Monday, January 21, 2013

Speed in Switzerland

Does a thundering drum roll followed by a pumping string mix-up of Bach's Fugue in D Minor get your heart racing early on a Sunday evening? When you hear the word 'wax' do you immediately want to add '...up your skis'? If so yesterday's Ski Sunday offering was an absolute gem. Famous as the longest downhill ski course in the world, overlooked by the infamous Eiger,the Lauberhorn now boasts another accolade: the first run on which the 100mph barrier was broken during a race. On Saturday, in Wengen, Frenchman Johan Clarey became the first skier to ski at more than 100mph during a World Cup race. Despite his record-breaking speed of 100.6mph Clarey's overall time was insufficient to win on the Lauberhorn as he slid to fifth place overall on the 2.7 mile course. Confident Clarey believes that his competitors have snow chance of beating the record and that he will "hold this record for a long time now". Given the perfect conditions of hard packed snow and clear visibility he may have a point.
See BBC for the video or get yourself onto iPlayer to watch the Ski Sunday episode in full: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/winter-sports/21120553

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