Alpine World Cup Finals: Capped skis, Dorfi, Svindal, Nations Team Event, etc.

Alpine World Cup Finals: Capped skis, Dorfi, Svindal, Nation's Team Event, etc.{mosimage}The capped skis are proliferating
The capped skis that caused such a stir at the Olympic men's downhill are proliferating. The 'secret weapon' skis have appeared on the feet of several Atomic racers this week.
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'I think there's more than just two pairs of those in the world now' joked one American coach this week, nodding toward a racer who was inspecting the men's downhill course.
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Aksel Lund Svindal said he will try the capped skis in super G (Atomic is now making them for that event). Michael Walchhofer will test them next week before the Austrian national championships. 'I will try some new things, especially this ski' said Walchhofer, who already skied on a pair of super G capped skis last week and said they were good at absorbing bumpy terrain.
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Bode Miller said Tuesday that he thinks Daron Rahlves would have definitely had a better chance of getting on the Olympic downhill podium if he'd used the new skis.
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Miller and Rahlves were the only two racers with access to the experimental skis at that point.
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'It was either a matter of racing on stuff we didn't feel like we had a good chance of winning on, or getting on the new stuff and seeing if we could manage it' said Miller. 'I jumped on the new stuff.'
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Aksel Lund Svindal won't fill the vacuum
Aksel Lund Svindal's win on Wednesday, the second of his career, came just a few days before his teammate Lasse Kjus is set to retire from the sport. (Kjetil Andre Aamodt has not given any indication that he plans to stop.)
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'That's no job for one man' said Svindal, when asked if he would be able to fill Kjus' shoes. Svindal said Kjus is one of the greatest ever.
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Kjus, 34, is one of the World Cup's most rugged and well-rounded skiers. He has won 18 World Cups, in each event except slalom. He took the overall World Cup title in 1996 and 1999. At the 1999 world Championships in Vail/Beaver Creek, he won four medals.
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This year, Kjus has not won any races. Last year he won two World Cup races, a giant slalom at Beaver Creek and the final downhill of the year at Lenzerheide, finishing seventh in the overall World Cup standings.
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Team event set for Sunday
On Sunday, the World Cup will be over, but nations will participate in the nations team event, a new coed format that was introduced last season at the World Championships. Germany was the winner.
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The national teams have not selected their starters for that event yet, but the rosters will be submitted on Thursday night. Each nation can start three men and three women, or opt for a four/two ratio.
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The race format met with surprising success at Bormio last season. It may be considered for inclusion on the 2010 Olympic program.
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Dorfi looks back
Michaela Dorfmeister clinched the women's downhill title on Jan. 28 at Cortina, just days after a terrifying near-collision at St. Moritz.
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In a postrace ceremony on Wednesday, she was presented with the globe. It was the day of her final downhill race ever. She finished seventh.
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'People were telling me this was my last World Cup downhill, so I was maybe not totally focused' said Dorfmeister, who has been in the top 10 in each of the last 12 World Cup downhills.
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Asked to recall the best moments in her career, she noted winning the overall World Cup in 2002. Finals that year were in Saalbach, Austria. 'When I got this in my hands it was a special feeling' she said.
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Asked for the bad days, she mentioned two on-hill fatalities on the women's World Cup: Ulrike Maier in 1994 and Regine Cavagnoud in 2001.
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Last year it was Renate Goetschl of Austria who won the women's downhill title over Hilde Gerg of Germany, Dorfmeister and Lindsey Kildow of the United States.
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Dorfmeister, 32, has won 25 World Cup races in her career, and has taken discipline-title globes in downhill (2003), giant slalom (2000) and super G (2005). She won the overall World Cup in 2002, and finished fourth in those standings last season.
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 Super G globes will be handed out Thursday
On Thursday, men and women will race super G on the Are speed slopes, which come together in a big Y and finish in a common finish area. The site will be used for the World Championships next February.
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Dorfmeister has already clinched the women's title, but eight different guys have a mathematical chance at the men's title. Five-time World Cup super G champion Hermann Maier leads with 232 points, but Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway is only eight points back and Hannes Reichelt is 11 behind.
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Last year, Bode Miller won the men's super G title, just beating out Maier in that discipline's standings following Miller's dramatic tie with teammate Daron Rahlves at World Cup Finals.
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Last year, Lindsey Kildow announced her intention to become the first American woman to win the super G title, but at the end of the season she fell short of the point totals racked up by Dorfmeister. Going into Thursday's race, Kildow is in eighth.