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From the Olympics Toword Tomorrow

Shinano Mainichi

Official practice runs begin for men's downhill

Official practices for the men's downhill, alpine skiing's showcase event at the Nagano Olympic Winter Games, began Thursday morning on the Happo-one piste in the ski resort village of Hakuba.

Blue skies and a light breeze prevailed at morning practice session and organizers are hopeful that the fine weather will hold until the event is held Sunday.

With the prolonged dispute over the starting gate out of the way, several of the world's top alpine skiers including Hermann Maier of Austria and Kristian Ghedina of Italy started runs from the point at 1,765 meters above sea level.

Japanese skiers Tsuyoshi Tomii and Yasuyuki Takishita also tested the course on Thursday.

The start at 1,765 meters for the men's downhill was reached last December after a 5-year-long dispute between the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the Nagano Olympic organizing committee (NAOC).

NAOC had insisted upon a start at 1,680 meters above sea level, saying that going any higher would encroach upon a protected national park area, while FIS wanted the start at 1,800 meters to make the race more challenging.

The two sides agreed Dec. 1 to set the starting gate at 1,765 meters with the condition that if there was not enough snow at the start, it would be lowered again to the original 1,680 meters.

(Kyodo News)

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Copyright 1998 The Shinano Mainichi Shimbun