Alpine Skiingfemale world cup
2019 Getty Images
Second appointment to analyze discipline for discipline the next white circus season.
Wednesday 9 October 2019 10 minutes reading time
We go into the details of the main favorites for each specialty World Cup. After the men's downhill, it's up to the jet women (Thursday will be the turn of the men's super-g) with Sofia Goggia and Ilka Stuhec who seem the absolute references.
SOFIA FOR THE SECOND BUT THE SLOVENIAN ...
1. Sofia Goggia: if we have indicated Dominik Paris as the first favorite for the crystal ball among men, we are also convinced that even the PyeongChang Olympian starts in pole position to capture what would be his second World Cup downhill , after having conquered it in 2018 with only 3 points of margin on Lindsey Vonn.
With the great friend-rival who retired, a challenge will be announced to Ilka Stuhec, at times dominant when she was left in peace by injuries, and with the Austrians who dominated last season also taking advantage of the almost total absence of blue and slovenian. Sofia returns to full capacity after having saved last year with a world medal and the victory of Crans Montana: at 26, she is in full maturity to be the reference for all, even if she will have to manage a calendar that will see her engaged as well in giant to go up and probably in all the combined.
2. Ilka Stuhec: the 28-year-old from Slovenj Gradec has returned from a summer run-up, after the umpteenth knee injury remedied at Crans Montana last February, just a couple of weeks after the business that saw Ilka take the second world gold in descent, two years after Sankt Moritz.
Having lost the entire Olympic season, the Slovenian champion returned from his part signing the double in the two recovery races on the Saslong, but he clearly struggled on other types of track, not having full confidence after the serious knee injury occurred in the October 2017 training in Pitztal. If he can recover 100% from the last stop, we are sure that the duel with Goggia will be stellar.
3.Nicole Schmidhofer: at the age of 30 he reached the top of his career, after that world title in super-g, at Sankt Moritz 2017, which had seemed like the stroke of a magical day. The small "Nici" is now a certainty of speed and the specialty World Cup (with 2nd place in SG behind Shiffrin) conquered last March in Soldeu has confirmed it, but could have a little less in certain contexts of competition with respect to Goggia and Stuhec.
It will have to be continuous from the first to the last race, even if starting with a brace like the one signed last year in Lake Louise could be a very complicated undertaking; he certainly has a lot of confidence, a strong team behind him and has not experienced any physical problems in recent years. It is not cheap ...
4. Corinne Suter: is an exponentially growing athlete, the true rising star of speed. He finished in 6th place in the 2018/19 World Cup specialty, but he won two world medals and, in the last four runs, he never went beyond 4th place. He has two fabulous feet, courage and now the right mental conviction that he can beat anyone. We wouldn't be surprised if he blew up the counter ...
5. Stephanie Venier: last January 27 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, she took her first World Cup victory, in a complete, historic downhill run with real athletes. The 25-year-old from Innsbruck has now exploded, the 2nd final place of last year behind her teammate Schmidhofer is far from casual and testifies to the great work done within the women's Wunderteam.
THE OTHER PODIUM WOMEN
From 6th to 10th place in this ideal starting grid, we choose a third aquilotta that responds to the name of Ramona Siebenhofer; we are talking about an athlete who, at 28, took the first two CdM victories with the resounding double win in Cortina d''Ampezzo last January, but showed a certain continuity (especially on the more "simple" tracks) concluding then in 3rd place in the final specialty ranking. He will not have the technique of other rivals, but in certain contexts he can play for partial victory. To wheel we insert Nicol Delago, in some ways similar to the Austrian one, but with a potential in decidedly superior perspective: the Gardena is fresh from the vintage in which it has emerged to all the effects to the top world, with the first podium really on the Saslong of "home", the 6th place in the world descent of Are one step away from the podium, and the 8th in the Cup standings. He still alternates great mistakes at fast track sections, but its smoothness is almost unique in the circuit and will make it emerge.
Final trio composed by Tina Weirather, Kira Weidle and Michelle Gisin: the Liechtenstein representative lived a very difficult year (apart from some high level super-g flashes), with the 15th place finish in the CDM of descent, but not the you can keep out of the forecast considered class and experience. The young German (23 years), in some ways following in the footsteps of Delago herself, exploded last season with the 5th final place, while the Swiss art sister is capable of anything. Michelle looks like a veteran, but at 25 she still has a whole career ahead of her to become dominant at times, although she has to calibrate a calendar that sees her as a protagonist in all disciplines. Last year he began with two podiums in Lake Louise, then his brother Marc's injury conditioned him all the way, finally stopping his season in Garmisch: the 9th place in the downhill Cup is therefore quite a liar, we are talking about a athlete who can win almost on every track.
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