Taming the lion: Olympians take on Bormio's terrifying Stelvio piste

Only a few such courses are used on the World Cup circuit, world championships and Olympics and the Stelvio matches Kitzbuehel's Streif and Wengen's Lauberhorn in prestige.

All three have similarities. They are long, all more than 3.3 kilometres (two miles), and they test skiers to the absolute maximum.

The pistes feature steep gradients, long jumps and variable terrain, with racers hitting speeds of up to 140km/h (87mph), all the while battling crippling centrifugal forces.

"It's like a lion!" Italy's Dominik Paris told AFP when asked what animal might best represent the "ferocious" Stelvio.

The course has unfortunately been the scene of some season-ending accidents in recent years, most notably involving French downhill specialist Cyprien Sarrazin.

Sarrazin, winner of back-to-back downhill races in Kitzbuehel, suffered a brain bleed following his crash and is not competing this season.

Norway's Frederik Moeller was the latest victim, dislocating a shoulder in the first training run on Wednesday.

"I think it's the most difficult downhill on the circuit," said Paris.

"It's normally in December when we do the World Cup. It's really dark, it's bumpy, icy.

"You have to hold the line but not too much because then you go slow.

"It's a really mental course because the last section, the last pitch, it's really tough so the legs are burning and it's not easy to keep the focus on until the finish."
Love-hate relationship
World downhill champion Franjo von Allmen said he had a love-hate relationship with the Stelvio.

"There's something nerve-racking about this slope, but it's pretty fun to ski," the Swiss racer said.

"It will be a great Olympic slope."

Paris, with seven wins under his belt on the slope, was under no illusion about what kind of racer you needed to be to win in Bormio

"You need speed, technique, long turns and to read very well the ground, a complete downhiller."

Vincent Kriechmayr will lead a cohort of underpeforming Austrian men in Bormio when the Olympic men's downhill takes place on Saturday, the double 2021 world speed champion saying racers had no respite down the vertiginious course.

"It's a fight from the start until the finish," he said. "You just always keep pushing, it's not like maybe Wengen or Kitzbuehel where you have a flat part where you can relax a little bit.

"It's just fighting from start until the end, fighting for every metre, just trying to keep the speed.

"It doesn't matter if you're a perfect skier or not, it's just to take your heart and show what's possible."
Dangerous sport
In-form Giovanni Franzoni has notched up wins in Wengen and Kitzbuehel in his maiden season, poignantly dedicating those two victories to former teammate Matteo Franzoso, who died in a training crash in Chile in September.

The 24-year-old underlined that the Stelvio remained a threat, while adding that downhill skiing was adangerous sport.

"It's special because it's technical and there is speed, but the most difficult part is the physical part," he said.

Danger was part of the game, he argued, especially "the last part because you are tired".

"Doing downhill, usually it's a dangerous sport, so you have to be focused all the time."