Indeed, the only major complaints from athletes was that the Rosa Khutor course contained too many turns to be considered a true downhill.
As usual, Bode Miller led the revolt. The American standout said repeatedly how great the mountain is, but that organizers need to straighten out the course set.
“Hopefully they’ll learn how to use this terrain and make something special,’’ Miller said. “The venue, the mountain is world class. It’s as nice as any of the places we ever go and it’s going to be amazing to host the Olympics here.
“I hope they really do as good a job they can, because the Olympics is such a perfect opportunity to showcase a venue, an area, a culture and a country and I think Russia right now is very due for that.’’
While Hujara lost his cool at one point over all the course-set criticism, he will seek improvements for 2014.
“Sure we will change things. We will adapt,’’ Hujara said. “We will change the course-set.’’
Down in the valley, Rosa Khutor is evolving quickly from a small village into a massive resort lining a tributary of the Mzymta river. This week, athletes stayed in the only two hotels finished thus far. No restaurants or shops are open yet, but more hotels, stores and eateries are being built by the dozens.
For now, it’s mostly concrete shells of buildings, with black holes in place of windows. But it’s easy to see what the town will eventually be. Artist renderings hanging on construction fences depict a modern Alpine village with people strolling past busy cafes and shops in multicolored buildings.
“I didn’t expect to drive up the valley and see Las Vegas in the mountains,’’ said Canadian skier Ben Thomsen, who finished second behind Swiss winner Beat Feuz in Saturday’s downhill.
Overall World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic won Sunday’s super-combi.
Further down the road toward Sochi, the construction situation is more dramatic. Both a rail link and a modern highway are being built to connect the coast and airport with the Alpine venues. Along with completely new venues for each sport, these Olympics will require more construction than any previous Winter Games.
It’s being called Europe’s biggest construction project.
