Uphill battle for alpine skiing at Asian Olympics

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Alpine skiing is the uncontested number one winter sport in parts of the world but at the Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, stands have often stood half empty, while in China, sports channels have mostly ignored the races, barely reporting on results, let alone broadcasting them live.

As Beijing prepares to welcome the Winter Olympics in 2022, will this classic discipline continue to receive the cold shoulder? Why has the sport not achieved the levels of popularity it sees in alpine nations and North America?

Thin crowds, no live broadcasts

Turn on the TV on any winter weekend in Austria, Switzerland or Germany, and ski races will be on. In the US, ski stars like Lindsey Vonn and Mikaela Shiffrin have the same name recognition as Neymar or Roger Federer.

Mikaela Shiffrin of Team USA competes during the Alpine Skiing women's giant slalom at Yongpyong Alpine Centre, PyeongChang, South Korea, February 15, 2018. /VCG Photo

At PyeongChang however, alpine skiing has failed to draw in the crowds.

TV images over the past 10 days have often shown half empty stands during races, with die-hard fans and athletes’ friends and families making up most of the spectators, and very few locals present, according to reporters covering the competitions.

Even full, the two alpine skiing venues – Jeongseon Alpine Center, which hosts the speed disciplines (downhill and super-G) and Yongpyong Alpine Center, home to the technical ones (slalom and giant slalom) – each have seating for just 6,500 people.

This compares with the 35,000 ski-crazed fans who thronged to the races in Wengen, Switzerland in January, or the 50,000 who pack the arena for the night slalom in Schladming, Austria every year – a crowd not much smaller than the one at the Super Bowl.

China's Zhang Yangming competes in the men's giant slalom at the Jeongseon Alpine Center during the Pyeongchang 2018 Winter Olympic Games, South Korea, February 18, 2018. /VCG Photo

China’s CCTV5 sports channel has had almost wall-to-wall coverage of the Winter Olympics since February 8 but it has been heavy on figure skating, curling, speed skating and ski aerials – sports in which Chinese athletes regularly win medals – with alpine results often just included in a highlights reel, and a rare race broadcast days later.

Where are the Korean, Chinese skiers?

The reason for this lack of interest is simple: hardly any Asian athlete competes in alpine skiing. South Korea’s Kim Dong-woo was the lone local athlete to compete in the speed disciplines in PyeongChang, finishing 33rd in the combined, 44th in the super-G and 48th in the downhill – not a bad feat, coming up against skiers who race at top level week in, week out.

In the slalom and giant slalom – which tend to attract a more diverse group, with athletes from Pakistan, East Timor, Eritrea or Uzbekistan – South Korea fielded three skiers: Gim So-hui, Kang Young-seo and Jung Dong-hyun. China had Kong Fanying and Zhang Yangming, while the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) sent Kim Ryon Hyang, Kang Song Il and Choe Myong Gwang.

Marcel Hirscher of Austria competes during the men's slalom event at the FIS Alpine World Cup in Schladming, Austria, January 23, 2018. /VCG Photo

None has ever competed at World Cup level. The best result came from Jung Dong-hyun who finished an honorable 27th in the men's slalom on Thursday.

Watch: China's efforts to grow Olympic talents ahead of 2022

Asian nations have also not traditionally hosted World Cup competitions. South Korea welcomed its first World Cup races in 2016 in preparation for the Olympics. China has never had any, although it has organized second-tier FIS (International Ski Federation) events.

With races held in a faraway corners of the globe and no homegrown participants, it is no surprise South Korea and China have failed to get excited about the sport.

Getting them young

But with Beijing 2022 on the horizon, China is already looking to turn things around.

The government approved a 10-year plan in 2016 to boost winter sports. By 2022, the winter sports industry in China is expected to be worth one trillion yuan (157 billion US dollars) and involve 300 million people from athletes to coaches, volunteers and fans.

Young skiers join a ski course Chongli resort, Hebei Province, China, December 18, 2017. /VCG Photo

Over 100 new ski resorts have been built since Beijing won the bid to host the Games in 2015, Xinhua News Agency already reported last year.

In all, 800 ski resorts are due to see the light over the next four years.

Where there’s a will, there’s a way, and winter sports are now following in the footsteps of football, which saw massive investment in China after President Xi Jinping declared it a national priority.

An increasingly affluent Chinese middle class has discovered a fondness for snow sports, but the question now is whether this popularity can been converted into competitive excellence.

Beijing has reportedly set up 52 winter sports schools in a bid to get people interested at a young age.

A skier takes part in a national race in Zhangjiakou, China, November 25, 2017. /VCG Photo

After meeting with Xi last year, International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach expressed confidence about China’s performance in four years’ time.

"I am confident the home team in China will be very strong not only in ice sports but also in snow sports. You can already see Chinese athletes coming up… We know the determination of the Chinese people and the government," he said.

Making a Chinese Streif

One challenge for snow sports purists will be presenting courses in China that are both challenging and fun.

PyeongChang’s ski venues have drawn criticism for being rather flat and uninspiring – nothing like the jaw-dropping Lauberhorn in Switzerland or the famed Streif in Kitzbuehel, Austria.

Victor Muffat-Jeandet of France in action during the Audi FIS Alpine Ski World Cup Men's Combined in Wengen, Switzerland, January 12, 2018. /VCG Photo

"Downhill is downhill because you must go 130-160 kph (kilometers per hour),” Italy’s Christof Innerhofer, a bronze medalist in Sochi, complained when he first inspected the course in South Korea two years ago.

“When you see the speed and you see 96 kph, a lot of people will say, ‘What is this for downhill? I can do this, too.’ This is a little bit sad."

French newspaper Le Figaro was also severe ahead of the Games.

“The course… does not inspire the same type of fear as the Streif in Kitzbuehel, nor does it offer the gradients of the Saslong in Val Gardena, the speed of the Stelvio in Bormio, or the physical demands of the Lauberhorn in Wengen," it said, citing some of the World Cup's most prestigious races.

"PyeongChang, with its gentle terrain, features just a few jumps,” it concluded.

A man walks by a billboard promoting the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022 in Zhangjiakou, China, December 19, 2017. /VCG Photo

China has yet to organize any FIS-sanctioned speed races: so far it has only held slaloms and giant slaloms.

The mountains around Zhangjiakou, northwest of Beijing, which will host the 2022 Olympic alpine skiing, also have much the same profile as those in South Korea.

The venues will be finished next year however and will be ready to host test events by 2020, according to organizers.

The world will then get its first look at what China has to offer in terms of top-quality alpine skiing venues. And holding races with ski stars like Shiffrin or Marcel Hirscher on home soil might also contribute to raising the sport’s profile until China produces its own Olympic ski champion.

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