Wengen: Buechel leads training, Hudec injured

It was an all-veteran affair in the first training run for Wengen's famed Lauberhorn downhill.
    Liechtenstein's Marco Buechel, 36, claimed the first run ahead of training mate Didier Cuche of the host country.
    Austria's Klaus Kroell posted third and Bode Miller was fourth.

By Patrick Lang 

World Cup veteran Marco Buechel clocked the fastest time in the first downhill training run organized today on the legendary Lauberhorn course above Wengen, Switzerland.
    The 36-year-old skier from Liechtenstein completed the longest World Cup course is 2:29.42 to beat Swiss training partner Didier Cuche by 39 hundredths and Austria's Klaus Kroell by 63 hundredths.
    Last year’s winner, Bode Miller from USA’s “Team America”, came in fourth well ahead of Michael Walchhofer and Hermann Maier who both lost over a second on Buechel. Walchhofer, a winner here two years ago, was seventh and Maier eighth.
    This first practice run took place in fair weather and course conditions but was marred by the bad crash of Canada’s Jan Hudec in the lower part of the course. Hudec tore his right ACL and broke his left thumb. He was transported to the hospital at Interlaken for further examinations. 
    Austria’s Rainer Schoenfelder, fourth in slalom at Adelboden last Sunday, was impressive in finishing 25th despite starting 65th. He can now aim for a strong accomplishment in Friday’s Super-combined, the second of the season. Schoenfelder suffered a bad crash last month at Bad Kleinkirchheim. He had been second twice in slalom at Wengen.
    Buechel was delighted by his run.
    "The course is in great shape despites the bad weather from yesterday and I had a lot of fun today," Buechel said. "I was looking forward for this day after skiing out at Bormio two weeks ago. I was really upset by my failure there and I aim for strong performances here and next week at Kitzbühel," he said.
    "The turns are pretty icy and the legs are burning as you approach the final part. It’s physically extremely demanding to battle the course and the speed for such a long time – almost two minutes and a half. Especially when you’re my age.  But I bit my teeth today because I was hoping to be the fastest. You never know with the weather when it will again be possible to train so it’s better trying hard at the first occasion."
    Cuche, second here last year behind Miller, hopes for cleaner runs in coming days. "I’m pleased with my ranking today but surely not with my run, I made too many mistakes," he said. "It’s good to know I can ski faster, but the course is pretty demanding. You need to perfectly nail the first turns to have a lot of speed while approaching the Hundschopf -translation: "Dog’s Head"- jump yet the next technical part, which includes the "Bruggli-S" – "S-Turn from the Little Bridge" – is as treacherous as usual. It’s basically difficult everywhere, including the last crucial "S-turns" prior the final "Schuss" leading to the arrival."
    Cuche is not yet sure to enter Friday’s slalom run after the Super-combined downhill leg. "You spend a lot of energy training and racing on this long run so I might decide to focus on Saturday’s downhill," he said. "I have not trained slalom for a long time and it would not make much sense to burn too much gas on Friday," added the Swiss who trails Walchhofer by 26 points in the downhill standings after Bormio.
    Weather permitting, two more training runs are scheduled in Wengen in the coming days. The downhill race is planned for Saturday and the slalom on Sunday.