The NorAm Cup races continued in Aspen today (Nov. 30), with the women’s giant slalom. Canadian Marie-Pier Prefontaine took the lead with an overall time of 2:01.63. Prefontaine is no stranger to the podium as she found success last year in this same race in Aspen, Colo. Another .47 behind Prefontaine was Slovenia’s Ana Drev. Rounding out the podium was Swiss skier, Corinne Suter who was another .56 behind Drev.

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>Swiss veteran Didier Cuche was the fastest skier down the Birds of Prey downhill course today (Nov. 30) in Beaver Creek, Colo. for the first training run after yesterday’s run was canceled for last-minute course work.

Cuche is looking to continue his early season success after wining the season-opening downhill last weekend in Lake Louise.

“The fun is when you ski like that...sunny perfect snow, pushing carves and good turns., nice jumps, coming through the finish and seeing you're fast,” said Cuche who has hinted at retirement at the end of this season.

The sun was back out again today, but additional course work delayed the start an hour after forerunners were sent down at the original 11:00 start time and found some areas that needed adjustment.

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The World Cup women were back on the Lake Louise downhill course for a second training run today (Nov. 30) ahead of their speed season opener Friday.

Swiss racer Marianne Kaufmann-Abderhalden lead the field of 61 women from 14 nations with a time of one minute, 54.37 seconds.

Italian Daniela Merighetti was .38 seconds off the leading pace in second. American Lindsey Vonn, who led in yesterday’s training run, had the day’s third-fastest time, .42 seconds behind the leader.

The U.S. got more good news from Leanne Smith, who landed fifth today, .77 seconds behind the leader. Defending World Cup overall champion, German Maria Hoefl-Riesch followed in sixth with a time of 1:55.22.

Stacey Cook and Laurenne Ross also landed inside the top 30 in 12th and 26th, respectively.

Racing begins Friday with the downhill race. A second downhill is scheduled for Saturday, followed by a super G Sunday. There is a third training run scheduled for tomorrow.

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A lack of snow in the French Alps has forced World Cup organizers to re-draw the mid-Dec World Cup schedule.

A week of World Cup racing in Val d'Isere, France was canceled today (Nov. 30). Under the new plan, ghe men will stay in Beaver Creek, where they are racing this weekend, for a giant slalom Tuesday (Dec. 6) and a slalom Thursday (Dec. 8). The women will also come to Beaver Creek for a super G Wednesday (Dec. 7).

“I am so excited, it’s going to be an awesome race,” said Vail resident Lindsey Vonn, who has never raced a World Cup in her hometown.”I’ve always been jealous of the men that always get to race World Cups in Beaver Creek.  This will be my first World Cup in my home town, so I am really excited.”

“The hill here is cool, it’s great to be able to stay in the U.S.,” said Bode Miller. “For us it’s good because it’s still early season and we’re still trying to get our testing and our training dialed in, so to go to France where there is such limited snow would have posed an additional challenge, Here the training opportunities are pretty solid.”

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BEAVER CREEK, Colorado — Beaver Creek’s Birds of Prey racecourse holds special significance for former World Cup ski racer Marco Buechel of Liechtenstein.  After all, the 40-year-old started racing Super-G, and eventually Downhill, at Birds of Prey in 2000…on a bet.
    
“I can’t even remember what the bet was for,” Buechel reminisced several years ago.  “It was probably for beer.  However, I do remember that I won that bet.  It was that I couldn’t finish in the top 30 and I was 23rd.” Continue reading 'Retired racer Marco Buechel lending a hand on Birds of Prey course'

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In a sign that all was not well with early snow conditions in the Swiss Alps, Burton Snowboards and LAAX decided to postpone the Burton European Open from January 2012 to the end of February , “Due to the current weather conditions.”
“Burton and LAAX are committed to providing a very high standard of Slopestyle and Halfpipe snowboarding events. The temperatures at the moment do not allow preparation of a park set-up in time that meets the expectations of organizers and riders. For this reason postponement of the event has been confirmed.” said a statement from Burton in mid-November.
The Burton European Open is now scheduled from Feb. 25th – March 3rd, 2012.

• Events:  Follow the latest events at a resort near you. 
• News: Get related snow news right here.

 

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Austrian Marcel Hirscher made him self at home today (Nov. 28) in Aspen, Colo. as he won a NorAm GS with a time of two minutes, 00.45 seconds, after standing third after the first run. After crashing at a World Cup race in Hinterstoder, Austria, last February and injuring his foot, Hirscher has been working on making a strong comeback.  Continue reading 'Hirscher, Geiger take NorAm wins in Colorado'  Print This Post