Olympic champions Bode Miller and Aksel Lund Svindal joined a chorus of top skiers in giving the thumbs-up to the venue that will host the alpine events at the 2014 winter Games in Sochi.
Amid tight security surrounding Sochi's first international test events and on-course technical hiccups that are expected to be tweaked before 2014, the Caucasus mountain resort of Rosa Khutor won many fans over the weekend.
"It's world class, it's as nice as any place we ever go," said Miller, the Olympic super-combined champion who won three medals at the Vancouver Olympics in 2010.
Norwegian Svindal, who also won three Olympic medals in 2010 including super-G gold, added: "I like going to different places and I really like it here."
Held in good conditions on a piste which barely existed two years ago, Russia's first World Cup alpine events were not free of criticism.
Most critiques, however, centred on the setting of the downhill course.
Some felt the International Ski Federation (FIS), wary of high-speed crashes, had included too many turns in a bid to contain speeds at the top of the men's downhill course.
After calling the hill itself "one of the best I've ever skied", Miller fears the move could lessen the propects for a thrilling broadcasting of alpine's most dangerous event.
"It would be a phenomenal downhill. (But) the way it's set up right now... it's not what we want to show for an Olympic downhill at all," said Miller.
"I think it's going to be an amazing Olympics here, I hope they do as good a job as they can because obviously the Olympics is a perfect opportunity to showcase a venue, an area, a culture and a country."
Svindal, who struggled on the course throughout the competition, added: "This hill, they overdid it a little bit with the turns."
FIS course designer Bernhard Russi, the Olympic downhill champion from 1972, allayed the purists' fears by saying there will be some tweaks ahead of 2014.
"I know it turns a little more than what people expect it to, but that's okay.... we will see after this weekend whether we will take out one, two or three turns," he said.
Adrien Theaux was among those hoping not too many changes would be made.
"There will be a few changes, but they're not going to change it drastically," the Frenchman told AFP after a promising third place in the downhill.
It was a race Christof Innerhofer failed to finish after he lost a ski on the unforgiving course, but that did not scupper his Olympic hopes.
"It's icy and bumpy... I think this will be a deserving Olympic downhill course and one I can do well on," said the Italian.
Canadian Benjamin Thomsen, who bumped Miller off the podium with a stunning performance which got him a second place Saturday, echoed those thoughts.
"A lot of guys have said it's too tight and too turny but I like it the way it is," he said.
From the downhill race start 2045 metres on the Rosa Khutor mountain, the border of neighbouring Georgia is only three kilometres as the crow flies. Security will therefore remain a key aspect of the Games.
The former Soviet republic's recent conflict with Russia is well documented, and for some the stringent security measures -- in place even before Russian president Dmitry Medvedev visited the alpine venue on Saturday -- stood out.
"Up at the downhill start there's special forces and snipers, that's a little unusual," Svindal said after Friday's third downhill training.
"The metal detectors and stuff, that's something we're used to, not in the World Cup but at the Olympics, but the armed security and the military... that's a little extreme."
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