It's another beautiful day for ski racing!

Alpine races have been going well here at Whistler and - after a slow start due to weather - the speed events for both genders are almost done.  There is a lot of pressure on our local athletes to excel, especially on home turf.  Competition has been tough and so far US athletes are ahead overall in the standings.  You may have heard that six of our top contenders became injured this winter.  Toria filled in all the accreditation paperwork in order to compete but she was also injured mid-January.  Consequently, her Olympic experience has been limited to running with the torch and watching her team mates compete. 

For excellent coverage and replays of all events we visit ctv.ca

While I have been at the sliding centre, Al has been at the alpine venues.  His team set up all the timing connections prior to the races, then ran the manual timing, intervals and speed traps during the races.  

Here is the DH Start, complete with the beautiful Olympic facade and banners.  Note the volunteers in their blue jackets along the side.  About 5,000 volunteers were in Whistler for the February events, over 1,000 of them working on alpine race tracks to keep them safe and fair for the racers.

Here are a couple members of Al's timing crew inside the start tent prior to the races.  Each day they were up early to set up and test systems.   Then the Swiss timing team Omega can plug and play!

Once the race starts the tent gets busy! 

Rules allow only one coach in the tent with each athlete, but often the physio or ski tech comes in too.   The tent should remain quiet for the racer can focus on the job at hand.

The Start crew consists of a Starter, in this case the person wearing a red jacket at the entrace.  He gives the start signal (10 seconds.....5, 4, 3 ....) and confirms with Timing the number of each racer in the Start, then on course.  Over and over.....

The Start Referee is also in the tent, watching to see all goes according to the rules.  If there is any reason to stop the start it is the Start Referee who quickly responds.   If a racer breaks any rules it is the Start Referee who must report to the Jury. 

So long as all goes well there is no dialogue among the Start officials.  Any talk with the athlete can be considered interference and grounds for a protest. 

You will notice the camera operator inside the tent too, zooming in to catch facial expressions as the racer gets ready to depart, and going for those action shots between the legs when the racer departs. 

Manual timers work outside the tent.

 Here is a section of the race course called the Weasel, a steep section that used to be groomed by humans linking arms and boot-packing the soft snow.  Hence the Weasel Workers! 

Can you see the racer coming down?  This was a challenging part of the course because this is a steep pitch (even though it may not look steep in this photo) and the transition from bright sun to shade is always challenging.  Some racers made major mistakes at the red gate....

The Finish was filled with ticketed spectators, so not accessible for me with my camera.  However, I will soon be at this venue for the Para events and will get more photos then.