The new team combined for skiers before the Olympic debut in the Milan-Cortina Games next year

Saalbach-Hintergymm, Austria (AP)-at 40 years, Italian skier Christof Innerhofer has existed enough to have competed in three different versions of the set.

First, there was an exhausting three -run race that included a downstream leg and two Slalom legs. That was discarded about 15 years ago because it favored Slalom specialists and lasted all day.

When Ted Lighty won gold in the last Olympic race of the old team, he concluded at night under the lights in the 2006 Turin Games.

Then came the most balanced combined combined that included only one downstream and a Slalom race, which Bode Miller won at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games and seemed decent until there were hardly any skiers who could run competitively in both disciplines.

Now there is a new team combined that made its debut in the World Championship This week and will also be played at the Olympic Games for the first time in next year Milan-Cortina Games.

The combined team consists of a skier that ran in a race downhill and another in a Slalom race, with its twice added to determine the final results.

Breezey Johnson and Mikaela Shiffrin won gold in The Women’s Event Tuesday and Franjo von Allmen and Loic Meillard led a Swiss sweep In the male event on Wednesday.

“I like it,” said Innerhofer. “It was correct to change the format. People like. You want and lose together with this type of team. “

When Shiffrin fell first after Johnson had remained in fourth place in the descent, Johnson ran to the completion area to hug his teammate.

The same happened during the male event, which ended with a Swiss group hug of six men.

The combined was the first alpine ski event introduced to the Olympic Games, in the 1936 Games in Garmisch-Partenkironn, Germany.

Innerhofer won a silver in super combined in the world of 2011 and a bronze at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games in that format and, although he appreciates the new version of the team, he believes that the medals are worth “much less” now.

“I did everything alone,” said Innerhofer, adding that now “he looks a bit like a school career where you say: ‘Hey, you go downhill, you for Slalom’, or ‘run, swim.’

“I think people like it because they see the best Slalom runners and the best descent,” Innerhofer added. “But these medals will never have the same value.”

The Swiss All-Orunder Lara Gut-Berami, which competes in all events, except Slalom, is a fan of the new version.

In the old event, “you only had three or four athletes to see,” said Gut-Berami. “It is not a good product to sell. I think this was a very good product to sell, to watch on television. So, if (combined) it has a future, I think this is. “

While each nation can add up to four teams in the event, it excludes nations with prominent corridors without counterpart in the other discipline, as with Lucas Pinheiro Brarathen from Brazil, Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic and Petra Vlhova de Slovakia.

“I would prefer the ancient format, but it was fun to compete with Stefan (Babinsky),” said Marco Schwarz, an Austrian All-Oower that won gold, silver and bronze in previous worlds in Super-Combi, after falling into the Leg Slalom Wednesday.

Bryce Bennett added: “Combined reached a point where there is no way to be competitive in Slalom. So now someone else is competitive for you in the Slalom. I think it’s a super great event. “

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