Test results are in and Utah got solid marks from skiers looking at race sites for the 2002 Games.
Overall, the Olympic venues scored very high with competitors. Any comments to the contrary were typically directed at personal preferences . . . Like, they would prefer a longer course or a steeper run or more turns in the giant slalom.Consensus among speed skiers was that the run at Snowbasin, in this case the women's downhill course, is the most challenging Olympic-approved track in the U.S.
Comments from several of the top finishers were that, finally, they have a downhill on a level of famous European courses.
Some, mostly the men, would have preferred a longer run. And the men's course, when finished, will be much longer.
The problem Olympic sites have is that the International Olympic Committee wants to be able to hold training runs on both the men's and women's courses simultaneously during the Games. In order to do that the two must be separate and apart. If the women's course were to be lengthened, it would have to cross over the men's course, which would limit training.
The most telling report came from several veteran racers who called it the "most challenging course yet for a U.S. national."
The other site brought into line for the first time was Deer Valley. This was the first running of the freestyle moguls and slalom on Olympic courses.
Here, too, reports were overwhelmingly good. The mogul course flowed and was positioned to maintain consistent conditions, skiers said.
The slalom run, which will actually be the site for the combined slalom, the regular slalom course will be one run to the east, was came with all the right ingredients -- flats, steeps, transitions and good flow.
Kudos also should go to the officials and volunteers watching the clocks, resetting gates and overseeing drug tests. Despite the fact that every race held over the week-long event was rescheduled at earlier hours because of the warm weather, the only delays were caused by Mother Nature. Unwilling to cooperate, she left slushy snow on the Super G course on Sunday morning, then compounded the problem by warming temperatures to melt it more. The women's Super G was the only event that had to be postponed.
Alex Shaffer has been struggling for four years to find her place among the racing elite on the U.S. squad.
It had been three years since she won a skier race. So vague were her memories, she could remember the country (Canada) but not the site (it was Mt. Tremblant).
Not only did she break the string of winless races, but she did it twice. She won both the giant slalom and slalom. To win one race is difficult, but to win two, back-to-back, is, as her coach said, "really incredible."
Shaffer is a part-time resident of Park City.
Special mention, too, should be made of Joe Pack's comeback.
An injury last season kept the Park City aerialist from his dream of making the Nagano Olympics.
This year his road to recovery was all uphill. He won the bronze in freestyle aerials two weeks ago, then won the gold at the nationals on Monday at the Sports Park. In the finals he beat world champion and Olympic gold medalist Eric Bergoust.
The end of the U.S. National Alpine and Freestyle Championships, as they always do, mark the official end of the winter sports season.
The Winter Sports Park has closed its track and jumps, there are only a few more smaller ski races remaining and coaches are already talking about next season.