Members of the French women’s team led by Tessa Worley trained today on the slopes that will be used in competition for the technical races on 16 and 17 March.
The Giant Slalom (GS) specialist is second in the rankings for her discipline, behind only the American Mikaela Shiffrin.
The Frenchwoman, who was victorious in GS at the World Cup Soldeu 2012, has spoken of the quality of the Avet course and the good memories she has of her time in Grandvalira.
The elite of the women’s World Cup has had its first experience of the runs for the Alpine Ski World Cup Finals Andorra 2019. With 16 days to go before the start of competition, part of the French team led by Tessa Worley trained today on the Avet course in Grandvalira’s Soldeu sector as part of their preparations for the technical disciplines, which will be contested on 16 and 17 March on that very run.
With perfectly prepared snow, the French contingent took full advantage of their stay to prepare for what is left of the season and will stay in Grandvalira until Sunday. Worley is currently second in the rankings for Giant Slalom, behind only the American Mikaela Shiffrin. The French GS specialist has podiumed four times this season with victory at Söelden (Austria), two thirds at Courchevel (France) and Semmering (Austria) and second at Kronplatz (Italy). Before returning to Andorra, Worley’s next stops on the white circuit will be at Maribor (Slovenia) and Spindleruv Mlyin (Czech Republic).
Moments after today’s training, the highest-ranked Frenchwoman in the general classification for the World Cup commented: “The run is challenging. It’s a very complicated course, very technical. I’m pleased to have been able to ski it before the event. I’m ready for another great contest in the Giant Finals and am hoping to be as fast as last time in 2012. It’s a great venue for the Finals.”
Her coach Lionel Pellicer also said a few words about the experience of training on the Avet course: “It’s been a fantastic day, very well organised. The course was perfect; it has a good wall at the top and bottom and good, hard snow. They’ve done very well with the course. Training went very well.”
Condition of the course
Speaking for the organisers, the Avet slope manager for the World Cup Finals, David Fillet, said: “Today’s training was an opportunity to test the course’s readiness for racing. It needs a little snow in places and parts of it need to harden up, but the layout and the walls are as we want them to be and are already at World Cup level.”