Markus Waldner: "Why do you always start from Slden? C '' a lot of snow and good weather"

A few days from & rsquo; beginning of the season the Alpine Ski World Cup 2016-2017, the 51st of history, the head of the White Circus male Markus Waldner gave a long interview on the FIS website. Here is the translation.

Sunday 9 October 2016 14 minutes reading time

The 'opening of the season will have & agrave; rise to S & ouml; SÃ¶lden in less than two weeks. Perch & eacute; the 'kick-off takes place always at S & ouml; SÃ¶lden? Thanks to a lot of snow and the weather that & egrave; a guarantee, the resort & agrave; Austrian you & egrave; It established itself as the ideal place to open the World Cup. In the past, we tried several other glaciers (Tignes and Saas-Fee, for example), but the cancellation rate was very high in these places because of the bad weather conditions. Of course, even the Rettenbach glacier & egrave; suffering because of global warming, but thanks to the artificial snow and a next-generation snowmaking system, & nbsp; S & ouml; SÃ¶lden can memorize options ensure great quality & agrave ;. Other important points are the central location and easily accessible, which facilitates logistics and 'enthusiasm on the races. How & egrave; the great 'interest in alpine skiing outside of the main markets in Austria, Switzerland, Italy, France and Sweden? For sure, these five countries are very important for the world of ski racing. These are the countries where it comes from most of the athletes, where the 'general interest in alpine skiing & egrave; the pi & ugrave; high, and where you play the more & ugrave; important milestones on the calendar. However, ski racing is becoming a global sport and in addition to Slovenia, Germany, the Scandinavian countries and North America, which have established themselves as classics organizers, the World Cup is also expanding eastward. Top events were held in Sochi for example, in Korea and Japan. The difficulty & agrave; & Egrave; we have to offer the most & ugrave; Block stages of events in the Far East in the calendar, we can not only travel for a stage as done so far. So this depends very much on the Olympic program. The 'idea would be to go back to East approximately every three years, coinciding with a pre-Olympic stage, which will be & agrave; can again with the Winter Olympics 2022 in China. With a potential 300 million new ski enthusiasts, the 'ski industry & egrave; very interested in having events of the World Cup in the Far East. Earning these people as active skiers and devotees would be a huge step towards sustainability & agrave; of our sport. The pillars of the World Cup are clearly central nell''Europa, where you create value, but from the point of view of marketing and tourism we try to expand to other countries in order to ensure the viable well into the future skiing World Cup. There are too many specialties & agrave ;? Alpine skiing & egrave; still attractive and popular? They began many discussions and reflections with regard to the number of specialty & agrave; and the 'attractiveness of the sport. The problem & egrave; that some of our specialties & agrave; They have developed in a way that does not & egrave; pi & ugrave; very interesting for regular viewers, but only for the & ldquo; sick & rdquo; Ski who are aware of the technical details. Then, to activate and involve a more & ugrave public; large, we need to have an easy and understandable product. The parallel races are a good example, since the format head-to-head & egrave; very funny and easy to understand. Can memorize options be a good way to attract the younger generation - the data show that most of the audience is 45 years - so that they too can have fun with downhill skiing. In the long term we need to change something in our calendar, and we are gi & agrave; working on this. No revolution, but a & rsquo; constant evolution towards a better World Cup. How does this evolution happens in practice? When we develop a specialty & agrave ;, the first thing we look at the 'sporty appearance - any change in the rules must be fair and respect the athletes - we consider the & rsquo; attractiveness for spectators. The trend right now & egrave; to go towards the compact format, in which the tension & egrave; palpable and inspiring. For example, in the speed & agrave; we could race on two tracks, so you have the best athletes all close at the end for a final decision. These formats are gi & agrave; were tested in the races of the Continental Cups, and may appear in the calendar of the World Cup very soon. Of course, the classic places such as Wengen and Kitzbuehel & uuml; hel will keep & agrave; the original principle, for which the winner & egrave; the "pi & ugrave; fast from the top to the bottom of the track & rdquo ;, but maybe other stops will consider these new options. In addition, a new system of live data collection project sar & agrave; launched the World Championships in St. Moritz. The athletes of speed disciplines wear a transponder, which provides real-time information on acceleration, transmission time, and so on. This technology & egrave; been gi & agrave; used in other sports, and now our data provider and timing Swiss Timing has implemented it in alpine skiing, because & eacute; viewers acquire more knowledge. It '' a big step forward, with great potential for the future. Much work & egrave; been done also boobies race tracks. What are these improvements? The public wants to see a show with spectacular slopes, so we need to constantly work on the track to offer something interesting for the spectators. But all those changes must remain within the safety limits, which & egrave; the highest priority & agrave ;. Pi & ugrave; speed & agrave; it would not be a safe solution, perci memorize options we work on the ground by building more & ugrave; humps and jumps that force l & rsquo; athlete to leave the position and struggle to stay on track. Those images are quite spectacular on TV and not necessarily dangerous. But of course, the line between safety and performance & egrave; thin. The sport needs both, but we must be careful to strike the right balance. Races like the dell''Hahnenkamm down in 2016 are out of this balance? No. downhill skiing is not & egrave; dangerous, but take risks & egrave; a part of our sports, especially downhill. We will never have 100% safe slopes, and the falls there will always be, no matter how many fences have been taken. But in the end it's up to the athletes to assess the situation and decide whether you & egrave; ready to take risks or not. The 'last year in Kitzb & uuml; hel, the situation & egrave; It was under control and the 'Hausbergkante was good enough to compete. But, of course, with the lighting conditions that change the 'athlete must adapt. Skiers as Gisin (5 & deg; with bib 27), Kriechmayr (7 & deg; with bib 30) have shown that the track & egrave; It has been practicable to the end of the competition. Certainly we do not like to have fallen and injured athletes, the 'objective & egrave; that athletes remain healthy and to cut the finish line, but if they choose to risk everything to win the race, then falls may happen. For next year, we took steps to better security in that stretch, with lights, a special dye that has better contrast and less people on the track that can deteriorate the preparation of the snow. But & egrave; still one of outdoor sports, and although we do our best to offer the most & ugrave track; secure as possible, the risk there will be & agrave; always. This season will be & agrave; introduced a new starting order in speed & agrave ;, how they will influence & agrave; the races? Sar & agrave; interesting. The 'main idea was to extend the time in which the best athletes appear, to force viewers to watch the show a bit' 'of pi & ugrave ;. Cos & igrave; Now, the top 10 athletes can choose between the & rsquo; 1 and 19, whereas previously they were drawn between 16 and 22. The fact that they can choose will add & agrave; voltage because the choice will be & agrave; different in each resort & agrave; depending on several factors. Even this can memorize options increase 'interest, because & eacute; people will wonder why & eacute; the choices and talk about it.

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