Olympic champ Mayer wants F1-like qualifying in ski racing

VIENNA (AP) Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer says World Cup ski racing needs a qualification system like Formula One, with qualifying runs determining the starting order for the race.

The Austrian skier says ''you could compete in training for who is the first to pick a start number.''

Mayer's proposal goes a step further than rules for downhill and super-G implemented this season. In the new system, the top-10 ranked skiers can choose a start number between 1 and 19.

The International Ski Federation has changed the old format, where the top seven were randomly given a number between 16 and 22, because it hopes TV viewers will watch longer when the best skiers are more spread out.