Let's make the cards at the Women's World Cup: Shiffrin the reference, three blue at least for the podium

One week from the inaugural giant of Soelden, we see specialties by specialties the possible favorites. Nicol Delago and Anna Swenn-Larsson are back, many unknowns in speed and a furious battle for the general with at least 6 greats at stake. Bassino, Brignone and Goggia will be there, and how, especially with the new calendar.

Saturday 16 October 2021 23 minutes reading time

Seven days at Rettenbach, for the first major clash of the 2021/22 season, for a World Cup that restarts as usual from the Soelden glacier which was painted blue 12 months ago, when Marta Bassino won in front of a comeback Federica Brignone. We therefore take the opportunity to make the cards at the maximum female circuit (tomorrow it will be the boys' turn), starting from the important news concerning the revolution calendar launched by the FIS, which has equalized the technical and fast disciplines, proposing 9 races for each specialties in addition to the parallel of Lech / Zuers. It must be said that, considering the ability of the "big ones" to be polyvalent in the true sense of the word, the differences compared to the past will probably be smaller than their male colleagues, but the variation is still important if we think that, in the 2020/21 vintage (even if the cancellation of the two fast races in Lenzerheide made the difference), there were 7 descents, 6 super-gs, 8 giants, 9 slalom and 1 parallel. The last "normal" season, that is pre Covid, is the 2018/19 one and saw Mikaela Shiffrin dominate far and wide, with almost 900 points of margin on the second classified, Petra Vlhova, over 35 races: in that case 8 descents were staged, 6 super-gs, 8 giants, 12 races between slalom and parallel, as well as a combined. Basically, there will be three fewer technical races and three more fast races: not a little. Considering his exceptional quality on the four disciplines, a preparation finally complete again and the announcement that he will be back at the gate of the fast races (sipping some as in the past), which contributed to the consecutive trio of cups from 2017 to 2019, Mikaela Shiffrin is clearly the point of reference for all. And the top ten athletes of the 2020/21 general classification are the same contenders for the next crystal ball, net of sensational surprises: among these, at least three Italians fighting for the final podium, and perhaps not only, considering that from Marta Bassino to Federica Brignone (who will also do some slalom), as well as Sofia Goggia herself, the balance of the new calendar helps as many points can come from the giant to the descent. The Cuneo and Valle d'Aosta women finished in 6th and 7th place respectively last season, with Goggia ninth after having been in full swing, up to the Garmisch injury, for the possible top 3. The first five were Vlhova, Gut-Behrami, Gisin, Shiffrin and Liensberger, while two other Swiss concluded in front and behind Sofia, Corinne Suter (8 ^) and Wendy Holdener (10 ^). Analyzing the individual situations, the two Swiss from the Canton of Schwyz have remedied injuries that will force them to forfeit in Soelden (the sprinter with a bone contusion after a fall in super-g, the slalomgigantista with a double fracture to the scaphoid) and will in any case affect the 'approach to the first objectives, namely the fast races of Lake Louise for Corinne and the slalom of Levi for Wendy. It is difficult to think, beyond the physical problem, which arrived at a less than ideal moment, that they can really fight with the other eight protagonists that we indicate for the general. Of Shiffrin and the three blues we have said, Vlhova and Gut-Behrami do not need many presentations considering what they combined in the last year, playing for the cup until the finals in Lenzerheide, even if a great goal for both will be the attempt to conquer the first. Olympic career gold in Beijing 2022, while Gisin and Liensberger will have a different disadvantage. Michelle, fresh from the best year of her career and grown exponentially especially in slalom and giant, has had to deal with a form of mononucleosis since the end of June; the recovery was quite fast, but in a case like hers it will be necessary to continue to monitor the situation and training the combined Olympian has lost a lot. The Austrian, on the other hand, has prepared very well and has the total confidence deriving from a frightening second part of the 2020/21 season, but can only play her cards between slalom (where she is currently number 1) and giant, specialty that beyond the world bronze still sees it far behind in the hierarchies compared to many rivals. DESCENT WITH ESTER AND ... The final podium of the last downhill World Cup objectively reflected the values on the field, with Sofia Goggia dominating with 4 victories in 5 races (with 2nd place in the opening in Val d''Isère) before the injury, preceding Corinne Suter, who had conquered the crystal ball of the queen discipline the previous year, and Lara Gut-Behrami. The two Swiss women, always remembering the physical trouble accused by Suter, will certainly still be the first opponents of the Bergamo-based, but there is a bogeyman named Ester Ledecka (who uses the same materials as Sofia, a factor not to be underestimated), capable literally everything and convinced to be able to play even in the arc of an entire season. The Czech is now competitive on all types of tracks, a speech that is only partially valid for Breezy Johnson, who has grown a lot with the podiums of last season but still never winning in the cup. However, it is the American who completes the five favorites, then it will be necessary to pay attention to another specialist in smoothness such as the German Kira Weidle, world silver in Cortina, and in Italy there is an authentic loose cannon. for all of them. Laura Pirovano, in fact, has definitively exploded by touching the first podium in CdM several times: it really seems to be only a matter of time, but Elena Curtoni must also be constantly fighting up front and, with some insertions in the more technical descents by Brignone and Bassino (think of Garmisch-Partenkirchen and especially Crans-Montana), there is a lot of curiosity around Nicol Delago's return. The woman from Val Gardena, who already knows something about podiums in the cup, before everything stopped with the serious injury of over 10 months ago in Solda, had to skip the entire last year and in Lake Louise, where she has already come close to winning. in super-g, he will restart his great journey in the circuit. SUPER-G ... BLUE! It is the discipline in which the three blue stars (but there is much more in Italy, with the same Curtoni and Pirovano, but also Marsaglia and Delago) can really make the difference in terms of the general classification, also taking advantage of the calendar "Fattened" that finally enhances a show like the super-g. Brignone, Bassino and Goggia will quietly play the specialty cup, for which however the first favorite can only be Lara Gut-Behrami, space in 2020/21 with four victories in a row that become five with the world pearl of Cortina. The last in the cup, however, was won by Federica Brignone in Val di Fassa ... Shiffrin will return and it will be fun, considering that every time the American has played for the podium at least in the super-g between the cup and the world, one step if not two below here is Tamara Tippler, however fourth in the last specialty ranking , Corinne Suter, a Petra Vlhova who will probably think more about technical disciplines with the new course by Mauro Pini, and then a lot of space for insertion (think of Gagnon, but also of various returning Austrians which we will talk about later). A WAR ... GIANT It has been clear for some seasons now, the giant is the discipline that offers the highest level with 6-7 athletes with a very high profile, but even behind them there is no joking. Let's go in order, starting from the base of 2020/21: Marta Bassino won 4 races and her first crystal ball, she triumphed in Soelden 12 months ago and will have all eyes on her. Few doubts about the fact that the Cuneo-based company will be confirmed, considering its gradual growth year after year, but the rivals will be many and strong. Lara Gut-Behrami is the reigning world champion, even if she hasn't won the cup for 5 years (just in Soelden, in 2016, when she dominated in front of Shiffrin and Bassino herself). Tessa Worley seems to have fixed her physical problems, she loves the Rettenbach and can start very strong, she who at the beginning of 2021 triumphed at Kronplatz. The two that are perhaps most frightening, however, are Mikaela Shiffrin and Alice Robinson, who played (divided by 6 cents in favor of the New Zealander) for the success in Soelden in 2019. The American gave up a year ago, now it is a '' another story and he will be there from the first race, while the 2001 class of Queenstown almost reached the world podium, in Jasna he finished second by a hair's breadth and then he beat everyone in Lenzerheide. If she can manage her enormous potential, which she fully rediscovered in the final of last season, she will perhaps be the first favorite in several races. And then Brignone, capable of everything in what remains his main discipline, and the duo Gisin-Vlhova to complete a space top 8. Behind them? Liensberger and Hrovat are called to leap in quality, with the Austrian having to add a second strong specialty and the Slovenian relying on Livio Magoni to really explode, after returning to the podium in the last race in Lenzerheide. And then Hector, second in Courchevel 2020 before dropping, the revelation Siebenhofer (even more competitive in giant than in fast specialties in recent times) and a Sofia Goggia returned in the 15, already sixth in Soelden 2020 and still from the podium between the doors wide between 2016/17 and the following Olympic year. Yes, seeing the Bergamo top 5 if not more in some races is anything but utopia, despite the enormous competition. SLALOM FOR THREE AND ... We come to the slalom, where three queens rule over all, but in Switzerland there is the desire to play it at every appointment with Michelle Gisin and Wendy Holdener. Before them, however, there are unquestionably Katharina Liensberger, Petra Vlhova and Mikaela Shiffrin. We mention them in this order, the same as in the world competition and in the specialty cup with reversed positions between the Slovakian and the American. The Austrian was scary in 2020/21, did not miss a single heat and began to win, from Cortina to the last cup slalom between Are and Lenzerheide. According to her own rivals and many technicians, now it is she who must also be studied by the total phenomenon of the discipline, the 26-year-old from Eagle who has won 45 slalom in CdM ... Shiffrin will therefore try to regain the throne, Vlhova will have to build the possible encore in general among the rapid gates, but let's not forget that a great athlete like Anna Swenn-Larsson will return after a lost year between Covid and injuries. The Swede, world silver at Are 2019 and several times one step away from her first success in the World Cup, starts at least on a par with the Swiss duo Gisin-Holdener and well ahead of athletes like Mair, Duerr and Lysdahl. Is there space in the top ten area even for a little blue? Yes, with Martina Peterlini the new “captain” after the retirement of Irene Curtoni, but also some unknowns linked to the immediate full recovery of Rossetti and Della Mea, both veterans of the breakup of the Crusader. It will take time for the very young world champion jr Sophie Mathiou, in part a similar argument applies to Gulli and Viviani, who still have few cup races. SURPRISES AND RETURNS Andreja Slokar, Nina O''Brien, Paula Moltzan, Maryna Gasienica-Daniel, the first four names that come to mind between slalom and giant of emerging athletes who have already shown us important things in the 2020/21 vintage and are called to repeat itself at even higher levels. It is above all the tormented Austria that asks next season to find many important athletes, from Cornelia Huetter to Stephanie Venier, Nicole Schmidhofer and Nina Ortlieb in speed, to Stephanie Brunner herself, to Franziska Gritsch (who broke her forearm left last August) and Katharina Truppe between giant and slalom. The Norway house, on the other hand, will have to wait a lot to find Kajsa Vickhoff Lie, fresh from the terrible injury at the end of February in Val di Fassa, and is still waiting for the best Ragnhild Mowinckel, after the incredible series of physical troubles that the reigning Olympic vice champion of descent and giant suffered between 2018 and 2019. Will Ilka Stuhec be able to show us something great again? We do not exclude it, as a speed talent like Christine Scheyer needs to be well continuously on a physical level to make the most of it. And then again the same eagles Ricarda Haaser and Mirjam Puchner, like Haehlen, Flury and Nufer at Swiss-Ski, but the list would be very long ...

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