p16_Layout 1 2/17/15 9:13 PM Page 1 WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2015 SPORTS FIS head laments drop in recreational skiers BEAVER CREEK: Sitting on a terrace on Colorado resorts of Vail/Beaver Creek come from their ski-mad nation. lost at the current rate. It is trend right champions the worlds were viewed as a a bluebird day overlooking the Birds of were projected to provide a $130 mil- But the numbers Kasper and other across Europe’s alpine arc with the sport chance to put skiing in the American Prey finish line, International Ski lion two-week jolt to the local economy. industry leaders are fixated on are the gaining ground in some areas and los- sporting spotlight. Gold medal perform- Federation (FIS) chief Gian Franco As advertised, the event delivered plen- participation figures that will ultimately ing traction in others. ances from Ted Ligety in the giant Kasper scanned the horizon for recre- ty of thrills and spills on the slopes and impact the FIS portfolio of world cham- “What is most interesting is the num- slalom and 19-year-old ski darling ational skiers that never appear. “Even in an adequate apres-ski buzz in Vail but pionships: alpine, nordic, freestyle, ber of new nations that are now becom- Mikaela Shiffrin were dramatic. the cold countries like Switzerland and for a large part was greeted with a snowboard and ski jumping. ing active within skiing, as an example But with the championships sand- Austria the number of kids being shrug. we now have Kazakhstan who are now wiched between the Super Bowl and involved in skiing goes down,” Kasper Vacancy signs flashed at hotels and LOSING TRACTION bidding for the Olympic Games,” said FIS the NBA All-Star weekend and qualify- told Reuters during a piste-side inter- resorts around the Vail valley while A federation that relies on snow as its general secretary Sarah Lewis. “Where ing for the Daytona 500, Kasper worried view. “The main thing is the youth, restaurant and bar staff expressed sur- lifeblood, FIS has been feeling the heat there are concerns are in terms in num- that exploits of U.S. skiers were appreci- young people, we need to bring them prise at the lack of business. created from a perfect storm of global bers who are actually taking up the ated more in Europe than at home. back into snow. The television images from 200 cam- warming, vanishing pistes and waning sport. “We had some bad experiences in “I am not speaking about competi- era positions were spectacular and interest. “We’ve really tried to engage not just the past (in the US). I’m still not very tive skiing. We measure our success in organisers estimate that close to The problem of rising temperatures is through the national associations but happy with how the American people the number of tourist skiers, that is the 130,000 took in the action on the hill. compounded by the soaring cost of a with the resorts, tourist organisations, treat their champions, the interest (in most important thing. FIS declared the event a success and ski vacation that has resulted in many with ski schools, with everyone who has ski racing) is very low,” said Kasper. “We have had a few bad years in said the bar had been raised for the next families finding other ways to spend a stake in the sport to try and create “But the only thing that counts is the regards to snow so the kids they worlds, to be hosted by St. Moritz in their leisure time. activities to make skiing fun so they number of skiers on the slopes and I couldn’t train, so they look for another 2017. A recent report by the Denver develop a love and passion for the think these championships will help sport because they like sport but there Certainly Austria were impressed Business Journal said 57.1 million peo- sport.” out in the USA. “They don’t care much was no skiing possibilities. having combined for nine medals, ple hit the slopes across the United Alpine skiing rarely grabs American in the US the name of the skiers but “Those generations we have lost.” The including five gold, on the Birds of Prey States last season, a figure that could interest outside of the Olympics but they see it and think it is fun and alpine world championships at the posh and Raptor tracks ensuring a hero’s wel- drop to 45.3 million by 2030 if skiers are with a US team packed with potential maybe will try it.” —Reuters Aussies eye team pursuit gold FRANCE: Australia will be going for a fifth Olympic champions Laura Trott and Joanna men’s team pursuit gold in six years when Roswell. the Track Cycling World Championships Britain, whose team includes Katie begin near Paris today. Archibald and Elinor Barker, are bidding for To help boost their efforts, Jack a fifth consecutive gold medal in the event. Bobridge is taking a break from road They also won the only two rounds of cycling to try to claim gold on the track. It the World Cup they started. Australia, will be the 25-year-old’s first return to the Canada and the United States are likely to track pursuit team since the Australians provide the competition but perhaps will were eclipsed by Great Britain in 2012. merely be battling out for the minor The Brits also pipped them to the medals. Olympic title in London. Bobridge comes Roswell will also be defending her indi- into the event just two weeks after a failed vidual pursuit title and is likely to face attempt to break the world hour record on strong competition from American Sarah track, when he fell 500-metres short of the Hammer, who pipped Trott to omnium mark set by Austrian Matthias Brandle, gold last time out. although fellow Aussie Rohan Dennis has Germany are likely to come to the fore since taken the record. Australia’s main in the sprint disciplines with Kristina Vogel competition is set to come from the leading the way. The Kazakhstan born ath- Olympic champions and Denmark. lete won three gold medals last time out Britain recently claimed victory in the and will again be favorite in the individual World Cup series ahead of Australia and sprint and keirin. have picked a mix of youth and experience She and Miriam Welte, the women’s for their world championship tilt. 500m timetrial champion, are the reigning London Olympic gold medallist Steven world and Olympic champions in the team Burke has made a rapid recovery from a sprint and will be a tough pair to beat yet broken collarbone to take his place along- again. side Ed Clancy and Andy Tennant while Frenchman Francois Pervis will be the youngster Matt Gibson could ride one of star draw at the national velodrome in the early rounds. Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines. The 30-year-old Denmark, who took silver last year in won the individual sprint, timetrial and Colombia, are likely to put up a strong chal- keirin in Cali. lenge with Rasmus Christian Quaade and However, he will face tough competition SLOVENIA: Sarah Hendrickson from the US competes at the Ski Jumping World Cup women’s event in Ljubno in this file photo. —AP Casper von Folsach surviving from that from triple Olympic champion Jason Kenny quartet. of Britain, the 2012 world sprint champion, New Zealand, bronze medallists in 2012 Germany’s 2013 world champion Stefan and last year, and Russia could also put in a Boetticher and Russian Denis Dmitriev, a Norway expected to dominate medal challenge but it is the medallist at the last two worlds. Commonwealth Games champions Nineteen gold medals will be decided Australia, who beat an England squad fea- over the five-day event, although the cross-country skiing at worlds turing Bradley Wiggins in Glasgow last year, main focus just over 18-months out from which will begin as favourites, particularly the Rio Olympics will be the Games disci- SWEDEN: Even by cross-country skiing stan- mer overall World Cup winner - are getting a bit and five in ski jumping, including a mixed team given the boost of Bobridge’s return. plines of men’s and women’s team pur- dards, there may be an unusually high number fed up. “Norwegians love cross-country skiing competition. In the women’s team pursuit, Britain will suit, individual sprint, team sprint, keirin of Norwegians climbing the podium in the com- more than anyone in the world, but at the same Here are some things to know about the oth- be looking to defend their title led by and omnium. —AFP ing two weeks. time they are killing the sport,” Kowalczyk wrote er events: Going into the Nordic skiing world champi- in a column for Polish newspaper Gazeta this onships that start tomorrow in Falun, Sweden, season. “It’s not possible to compete at their lev- WOMEN’S SKI JUMP Norway is dominating its national sport like el any longer.” Defending world champion Sarah Hendrickson rarely before, winning two-thirds of the World The Norwegian success does cause a problem of the US seems to be getting back to her best at Cup events so far this season. It’s getting to the for the sport. TV ratings for cross-country events just the right time. Hendrickson beat Japanese rival point where some other nations are openly wor- in Germany, Italy and France have all dropped in Sara Takanashi for the world title two years ago in ried they can’t compete with the Scandinavian recent years, while winter sports like Alpine ski- Italy, but her chances of becoming the sport’s first powerhouse anymore, and Norway monopoliz- ing and biathlon have become more popular.