At this year's ski final in Lenzerheide there was not even one Slovenian skier - not a stimulating fact for our commentators. But if you watched the second run of the last giant slalom race, in which US skier Ted Ligety and Austria's Marcel Hirscher battled it out for the win, it was very clear that Urban Laurenčič and Matjaž Vrhovnik truly enjoy what they do.

Their coverage of the men's alpine ski races are fun, educational, and stimulating enough even for me, a long-time follower of ski races and declared fan of the legendary Bergant-Cerkovnik commentating duo.

Laurenčič and Vrhovnik first worked together at the World Championship in Bormio in 2005. They admit the beginning was a bit shaky. However in the last couple of seasons things have smoothed out, they've become friends, and they now perfectly follow up each other as commentators – Matjaž is more sober, calm, diplomatic, and Urban is like a ski "tourist", providing the drama, intriguing details and obscure facts.

Below you can read part of the interview with the two commentators.

Generally speaking it must be easier to commentate the women's races – you get to cheer for Tina, be happy, and celebrate Tina's success. On the other hand you guys have men's races, and you, Urban, often sound resigned before a start of a Slovenian racer…
UL and MV (in one voice): Yeah, but it's more difficult for them now, when Tina's not having a lot of success.
UL: Well of course it's easier for them, but at the same time it's also all the more difficult when you have seasons like this. However last year's season for them was, yes, absolutely easy.
MV: On one side yes, but on the other side you have more responsibility because you have to cover the whole event really well and viewers always expect something extra. The athlete's result alone doesn't make the whole coverage, but it does help make it a top-level TV event.

Most viewers expect former ski racers to be able to tell whether someone skis fast or not. Are you sometimes unsure about the speed of a racer, and choose to rather wait for the official split time?
MV: It's not really about that. I've learned through my mistakes and I think I'm not here to say whether someone skis fast or slow. The measured time does that. Skiing is a very unpredictable sport. It just takes one tiny mistake to lose time. And because the mistake is almost unnoticeable, you can't really guess the time loss. So I simply don't say that a racer is fast, unless I really see that. But you can never be 100% sure. It's more important for me to explain why the racer was fast or slow.
How hard is it to remain neutral? Urban, at one time they used to say that you were openly favouring Raich, another time it was Miller, now we hear that you're backing Hirscher …
UL: That's great, isn't it? It's even greater when five people come up to me after a race and tell me that I openly support five different skiers. Beautiful! Honestly, I just can't wait for a Slovenian to make it to the winning podium. Then they'll see who I'm cheering for. At every race I try introduce a story. It might be a story connected to one of the competitors, the race location, or something that happened… and then you back one racer. You create his story, and then he becomes your favourite. How could one not favour Kostelić at a race in Zagreb? Why wouldn't I be happy for Miller to win the downhill at the Sochi Olympic Games?
MV: I think it's more about being happy for someone, and not as much about favouring a particular racer.
UL: Of course. Don't get me wrong. It's really all the same to me who wins. It really is. However in an attempt to bring the race closer to the viewers, to create some kind of drama, you try support one racer in one race, and another racer in the next. Today, for example, we have the slalom race…
In your coverages you also add interesting facts and details connected to the racer’s personal life. Where do you get all that information?
MV: Personally I'm really happy to work with Urban. He truly has an interest for skiing and whenever we go on a long trip, like for example an 8-hour-long trip to Italy, we debate about almost everything and stories begin connecting. Stories from my archives, as well as from Urban – he reads a lot of local foreign newspapers, searches out stories that even I have never heard of, and writes them down. I also get a lot of information from the field. It's very important not to "disturb" competitors when they're getting familiar with the ski course. They like to concentrate then and they don't talk a lot. But I still do know a lot of the coaches and ski technicians, as I've cooperated and raced with many of them, and I do get stories from them. You often get the most interesting stories where you least expect it. I write them all down and I have my own archive as well. It is difficult though to choose the right time to use a story during the TV coverage, in order not to repeat yourself. It’s good to add that you also have unlimited support from other media, from the Internet to Facebook and photographs which sometimes tell a lot more – at least to me they do.
What's your favourite ski anecdote from the last couple of seasons? Many times we hear the one about Silvan Zurbriggen urinating behind a farm in Alta Badia …
MV: Well, we weren't there then, maybe we can think of one where we were present… (laughter)
UL: No, tell the one about (Manuel) Osborne-Paradis. We still haven't told that one. There are things which we tell, and things which we don't.
MV: You can't really tell about all the things that happen.
UL: Yes, and especially regarding Slovenia's athletes, we try filter out things a little… but the anecdote with Osborne is quite good.
MV: He's a real vivacious Canadian cowboy, always up for jokes. Of course, every athlete is something special. In 2011 he placed a bet that he would jump onto the bumper of a moving bus, and hold on to the bus until the next bus stop. However unluckily his pants caught on to something and the bus dragged him on the road – for I don't know how long – and he was all beat up. He was so badly injured, that they had to "patch" up his thigh skin with skin from his butt. In short, a big mess out of "foolish joke".
UL: And there you have it, exclusively, as we haven't told this to anyone else yet.
Slovenia's alpine skiing, especially in the men's competition, as we can hear, is at its lowest point ...
UL: It's not at the lowest point, absolutely not. We did warn in Kranjska Gora, and I think people understood what we wanted to say – not only is the A-team in complete darkness, but there's nobody even coming from the background. But we haven't reached the lowest point yet. As Andrea Massi nicely put it, we still have Monaco and Andorra to consider. And at the same time it's clear that the Czechs and Russians are "flying" past us.
Are you afraid that with results like this we'll stop covering ski races?
MV: It could happen.
UL: We have a contract for two more years. Next season we will only be able to see Žan Kranjc, who'll be starting after the top 30 skiers in the giant slalom. Considering the fact that buying the rights to cover the races is expensive, it's a big question what our chief editor will decide in two years. A big question.