2021 cortina world championships
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Let's make the cards at the first race of the world championships, scheduled for Monday. Vlhova and Shiffrin, then Gisin and Holdener, but also Brignone and Bassino: the prediction is open and promises to be a beautiful race.
Friday 5 February 2021 12 minutes reading time
Cortina -2 at the opening ceremony and off with the bag tied to each of the thirteen races of the next world championships.
We start with the women's alpine combined, the first appointment fixed on Monday: at 11.00 the super-g heat on the Olympia delle Tofane, at 14.30 the slalom, with the now consolidated formula, even if this year he has never competed in the World Cup, which foresees the same starting order in the decisive heat as compared to the result of the quick test in the morning.
It is therefore essential to be immediately up front in super-g, but the big favorites will all be there considering their quality even in speed; there are 6 women to focus on, even if there will be surprises and additions, like any self-respecting great event.
Let's start with the winner of the last four combined disputed in the World Cup: Federica Brignone, in fact, won in Crans-Montana in 2018, the following year always on Mont Lachaux and, in the magical 2019/2020 season, in the two events of Altenmarkt / Zauchensee and again in the Canton of Valais (where it also triumphed in 2017), in the last two cases already with the new formula. It is equally true that the Aosta Valley does not arrive in full confidence in this home World Cup, but the format is ideal and can clearly aim for a medal.
Who could take a step ahead of her? Petra Vlhova, Mikaela Shiffrin and Michelle Gisin.
Let's go in order: the Slovakian, think about it, has never actually won a high-level combined in her career (the only podium in CdM the 3rd place in Crans-Montana 2018), last season she went out both at Altenmarkt (in the of super-g when he was traveling strong) than in Crans-Montana, in the days when the "coppone" with Brignone was at stake and he got on in the slalom heats, a few doors from the conclusion in full fight for success with the blue.
It is equally true that his growth in speed is evident, the quality in slalom is unquestionable and in the last two major events, with the 5th place at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympics (and it was a Vlhova far from that of the 2019 seasons / 20 and 2020/21) and the 2nd at the 2019 Are World Championships, beaten for only 3 cents by Wendy Holdener, has shown that it can fight for the most precious metal.
If in top condition, obviously Mikaela Shiffrin can be considered the reference in this discipline: even in this case, however, we are talking about an athlete who has often given up on combined (she never needed it in view of the World Cup) , surprisingly also on the occasion of the last Are World Championships. Silver at the last Olympic Games, behind an amazing Michelle Gisin, the American champion will return to taste the speed over a year after the winning super-g of Bansko, on the occasion of the world combined in Cortina.
And he will do it, detail not to be overlooked, starting in the super-g on Monday morning with an even number from 2 to 20 (drawn on Sunday afternoon) because, despite not having points in the specialty WCSL, exactly like Vlhova, thanks to the +400 in the WCSL general is placed after the top 15 in the world of discipline. Mikaela in the cup won in Crans-Montana 2017 (ahead of Brignone, who had triumphed in the combined number 1 two days earlier) and is looking for the first world medal in the specialty in Cortina, having never faced it in a world championship.
Then we come to Switzerland: Michelle Gisin is the reigning Olympic champion, as well as silver for 5 cents at Sankt Moritz 2017, in the last World Cup in which she was present. It has never won in the Cup (2nd in Val d''Isère 2016 and Crans-Montana 2018), but it is another ideal prototype for the world combined, also considering the characteristics of the Olympia delle Tofane and obviously its state of shape (even if there was a drop in speed, with an exponential growth between giant and slalom).
She will have to solve several unknowns, even the farewell of the last few days with her personal technician, a Wendy Holdener returning from a very difficult season, but a real woman as a combined: it is no coincidence that we are talking about the two world champion in charge, she triumphed in Sankt Moritz 2017 and Are 2019, Olympic bronze medal in PyeongChang and two-time World Cup winner, again in Lenzerheide in 2016 and 2018.
And the sixth queen, albeit perhaps a step below the others in the prediction, is Marta Bassino: two podiums in the cup, with 2nd place in Lenzerheide in 2018, a few days from the PyeongChang Games where she finished tenth, and that of last year year in Zauchensee, third in the great day of Brignone that beat Holdener.
The Cuneo-based woman finished 17th in Sankt Moritz and 13th in Are in the two world races disputed in the discipline, but in this case it is really useless to dwell on the previous ones, considering the leap in quality of the last two seasons: it is equally clear that in super- g will have to make a difference to be there to play for a medal.
She is third in the WCSL of discipline, more for defections of others, but she is still to be considered a loose cannon Ester Ledecka, on the podium (third) of the last combined contest held in Crans-Montana in February 2020, but too far from the big in the slalom heat to think about undermining them. Similar speech for Marie-Michèle Gagnon, who returned to the podium a few days ago in super-g in Garmisch, almost five years after her combined victory in Soldeu 2016, a true specialist who, however, in slalom no longer has the performance required for some time.
World bronze in charge, Ragnhild Mowinckel has yet to recover from the three knee operations, but will try to fight for an important place like Valerie Grenier, the second top Canadian who, already sixth in PyeongChang 2018 and in great shape this cup season in giant (while making a lot of mistakes and wasting great chances, as in the last race at Kronplatz), he can also sign the surprise given his enormous talent.
Austria must dissolve the reserves, but potentially can field a young woman like Franziska Gritsch who, albeit in a complicated year for her, has as a historian 2nd place in the last combined played just under a year ago in Crans-Montana, preceded only by Brignone, while Italy will also field Elena Curtoni, fifth as best in the combined Altenmarkt / Zauchensee 2020, and Laura Pirovano, 7th at the Junior World Championships in Are 2017 and tenth, her first top ten in the discipline, in the last one of CdM in Crans-Montana. For both, the goal may be to hit the top ten positions.
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Alpine Combined Female Cortina d'Ampezzo (ITA)
SHIFFRIN Mikaela
VLHOVA Petra
GISIN Michelle
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