TRAINING BEGINS

First official training jumps for men on the K95 last night and everyone was pretty pleased with the hills and conditions.  Sochi is not close to anything else ski jumping and the Russians have not been overly generous in offering access so these jumps have not been skied by many besides the home team.  The large hill in particular has not had a world cup event at all.  That said, they are state of the art from every angle so it's not like there's any hidden challenges.

But every hill has it's own personality and ski jumping is a confidence game and the more comfortable you can feel with the hill the more you can let go and kick it.  Unique to the K95 is a very gentle in-run curve that starts almost from the moment you get off the bar.  So a gentle g-force the whole way vs zero to heavy to zero again that you find on older hills.

Youth movement is in force here- new Austrians Hayboeck and Diethart looked good as did Swiss Deschwanden, each of these guys in the shadow of bigger names Schlierenzaur (AUT) and Morgenstern (AUT) and of course Ammann (SUI) who are all jumping well enough, too.

Falls by Kranjec (SLO, 10th in standings) and Jacobsen (NOR) were spectacular and punishing, respectively.  Both are back at it and word is Kranjec's fall will only wake him up and make him tougher.

The tagline for these games appears to be- HOT.  COOL.  YOURS.  In English... the first language of commerce.  It is on all buses, cars, billboards, and venues.  Everywhere.  I can't be sure if there are translation issues or if it's supposed to be vague.  It seems like and Eastern European attempt to be western.  Has someone been bootlegging Madmen?  It must be an attempt to sell something.  A conundrum.  It's Russia.

And more confusing was the graphic that says QUESTION MORE.  Doesn't this imply that a first question has been asked?  By whom, exactly?

Security has kicked into a higher gear.  Metal detectors and guards at every hotel entry. The guard at my entry more Sgt. Schulz of Hogan's Hero than central casting KGB.  I think we're developing a bromance.  And new today- security tape on doors, window, gas caps, hoods, and trunks of vehicles parked in the street.   Everywhere I go I'm channeling Homeland.


This is the new FACEBOOK STALKING section of the blog.  Yesterday it was Irina Avvakumova's tatoo; today something for the ladies: Jernej Damjan's (SLO) haircut.

And finally- cool technology here.  These beauties will make snow in temperatures as high as 70F!  It's like an oversized snowcone machine that runs 24/7.  Perfect for Snochis! (Edie Morgan's brainchild- a Moscow Mule (vodka, ginger beer, simple syrup, lime juice) over snow.