European Report: World Cup skiers training at Bormio ahead of Sunday's downhill

European Report: World Cup skiers training at Bormio ahead of Sunday’s downhill{mosimage}Men’s alpine skiers didn’t get much of a Christmas break. Teams arrived in Bormio on Thursday to prepare for training runs today and tomorrow.

Austrian veteran Fritz Strobl had the fastest time in the first training run today, followed by Didier Cuche of Switzerland and Austria’s Hannes Trinkl. Daron Rahlves, who won at Bormio last season, was 10th and Bode Miller 22nd to pace the U.S. contingent.

Here’s the event schedule leading for the rest of the weekend leading up to the downhill on Sunday.

Saturday

Noon: Downhill training run

5 p.m.: Team Captains Meeting

6 p.m.: Athletes presentation/bib draw, Piazza del Kuerc

Sunday

Noon: Men’s World Cup downhill

Prize ceremony to follow the race in the Ski Stadium

The women’s World Cup circuit starts up again in Lienz, Austria, tomorrow, witn a GS Saturday and a slalom on Sunday.

>> Aamodt eyeing January comeback

Injured skiing ace Kjetil Andre Aamodt, who broke his right ankle in October just before the season opener at Soelden, says he hopes to return to racing before the season is out.

The news comes as a surprise for the Norwegian skiing star because days after the accident he thought his season was finished. Aamodt — a winner seven Olympic medals and 12 world championship medals — is hoping to race before the end of January.

Aamodt’s father, Finn, told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that the final screws were taken out of the skier’s right ankle last week and that he expects his son to be back on skis perhaps as early as this week.

“His knee is also much better, so Kjetil is really looking forward to his first ski run,” his father said. “He’s getting around good now, the recovery is going well.”

>> Norwegian skiers bare all for calendar

Seven Norwegian cross-country skiers have gone au naturel to pump interest back home for their sport. Skiers posed nude for a 2004 calendar with the idea that the attention will help the Norwegian Ski Association attract new members.

Tor Arne Hetland, who poses for the photo for February, said the team, “wanted to do something that wasn’t usual in the world of cross-country skiing, where people look at the athletes like they’ve come right out of the forest,” he told the Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten.

The idea came up last summer and the photos were shot in September.

“This is art, it’s not exploitive,” said skier Trond Iversen, who’s on the calendar’s March photo.

>> Helmet law for Italy

Italy’s congress passed a new law last week that will require skiers and snowboarders under the age of 14 to wear protective helmets while recreational skiing on all national slopes starting in 2005.

Efforts to enforce skiers and snowboarders onto different sections of ski slopes were shot down despite strong support from members who were exasperated over on-mountain conflicts at Italian resorts.

>> Kostelics win honors at home

Janica and Ivica Kostelic were honored in Croatia, being named as the nation’s top athletes in 2003. Both skiers, however, are overcoming physical problems that have them out of competition.

Janica is trying to bounce back from knee surgeries and thyroid problems that threaten her entire 2003-04 season while Ivica is recovering from knee surgery last week just days after he won a slalom race.