COPPER MOUNTAIN, Colo. — It’s a lot of work getting one ski racing course set up and ready for the world’s fastest skiers but at Copper Mountain, Dustin Schaffer and his staff have two courses to work on.
“’We just opened up the brand-new Copper Mountain Tech Center,” Schaffer said.
Schaffer coordinates race events and training at Copper Mountain, which is about an hour-and-a-half west of Denver in Summit County. For the past four years, Schaffer has been working to get the downhill course prepped and ready at the U.S. Ski Team Speed Center.
That course is used for downhill and super G speed event training. The new tech course will help slalom and giant slalom athletes focus on their skills.
It's something Olympic champion Mikaela Shiffrin says will help skiers get more out of training sessions.
“[The course] allows for more focused speed sessions and also more focused tech sessions, which has been amazing,” said Shiffrin.
Shiffrin is known for her slalom and giant slalom skiing and is the world's best in those disciplines. In the past few years, she's been moving into speed events and can now get all that early season training in one place.
"The last few years it’s been chaotic trying to fit in sessions,”’ said Shiffrin. “We’re all grasping for the same lane space so this year that's changing.”
RELATED: Here are the mountains you can explore with an Ikon Pass or Epic Pass this ski season (Photos)
SUGGESTED VIDEOS | Feature stories from 9NEWS