Saalbach (Austria) (AFP) – The star American duo of Mikaela Shiffrin and Lindsey Vonn, returning to the slopes from injury and retirement respectively, will headline the World Ski Championships in Saalbach that start on Tuesday. Shiffrin, who has 99 World Cup victories and seven world championship gold medals to her name, has 14 medals in 17 world champ starts. The most successful alpine skier in the modern era, however, suffered a setback this season when a crash in Killington in November left her with an abdominal puncture wound. She made her comeback at last week’s night slalom in Courchevel, placing 10th.
“It was a very important step in my recovery to see how I’m stacking up with the top skiers in the world,” said Shiffrin. “Before the world championships it was so important to get this start. I want to target the giant slalom and slalom and everything really depends on how the next 10 days or until those races, how it goes in training. I’m catching up to the fastest in the world so I have a lot of work to do but I’m happy to be here and look forward to trying that.”
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Shiffrin will be joined on the American women’s team by Vonn, an eight-time world championship medallist.
– ‘Pretty easy’ –
Vonn has been making waves since her return to action after an aborted retirement that lasted only five years. The now 40-year-old first hung up her ski boots after snatching downhill bronze at the 2019 Are championships, becoming the oldest female ski racer to medal at a worlds. That could realistically be under threat in Saalbach, where Vonn described the course on the Zwolferkogel mountain as “pretty easy.” “So it should suit me pretty well, if I can get some fast skis I should be in good shape,” she said.
Vonn said she was being patient with the world championships in Saalbach, with next year’s Winter Olympics at Milan/Cortina d’Ampezzo also on the horizon. “For me, it was really good to ride without taking too many risks. I wanted to stay healthy and nothing more,” said the 82-time World Cup winner after racing in Garmisch-Partenkirchen last week. “It gives me more confidence for the world championships.” After initially impressing on her comeback with fourth and sixth placings in St Anton, Vonn finished 20th in the downhill at Cortina. At Garmisch, Vonn failed to finish in the downhill but came 13th in the super-G. “The goal wasn’t to be here this season at all — of course the only thing that matters are medals at the world championships,” she said.
The men’s line-up may be lacking the high-profile draw of Shiffrin and Vonn, but that will not faze Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt.
– King Odi –
Odermatt is this season’s leading male skier and will look to carry over his World Cup form to Saalbach where he will seek to defend his downhill and giant slalom titles from two years ago in Courchevel-Meribel. France’s Clement Noel will be among the favourites for the slalom, notably after his victory in Kitzbuehel. His competition is likely to come from a trio of Norwegians led by Henrik Kristoffersen, and a Norwegian-born Brazilian in the shape of Lucas Pinheiro Braathen.
Austrian hopes for success on domestic snow could be tested. Vincent Kriechmayr is the top rated Austrian man in the overall standings, at 16th, a massive 767 points off Odermatt. Cornelia Huetter is the leading Austrian woman, standing 10th in the general classification topped by Italy’s Federica Brignone ahead of the Swiss pair of Lara Gut-Behrami and Camille Rast. But the powerhouse ski nation should never be ruled out, especially at home.
Crashes have marred this season, not least for France, with Cyprien Sarrazin and Alexis Pinturault both absent from Saalbach after suffering nasty injuries. Markus Waldner, the International Ski Federation’s Chief Race Director for the men’s World Cup, called on organisers, coaches and ski industry figures to come together to work on how to best cut back on crashes.
“Link extreme snow preparation with improved equipment and we are turning the dial,” Waldner said. “We are on the limit… So we all need to cooperate (to find) the best solution to avoid all these injuries.”
© 2024 AFP
