Torino Olympics 2006

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22 FEBRUARY 2006

NEW ZEALAND SKIER DRAWS SHORT STRAW AT OLYMPIC GAMES

New Zealand skier Mickey Ross drew the short straw at the Olympic Winter Games. He will be the last member of the 18-strong team to compete, and that’s not until the final day of competition – next Sunday (New Zealand time).

Competitors whose events are late in the Olympics have to maintain their focus while watching team-mates who have finished their programmes relax and party. But Ross seems fairly unfazed by it all.

“It’s starting to get a little long now,” says the Wanaka-based slalom specialist, “but really it’s been a great opportunity to get in some good training. I rested a couple of niggling shoulder and knee injuries for a few days, and since then have got stuck into training. It’s not an opportunity I get much during a season.”

Ross has been to watch some of his team-mates, including snowboarder Mitchell Brown and the skeleton and bobsleigh competitors, but has been primarily focused on his training, under the eye of coach Nils Coberger.

“I’m a bit nervous about it all,” he says. “I’ve been in a few World Cup competitions before, but in those events, you have to make the top 30 to qualify, so you really attack. It’s a bit of a free-for-all. Here I feel there’s more pressure to put something decent on the board on the first run.”

Ross, 25, expects there will be about 90 starters in the slalom and is eyeing a top 30 position. “They go off world rankings, so I imagine I’ll be away about 50th in the first run. For the second run, they reverse the top 30, so my aim is to make that top 30 flip.”

Last season Ross impressed by winning a slalom race in icy conditions at Coronet Peak, and he said that during his time training for the Olympics the conditions had again been icy. “I’ve done well in those conditions, but you have to remember that the top Europeans ski constantly on that sort of snow.”

After the Olympics, Ross will take a break for a week, and then plans to compete at various national championships, including the Austrian and Swiss.

For further information on the New Zealand team click on www.olympic.org.nz