Winter Olympics 2022 - 'The fun factor is close to ten' - Alpine skiers finally try out Beijing downhill course

The world's top skiers were full of praise for the Beijing downhill course as athletes finally took to the piste. The course in Yanqing is created entirely out of artificial snow and is yet to host a World Cup race or test event of any kind. Ad/> But on Thursday riders were able to get a taste of the run ahead of Sunday's opening race.

BormioParis reminds everyone he is still downhill king of the mountain in Bormio28/12/2021 AT 14:23 And Italian contender Christof Innerhofer gave high marks to both the difficulty and fun factor of the slope. Beijing 2022 LIVE! — Build-up continues as Team GB win again at curling 'There is no level playing field' — Frimpong unhappy as rule change denies him spot «In terms of difficulty I give it 7.5 out of 10,» he said. «But the fun factor was close to 10.» Overall World Cup leader Marco Odermatt of Switzerland and one of the favourites for multiple medals also gave a glowing assessment of the course.

«It’s a really great slope, they built up an incredible slope and it was fun to ski,» he told reporters. «For everyone it is new, it is a big challenge for the whole team to find the right set-up.» Switzerland's Stefan Rogentin posted the fastest of the training runs but athletes were more focused on learning the best lines for the run and experimenting with technique that fast times. Indeed, for Austrian double Olympic champion Matthias Mayer this was his first experience of a course he had only seen on video.

«We had very little information,» he said. «You get a little bit of any idea of the terrain but you never know for sure. So it was definitely more inspection today than racing.