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Five hundred kilometers from Vancouver, where the 2010 Winter Olympics will take place, the best alpine skiers participate in competitions in “speed” disciplines. Lake Louise, which lies in the heart of the Canadian Rocky Mountains in Alberta, is where the competitions in downhill and super G are traditionally organized. Canadians will not let anything to chance this year because they know that it’s their last opportunity to promote Canadian skiing to an international public and attract as many people as possible in Whistler during the Olympics in February, for the alpine skiing races. That’s why the Lake Louise races have no admission fee for spectators, there will be free hot chocolate for everyone and a multitude of additional activities to spice up the waiting time in between the races. Currently, an elaborate media campaign is taking place in North America, intended to increase the interest of the public in winter sports. As it was expected, Canadians are dedicating their full attention to Vancouver 2010 and are trying to market their project best they can.

The skiers themselves pay little attention to this, as they are all focused solely on the final part of their training. The Swiss and the Slovenes, for example, are in Nakiska. This resort’s name was resounding in the media these last few days – and not just because Didier Cuche, Didier Defago and Andrej Jerman were training there, but because Daniel Albrecht skied his first downhill after his horrible accident in Kitzbühl. It’s difficult to forget the excellent Swiss’ fall in the bottom half of the Streif slope. He was in a coma for a long time, but started rehabilitation shortly after coming back to his senses. He took things step by step, literally, as he first needed to learn to walk, before he took to skis again. Soon enough, he tried it and before long, he took up giant slalom and, finally, downhill. This is a discipline in which the skier reaches up to 130kmph, and that allows no room for mistakes. Sources state that Albrecht did a wonderful job, reportedly he was only 6 tenths of a second slower than Cuche and Janko in average. Some believe that he might compete in Beaver Creek next weekend, however this seems unlikely, though he might give it a try in the grand slalom, a discipline he is more prepared for.

Daniel Albrecht is training for the return to the slopes in the same place where Primin Zurbriggen won the Olympic gold in 1988. This can only be a good sign for the young Swiss skier.