The head coach of the men's national ski team Klemen Bergant and the serviceman arrived to the North of Finland on Sunday, after a 3,300 km long adventure through continental Europe and Scandinavia. The female slalom with Tina Maze is scheduled for Saturday, and male slalom with Matic Skube and Miha Kürner for Sunday. Both races will be transmitted by TV SLO 2.

"The temperatures here are relatively high, around zero degrees, and the conditions for driving were good. We drove on snow covered roads only for last 250 kilometres – and when you travel to Levi in such conditions, a toast with champagne is in order," Bergant said to MMC, and added that by the end of the week winter conditions are expected, with temperatures far below zero, even minus ten.
Ticket to Levi 400 euros, but practically without any luggage
A lot of equipment was brought to Levi in the van, which allowed the skiers a return travel to Finland by plane for only 400 euros, which is the price of the cheapest tickets at low-cost airlines – but only for those who travel light.
At the male slalom in Levi only two Slovenians will compete, Matic Skube and Miha Kürner. Later they will be joined by five more competitors, who will compete at two giant slaloms and the European cup slaloms. They have rented a house for two weeks, which will cost 1,300 euros, and thus they halved the expenses which would occur had they chosen to live in a hotel.
It has been a while since Slovenian slalom belonged to the very world top; after Mitja Valenčič retired the situation worsened. Kürner holds 46th place at the world slalom list, Skube 48th. Both have numbers around 40 on the start list, which is in Levi quite favourable, as the course is usually hard and well prepared, which gives them a chance of a breakthrough into finals.

Training with Germans at Mölltal
"During autumn holidays we trained for three days at the Mölltal glacier. We joined forces with the German team; we spilled water on the course and thus had excellent conditions for training. But after last Monday the weather changed, and training became impossible - but almost everybody had the same problem. Our main goal are the finals, but it should not be our final aim," said Skube, the former youth slalom world champion, who however hasn't managed to win any world cup points in almost three years. Now 26 years old, Skube is aware that he is running out of time. Good results are a must for him, as he has been covering a lot of expenses by himself, and he would be forced to end his career. Before the start of the season he changed the supplier of skis, instead of Elan his supplier became Völkl. Perhaps his first child, a son born on Saturday, will bring him additional motivation.
Downhill skiers train in Copper Mountain
The fast disciplines team travelled to Vail last week, and is already training in Colorado. On Sunday the coach Peter Pen and Andrej Jerman helped place nets along the old downhill, and super g course in Copper Mountain. This year the course is a bit wider and somewhat changed; in the days to come it will be available in the mornings to Andrej Šporn, Rok Perko, Boštjan Kline, Klemen Kosi and Martin Čater, which will allow them to gain a good feel on the North American snow.
The World Cup races are scheduled first by the end of this month in Lake Louis in Canada, and in the beginning of December their host will be Beaver Creek, where the February World Championship will take place as well.