www.skiracing.com comments on Svindal taking his first Val Gardena training run: “Aksel Lund Svindal reports he has never before won a  training run at Val Gardena, but ahead of Saturday's downhill and Friday's super G down the famed Saslong, he edged Erik Guay for the honors today (Dec. 12) in the first of two trainers. “The Saslong was great to ski today,” Svindal said.” The article also features additional detail on US skiers: “The Americans got Steven Nyman in fifth and Marco Sullivan 13th. Travis Ganong was 16th and Andrew Weibrecht 18th for the best US showing of the young season. Nyman came from the 42nd start position and started after a course hold.” The article also stated that “The classic track was in excellent condition, dark as usual and the jumps appeared as big as usual.”