My plan hasn't changed, I'm still going to do the best that I can to compete at the highest level possible in all disciplines."
Women's training will run the entire length of Franz's Olympic slope with 2006 Olympian Stacey Cook (Mammoth Mountain, CA) running No. 2. Olympic giant slalom champion Julia Mancuso (Olympic Valley, CA) starts 13 with Vonn slated to start 15. The U.S. will also be represented by Alice McKennis (Glenwood Springs, CO), Chelsea Marshall (Pittsfield, VT), Leanne Smith (Conway, NH) and Kaylin Richardson (Edina, MN).
Over on the Dave Murray Run, which is on a different slope adjacent to the women's course, all men's athletes will start in one minute intervals and finish just above the slalom start, approximately 200 meters above the shared finish with the women's course.
Bode Miller (Franconia, NH), who was seventh in the opening training run before the race was called due to poor visibility, opens Thursday's event for the Americans with bib seven.
"I feel like I’m coming into these games in the unique position of still growing stronger," said Miller. "I'm psyched to be here and I'm ready to run. It's a unique opportunity to be here and in a lot of cases it allows you to elevate your intensity, your focus and your inspiration to a level that you couldn't achieve on your own and that's unique to the Olympics. I think there's something extra to be put on that."
Wednesday's 10th place finisher Andrew Weibrecht (Lake Placid, NY) starts 20 with Marco Sullivan (Squaw Valley, CA) kicking out 28th. Olympic combined champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT), Steven Nyman (Sundance, UT), Erik Fisher (Middleton, ID) and Will Brandenburg (Spokane, WA) are also on the start list.
Both men's and women's U.S. Olympic Alpine Ski Teams held opening press conferences Wednesday. Complete audio of both is available at http://media.ussa.org/.
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