Alpine skiing-'No Olympic spirit' in Bormio, Odermatt says of spread out Games after training run

BORMIO, Italy, Feb 4 : The men's most elite alpine skiers have arrived in Italy, but the usual busy intensity is missing this year at a geographically spread-out Olympics, many athletes say.

"There's no Olympic spirit in Bormio at all, I think," the world's top-ranked skier across three disciplines, Marco Odermatt said on Wednesday after the men's first downhill training run.

Many skiers echoed his feelings of an underwhelming atmosphere so far in the small mountain town of Bormio, which has its first official race set for Saturday.

With Milano Cortina 2026 events spread out between Milan, Cortina, Livigno, and Bormio locations, the town will also have Olympic days with no events at all. It will host only men's alpine ski events, the first on Saturday, followed by ski mountaineering starting February 19.

Travelling between the men's and the women's alpine ski events in Cortina d'Ampezzo, which in Beijing 2022 took place on the same slope as the men's, this year takes more than five hours by car, even more by train.

"It's different. It's not a real Olympic atmosphere, for sure," Italy's Dominik Paris said, but added, "For us, it's good because we have a really good race, a tough race."

The 36-year-old is considered the 'King of Bormio', where he in 2021 became the first man to win the same downhill six times, and has four Winter Olympics to compare to.

His Olympic newcomer teammate Giovanni Franzoni said he's feeling excited about having the Olympics on his home turf, but added, "It's strange because I can see nobody on the slopes because it's closed just for us, and then we are not in the Olympic Village, but in the hotel."

With less to focus on all at once, however, the 24-year-old said it might just benefit him.

"Maybe