Felix Neureuther of Germany won the World Cup parallel slalom here on Friday in an event staged on an artificial slope to help promote Russia’s readiness to host the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange was second with American superstar Bode Miller taking third ahead of compatriot Ted Ligety in a competition held in the shadow of the Kremlin.

“I feel great,” Neureuther said. “It’s natural to feel great when you win.

“It was very interesting to compete on this artificial ramp. It’s completely different to a natural slope, but still a really challenging and interesting experience.”

The 24-year-old Neureuther defeated Bernard Vajdic of Slovenia in the opening round, Austria’s Mario Matt in the quarter-final and Ligety in the semis before beating FIS World Cup slalom section leader Grange in the deciding races.

Neureuther won the first leg of the final and finished even with the Frenchman in the second.

The referees decided to give the finalists the third deciding attempt but Grange missed his chance as he fell in the middle of the distance.

A special 200m artificial ski slope, with a 56m drop in height, was constructed within the campus of Moscow State University specially for the event.

The organisers however had to bring to Moscow a caravan of refrigerators with more than 3,000 cubic metres of natural snow from Siberia to provide the competitors with a top-class surface that fit strict FIS demands.

from: google.com

Harbin, capital city of northeast China’s Heilongjiang province and host to the 2009 Winter Universiade, is considering a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games, senior officials revealed two months before the opening of the Universiade, from Feb 18-28.
“If the hosting of the 2009 Winter Universiade can win applause from all the guests, it will enhance our confidence to bid for the Winter Olympic Games,” said Li Zhanshu, governor of Heilongjiang province. “We are considering a bid for the 2018 Winter Olympics, although the decision has to be approved by Chinese sports authorities.”

Harbin, dubbed as “ice city” due to its beautiful scenery in winter, failed to make the short list for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, but won hosting rights for the 2009 Winter Universiade four years ago.
Vancouver, Canada, will host the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Harbin didn’t launch a bid for the 2014 Winter Olympics, which was awarded in Sochi, Russia.
For hosting China’s first Winter Olympics, the governor expressed his confidence.
“One of the important goals of bidding for a Winter Universiade is to accumulate experience for hosting a Winter Olympics. The infrastructure here in Harbin has already been qualified for the Winter Universiade, which has the second largest number of winter sports following the Winter Olympics,” Li said. “We will continue to improve our weak points according to the feedback from Universiade participants and visit Vancouver and Sochi to learn more.
“If we fail again for the 2018 Games, we are determined to win the 2022 Winter Games. It’s our dream to host China’s first Winter Olympics.”

Winter tourism boosted
Through hosting the Winter Universiade and preparing for Olympic bidding, Harbin, famous dazzling outdoor ice sculptures, is counting on a tourism boost.
“Harbin has built up the best venues among all the host cities of the Winter Universiade and it is a golden opportunity to promote the city’s rich tourism resources in winter,” said Li. “We have already designed four tourism lines for the visitors to experience ice and snow in the whole province and we hope the hosting city of a Winter Universiade could be a new name card for the city and even the whole province.”
At present, Heilongjiang province hosts almost 40 million tourists annually, about 5 million of whom are attracted by high-standard ski resorts.
“With rich ice and snow resources, Heilongjiang province could be called the biggest tourism province in the northern part of China. We will further promote our winter tourism with the platform of the Winter Universiade and upgrade our services level,” said Li.

France will bid to stage the 2018 Winter Olympics, the French Olympic Committee (CNOSF) said on Wednesday. “Our Olympic ambition led us to bid for the 2018 Games,” CNOSF president Henri Serandour told a news conference.
Three towns — Annecy, Nice and Grenoble, which hosted the Games in 1968 — had already said they were interested in a candidacy, he added. France’s official candidate should be named in March 2009.
One rival will be Munich which declared itself a candidate last December.
France has staged three Winter Olympics, with the other two in 1924 in Chamonix and 1992 in Albertville.
Paris was the host of the Summer Olympics in 1900 and 1924 but was beaten in its bid for the 1992, 2008 and 2012 Games by Barcelona, Beijing and London.
The next Winter Games will be held in Vancouver (2010) and Sochi (2014).

from: iht.com

The Vancouver Olympic Games Organizing Committee announced Saturday that the Olympic schedule has been approved by the executive board of the International Olympic Committee, which is currently in Beijing preparing for the upcoming 2008 Summer Games.

The hourly Paralympic Winter Games schedule was approved by the International Paralympic Committee in 2007.

Detailed schedules for both events are available at www.vancouver2010.com.

“This is a major milestone we can share with our sport and broadcast partners who worked closely with us to develop a balanced Games schedule that satisfies the respective International Sport Federations, television audiences around the world and spectators who will attend the Games,” Vanoc executive vice-president Cathy Priestner Allinger said in a statement.

The opening ceremony will take place at B.C. Place on February 12, 2010 at 9:00 p.m. ET.

The final event of the Games will be the high profile men’s gold-medal hockey game, which goes February 28 at 3:15 p.m. at General Motors Place.

source: canadianpress.google.com