Without the big guns in the neighborhood, the U.S. men and Swiss women have done the major damage over the last couple days in Australia/New Zealand Cup action at Coronet Peak, New Zealand.

In today's (Sept. 3) slalom 17-year old Swiss skier Wendy Holdener decimated an international field with a 1.20 second margin over teammate Nadja Vogel. Norwegians Lene Loeseth and Rikke Gasmann-Brott placed third and fourth respectively.

The men's slalom win went to David Chodounsky with Canada's Patrick Biggs second and British skier Noel Baxter in third. Warner Nickerson placed sixth, well off the pace.

In GS on Thursday Slovakian Veronika Zuzulova snared the win and her seventh podium in a row dating back to Europa Cup races last March with a narrow margin win over Norway's Lotte Smiseth Sejersted. The Swiss group, though, jammed three skiers into the top six and four of eight with Andrea Dettling, Vogel, Marianne Abderhalen and Nadja Kamer finishing three-four-six and eight respectively.

Nickerson got the men's win over a couple of Swede's, Tim Lindgren in second and Jon Olsson in third. Grant Jampolsky posted fourth for the U.S.and Charles Christianson eighth. -h

Michael Thomas photo of Veronika Zuzulova.

By Hank McKee

It was a good drying day, despite the humidity being pushed ahead of the hurricane.  Hot air gave a September day a heavy blanket of summer.

On the drying line were the tell tale signs of the approaching change of season. Mixed among the Hawaiian shirts, shorts and towels were long sleeved pullovers, an indicator it has been cool in recent evenings.

Which means ski racing season is not far away.

Time wise it's actually here, but physically it's about as far as it can get, in New Zealand and South America. Maybe it's not yet time to start making predictions, but certainly time to start looking around, see who else has a laundry list.

McThought it was interesting some of the strongest results from New Zealand didn't come from Bode Miller or from Ted Ligety (don't get me wrong guys, your results were right on target I'll bet) but from periphery guys, like Warner Nickerson, David Chodounsky and Will Gregorak. I'm sure some would argue, but to me this speaks well for program depth. Proof will be in the puddin' as they say.

Other news around the globe includes Anja Paerson's decision to race another season and Maria Holaus' to pull the plug after too many injuries in her 26years. The former is great news, the latter not so much.

Another report says the Swiss have fired federation manager Denis Vaucher after mere months in office with the explanation from top boss Urs Lehman including the phrase "deeply shaken trust relationship." Bet there's an interesting story behind this move.

In Inside the Ski Racing Mind. Dr. Jim Taylor will explore topics related to the psychology of ski racing and how to be a great ski-racing parent. His approach is intended to be motivating, informative, and practical. Want to join in the conversation? Feel free to comment or email <mailto:jim@drjimtaylor.com>  him directly with questions, comments, or article ideas.

SETTING HEALTHY EXPECTATIONS

Setting expectations for your young ski racer is an essential responsibility of parenting. Expectations tell your children what’s important to you and establish a standard toward which they can strive. But expectations can be double-edged swords. They can be a tremendous benefit to your children’s development as both ski racers and people or they can be crushing burdens that hamper their growth. It all depends on what types of expectations you set for them (or rather what expectations you help them set for themselves). Unfortunately, the culture of achievement that permeates ski racing (and most of children's lives) – it's all about results! – has convinced many parents to set the wrong kinds of expectations for their young ski racers.

Unhealthy Expectations of Success

In early August, the U.S. women’s alpine Ski Team headed to New Zealand for the first on-snow training camp of the 2011 season. After a two-week break the team is now preparing to travel to Chile on Sept. 4 to begin another three-week camp focused primarily on speed disciplines.

In the early goings of his first season as U.S. women’s alpine head coach, Alex Hoedlmoser is happy with how the team is looking heading into a World Championship season.

“We found some really good conditions in New Zealand, which was awesome,” said Hoedlmoser of the first fall camp. “We were luck with weather and able to water the hills and got some fantastic training in.”

The New Zealand camp marked the first time the team had assembled in one location since the end of the 2010 season in mid-March. Goals of the camp included: equipment testing, skills training, conditioning, team dynamics building and staff training.

“The whole camp went really, really well and we saw some different progress from the girls with their individual goals and a lot of testing by the top guns with Lindsay (Vonn) and Julia (Mancuso),” said Hoedlmoser. “All of the goals we had going in were accomplished so I was really happy with the whole camp.”

With a hand full of athletes switching equipment over the summer, dialing in their new gear was a big priority. Mancuso traded in her Rossignols for Volkls, Chelsea Marshall went from Dynastar to Head and Megan McJames switched from Dynastar to Fischer.

With a highly successful three-week camp in the books, the men's U.S. Alpine Ski Team is planning a return trip to New Zealand in September and early October. Traditionally the men's program has migrated to Portillo, Chile for its second camp.

"We'd really love to be in Portillo, but the snow pack is a little light to be sure we'd be able to have a full speed track through the end of September, so we're going to mix things up with Mt. Hutt this season," said Head Coach Sasha Rearick. "Portillo is always great to us and we'll definitely be going back there next summer."

Instead, the Team will set up shop at Mt. Hutt, just over 250 miles Northeast of Coronet Peak, where they were based in August. U.S. women will keep their Chilean plans on track with speed training in Portillo and tech training Valle Nevado.

"It's tough in some ways because the speed training we have in Portillo is awesome," said Olympic gold medalist and reigning Audi FIS Alpine World Cup giant slalom champion Ted Ligety (Park City, UT). "But New Zealand is a really fun place to live for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to heading back."

The men's World Cup speed and tech Teams will base out of Mt. Hutt in addition to the NorAm and Europa Cup groups from mid September until early October.