”There is so much snow, the slopes appear a bit different as I am used to it!” was surprised Meta Hrovat after training runs on the race course, just a few steps away from her home. Ilka Štuhec had similar thoughts: ”It is not as steep as I remember it. It is good to have so hard racecourse because it will enable those with higher bibs to ski aggressively.

It took four days for a 65-member team from Maribor and Kranjska Gora to soak the Podkoren slopes with sufficient amounts of water, as it was covered with over 2 meters of soft snow. Andrej Rečnik, Chief of race course was well pleased with his team's work: ”The snow was literally absorbing all water. But cold weather was helpful and the race course is really hard now.”

”The race will be interesting because it will be a hard one. Snow surface is very hard, but snow can change so a lot of adjusting will be necessary. Knowing the slope will be incredibly important. I am happy to have two giant slaloms here;” said Meta Hrovat with hope to end the series of bad results at previous races. She started the giant slalom season well at Sölden and now she will try to reach for the highest places again. Last year she won third place on this slope.