Alpine Skiingfemale world cup
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Fifth round to analyze, discipline by discipline, the next white circus season with our "5 + 5".
Tuesday 15 October 2019 12 minutes reading time
The fight for the World Cup giant among women could be one of the most interesting ever. We are talking about a specialty that is giving us a very high level in recent years; Mikaela Shiffrin succeeded in crowning her dream of conquering her for the first time a few months ago, but behind the US there is a group of exceptional talents and many certainties, including three blue that we place in full fight for the podium in every race.
MIKA, PETRA AND ... SO MUCH MORE
1. Mikaela Shiffrin: with the beauty of 615 points, she took the crystal ball 2018/19 and is clearly the reference also in this specialty. He has won four times in the past season, thus reaching the double figure of successes in World Cup giant races (10), although he was beaten at the World Championship by Vlhova and Rebensburg.
Sometimes it gives the impression of having so much margin still to manage, but on the most streamlined tracks where the marvelous technique combines its physicality, it has begun to make an important difference; she was capable of stellar heats like the first of Plan de Corones last January, but now it is difficult to see her out of the top 5. It is clear that, as soon as she lifts her foot from the accelerator, she can find herself having to chase 4- 5 rivals of the highest quality.
2.Petra Vlhova: reigning world champion, it is the athlete who has grown the most among the wide doors in the last year, not surprisingly finishing in 2nd place in the specialty ranking. He has won 3 times, in addition to the pearl of Are, all in the past season between Semmering, Maribor (equal with Shiffrin) and Spindleruv Mlyn, and to hope to counter the great rival from Colorado, also in overall terms, will have to raise further the level as to constancy.
He had some minor physical problems in the early part of the summer, but training sessions in the autumn should bring him to Soelden already in a position to win.
3. Viktoria Rebensburg: if we look at the amount of results obtained in the last decade, and we are talking about an athlete who is still in full career at 30, "Viki" represents an absolute reference for the pink giant.
Fourteen victories and thirty-four career podiums in the specialty, while not rejoicing since January 2018 when it imposed itself on Plan de Corones; has literally lost in the last doors the world gold in Are, but after winning its third World Cup in the last Olympic season (after those of 2011 and 2012), and having limped at the start of the 2018/19 ( forcing her to 4th place in the final specialty classification), she has completely rediscovered her extraordinary level which can allow her to fight for poker in the specialty. Since 2009/2010, the year in which he also won the Olympic gold, he has always finished in the top ten specialty final with the exception of 2013/14 (12th).
4. Federica Brignone: has been touring for years around that specialty podium that would represent a small goal, since the aim of the La Salle tiger is always the same: to win the giant World Cup, a specialty in which it is Olympic bronze in charge ( and won the silver medal in Garmisch 2011 at a very young age) and capable of stellar competitions, as in the last success obtained last November in Killington, a race that led her for the first time to wear the leader's red bib.
The Valle d'Aosta was unable to manage, during the past winter, a situation that saw her slowly descend to the 5th final place in the specialty ranking, placement already obtained in 2018 and 2011. Faith has also concluded twice fourth, in 2016 and 2017, collecting a total of 5 victories and 19 podiums. The hour has come to take home the big booty, after having finally experienced a summer without problems from the physical point of view.
5. Worley: unlike many of her rivals, the two-champion Frenchwoman of the world (2013 and 2017) had to do a recovery all of the way, after the knee operation last spring, which was necessary at the end of a season conditioned by the fall in super-g in Lake Louise.
Tessa had started off very well by winning at Solden, then she was no longer able to maintain her standard, though finishing in 3rd place with 460 points, at -18 from Petra Vlhova. It is a certainty despite the many physical ailments and, despite having won "only" a specialty World Cup at the end of the 2016/17 season, with 13 successes it is second in activity to Viktoria Rebensburg alone.
THE OTHER PODIUM WOMEN
Class 2001 (and was born on December 1st ...), able to get on the podium at the tenth giant held in the World Cup, with that fabulous 2nd place behind Mikaela Shiffrin at the Soldeu finals last March, a few days after the first points obtained at Spindleruv Mlyn (16th place) and the junior world title won in Val di Fassa. We are obviously talking about Alice Robinson, the phenomenal New Zealander who is a candidate to appear several times at the top, even though she still has to enter the first two groups of merit of the starting lists (in Solden she will still be close to 3 pm).
Wendy Holdener is back from the best vintage of his career in giant, with the 7th place finish that is coupled with the 8th of 12 months before, although he still has to conquer the first podium of his career in this specialty. It has the constancy to not leave the first group, but to beat the phenomena that we find in this specialty seems to be a rather complicated mission.
At the age of 23, the season of the definitive consecration Marta Bassino is expected, ninth in the specialty Cup last season, after the twelfth of 2017/18 and the sixth of 2016/17: the Piedmontese returned to the podium, collecting her fourth podium career (all third places), in Plan de Corones in January, finding a level close to its top in early 2019, but will need another step to constantly fight for the very top positions.
Who wants to find the podium also in giant (he has conquered 5 in absolute) is Sofia Goggia, called to go up the slope after a season lost in this specialty and another very difficult like the Olympic one, while in 2016/17 one arrived amazing 3rd place in the final World Cup ranking. The world championship race of Are, before leaving the stage in the final of the 2nd heat when a result was possible among the first 6, has already been a positive sign for Bergamo.
Finally Meta Hrovat, which we put in front of a Ragnhild Mowinckel still in recovery phase after the knee injury last March; the '98 Slovenian class placed 14th in last year's giant ranking, but with the exception of the "zero" of Soldeu, in the last three specialty tests (7th in Plan de Corones, 8th in Maribor, 5th at Spindleruv Mlyn) has achieved the best results of a career that promises fireworks.
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