Beaver Creek: Struggling Deneriaz won't race DH

Antoine Deneriaz has returned to France for a break after finishing 83rd in Tuesday’s downhill training run on Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey course.
    The 31-year-old Frenchman finished seven seconds behind training run pacesetter Didier Cuche of Switzerland on Tuesday. The 2006 Olympic downhill champion was expecting a better result from himself after finishing 51st at Beaver Creek last season.
ANTOINE DENERIAZ has returned to France for a break after finishing 83rd in Tuesday’s downhill training run on Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey course.
    The 31-year-old Frenchman finished seven seconds behind training run pacesetter Didier Cuche of Switzerland on Tuesday. The 2006 Olympic downhill champion was expecting a better result from himself after finishing 51st at Beaver Creek last season.
    According to the official statement released by the French Federation, Dénériaz suffers from back pain but it’s more likely that he needs to reflect on his disappointing start to the season.
    “Antoine is certainly disoriented after his poor result in Canada and it’s better for him now to take some distance from the slopes,” said Deneriaz’ manager Ralph Krieger. “Antoine will talk with his dad and family at home. Later on next week he will speak to the media during a press conference and explain his situation.”
    Dénériaz trained well last summer in Chile and he was looking forward to a solid comeback this winter after changing equipment, switching to Salomon along with Italy’s Giorgio Rocca. He scored some promising results at various South American Continental Cup races, including Termas de Chillan where he finished second and fourth.
    He sounded quite optimistic prior the races at Lake Louise and seemed ready for another comeback.
    “It’s not the first time that I have to fight back,” he told reporters. “A few years ago, I had to regain my spot on the team with good results on the Europa Cup tour. I also had to fight hard in 2005 after my knee injury in January at Chamonix. A year later, I won the Olympic gold medal at Sestriere. I feel ready to give my best for this one too. I still love skiing fast and my preparation was fine.”
    Deneriaz crashed hard during the 2006 World Cup Finals and needed several months to recover. He admitted last season that he was afraid to attack the difficult courses with his usual determination and that he needed support from a psychologist to better understand and resolve his problems.
    It’s difficult to speculate over Deneriaz’ future and his decision to keep on racing or not. He obviously isn’t pleased with his low position in the FIS world ranking a year prior the World Championships at Val d’Isère.
    “I’m the Olympic champion and I’m aiming for more than a 25th place in a World Cup race,” he told a friend after the practice run.