The adventure was long and perilous but was worth it. Story at the heart of a reconnaissance on the snow of the “Rock” track, before the women’s downhill at the Beijing Games (Tuesday at 4 a.m.).
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The lunar landscape at the top of the speed tracks in Yanqing.
During Alpine Skiing World Cup stages, accredited journalists can register for race reconnaissance. This is an opportunity to discover routes that make you dream, to observe the athletes and even sometimes to chat with coaches.
There, we realize that the images on television reflect very badly the slope and the surface of the track. And the “ice blue” or the “glass from top to bottom” mentioned by Justin Murisier suddenly become more meaningful.
Arriving in Yanqing, where the ski events take place, I mightn’t resist the urge to test the Chinese snow and hurtle down the Olympic “Rock”, the one that has consecrated Béat Feuz and Lara Gut-Behrami. But when I got there, I quickly understood that my “recon” mission would be more complicated than expected. And this despite my request to the FIS before leaving.
Only television journalists would obviously be allowed to compete at the Olympic speedway. Unfair? Clearly! So I had to insist with the many people in charge of the press centre. “It may be possible” I was told three consecutive days before I lost patience. The language issue is a headache with Chinese volunteers. Special mention to this “Skiiis?!” answered by a volunteer from the…National Alpine Ski Center.
It needed more to discourage me. And it was Cecil (pronounced Ceciiiiiil), an American who exudes good humor and who manages the organization of the post-race press conferences in Yanqing, who allowed me to move forward in my efforts. After two days (and regarding twenty e-mails) of exchanges between the FIS, the head of photography, Cecil and three or four other people, including probably the Chinese Minister of Sports, I was authorized to register for the ” Media Inspection”. What a relief to receive the yellow armband, sesame to show up in the gate.
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The helmet, not easy to obtain and the yellow armband. Two essentials to participate in the recognition of an Olympic ski event in Yanqing.
By some miracle, I even managed to rent equipment (skis and boots) for 500 yuan, the equivalent of 73 francs. It was necessary to use my contacts established over the week at the press center for alpine skiing at the Olympics. Because in the Olympic bubble, there are no shops. “On the other hand, they will be 165 centimeter skis”, I was told a few days before the recognition of the women’s super-G.
Go down an Olympic speed track with slalom skis, the idea seems original, doesn’t it? I still had one detail to settle: finding the obligatory helmet. Or buy one for the equivalent of 250 francs. Thanks to this fellow French-speaking photographer who lent me the Grail on the Gong, when I was (almost) regarding to give up.
German radio alarm clock in the cabin
It’s 6 a.m., Yanqing wakes up. The shuttle that takes us every morning from the hotel to the foot of the slopes is empty. I have to rub my eyes when I see a jogger running along the side of the road. It must be -20 degrees outside. In the heated-seat gondola that goes up the ski slopes, the crackle of the walkie-talkie of my neighbor, a German coach, does not let me doze off: “Jüuuurrgen für Johaaan?!”
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At 6am, the shuttle is empty. It is something else in that of 8 am, where the sanitary distances are not always respected.
The sky is becoming clearer and the few white marks are beginning to show under my feet. The skis are waiting for me as planned at the foot of the track with my name written on it. They are of the same brand as the one that equips the Norwegian Kilde and are not made of wood, contrary to the dream (or nightmare) I had had the night before.
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At the top, the white stripes indicate that there are ski slopes in Yanqing.
I find Romain Roseng, the women’s ski commentator at the RTS and his consultant Patrice Morisod who are getting equipped in the press room. “Did you redo your edges? Because it’s very hard up there ”, slips me the former coach of Cuche and Défago. Little control and it looks pretty sharp. Phew!
In the two gondolas that take us to 2200 meters above sea level, the surrounding mountains begin to reveal themselves. They are rather gigantic rocks and the semi-arid zone resembles a desert. From the top, the horizon seems distant and offers us a breathtaking view of Chinese landscapes, which the health bubble does not really allow us to discover.
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The lunar landscape at the top of the speed tracks in Yanqing.
My two gondola neighbors talk regarding the misadventure of their colleague John Nicolet, who burned the sole of his ski during a reconnaissance before commenting on a men’s event in Yanqing. I’m beginning to wonder if I was right to insist on this rec. But it seems too late to turn back.
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In Yanqing, we ski doubly masked.
Leaving the facility, it is cold. Very cold. Very very cold even. I have the impression of walking on the moon taking a few steps on this white strip drawn on this rock so dry. I don’t have time to take a selfie as Patrice Morisod has already descended a few hundred meters below.
What a pleasure to make these first turns on very aggressive snow, which allows you to leave beautiful tracks and which is very grippy. So much for my approximate analysis of the snow, described more soberly as “Chinese” by Loïc Meillard.
After regarding two minutes of “free skiing”, we reach the entrance to the reconnaissance, just below the start of the women’s super-G. There, I must admit, the pressure begins to mount. Let’s go!
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At the start of the super-G, the skiers also take souvenir photos.
And it starts strong. The surface becomes harder, especially between the two blue lines that delimit the fall line. Avoid leaving big marks on it. Patrice Morisod took out his tape measure – a pro’s reflex – to measure the gap between the doors. “52 meters” he shouts at the bottom of a first wall.
Controlled skids
Personally, I focus on my turns and skids in high-risk areas. I also have a thought for my serviceman, yet unknown, who prepared real knives for me. And I internally thank this French colleague, athletics coach in his spare time, who encouraged me to do a short sports session the day before on a treadmill in the hotel’s fitness room. The warm-up allows me to put enough strength on the edges.
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On the track, do not put edge strokes between the blue lines. In order to prevent Lara Gut-Behrami from taking a bad trace following our visit.
Time is limited from 8 a.m. to 8:20 a.m. on the “Rock”, before Lara Gut-Behrami comes to reconnoiter the route that will crown her Olympic super-G champion three hours later. Small selfie pause on certain key passages, like the “Sugar Jump”, which does not look so tender.
I tremble imagining myself tumbling here at more than 100km/h. “There, you have to take very high, otherwise you won’t get to the next door well,” advises Patrice Morisod in a dizzying crossbar. I opt for the shortest and most direct line, so that this frozen wall is only a distant memory. Here, there is really nothing to be smart regarding.
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You have to get high on this passage according to Patrice Morisod. Personally, I started straight and with a few slips.
We already arrive in the final part of the “Canyon”. On the rock called “Russi’s Rock”, above our head, coaches are already in place. Up there, they observe their athletes. I go straight and even allow myself a little schuss, not missing the thought of Marco Odermatt, who has not mastered this passage as well as I did during the super-G. Come on, it’s true, I had a few kilometers less on the clock.
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It was here that Marco Odermatt was eliminated in the super-G.
Crossing the finish line, I must admit that I still feel a slight relief. And above all an immense feeling of freedom, as if I had been able to escape from the bubble in which we have been living for three weeks. And it’s good for both the head and the legs. In the finish area, I just want to go back up.
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The final schuss is a little less well mastered than that of Beat Feuz.
