Alpine Skiingmen's world cup
2019 Getty Images
First appointment to analyze each discipline, after skimming men and women hunting for the absolute crystal ball.
Tuesday 8 October 2019 12 minutes reading time
18 days after the opening of Solden, we go into the details of the favorites for each specialty World Cup.
Let's start with the men's downhill (tomorrow appointment with the jet women), where an exciting duel between Dominik Paris and Beat Feuz is announced; in our "5 + 5", however, there is also space for many other protagonists ...
"DOMME" AT THE ASSAULT OF THE THRONE
1. Dominik Paris: we put him in pole position, yes, because what was demonstrated by the Val d''Ultimo policeman in the second part of last season is very clear. A certain Svindal has often said in the past: "Paris can become the strongest of all, it just needs to convince itself of this". At 30 years of age, it seems that "Domme" has understood, mentally and technically, how to make the most out of each other, given that the feeling and the quality we saw from Bormio's brace ahead, even in a specialty that was always a bit tricky for him like the super-g, they are of a level perhaps unattainable for all rivals.
Without the World Cup and the Olympics, the goal is very clear: to win his first World Cup downhill, escaped Soldeu for only 20 points despite a great comeback against Feuz, who won only one race against the four in the blue . Already in Lake Louise, a very popular track for the South Tyrolean giant, he will be the favorite.
2.Beat Feuz: is the winner of the last two crystal balls in the specialty, as well as world champion in Sankt Moritz 2017. It is also true that for a year now, the real Feuz has only been seen at times, with the last victory dated November 30, 2018 in Beaver Creek. His constancy is frightening, on every type of track and condition (in 2017/18 he won in Lake Louise, Wengen and Garmisch), therefore woe to underestimate him by Paris himself or by other rivals who, however, seem quite distant in the hierarchies from the blue-red-cross duo.
Beat also dreams of the first victory in Kitzbuehel, having only touched on the triumph on Streif that Dominik has tamed four times (three downhill, one in super-g).
3. Vincent Kriechmayr: "Mr. Continuity" is now a guarantee in the two fast disciplines, even if the feeling is that in super-g he can always give a little something more. In terms of smoothness, in fact, the phenomenal Austrian often pays duty, while enchanting in the technical sections of the most demanding races; in the last year Wengen dug out and closed in third place in the specialty ranking, going around the podium on almost all the tracks.
We always expect it there, but it will be difficult for him to counter Paris and Feuz.
4.Kjetil Jansrud: he is the reigning world champion, even if he does not win in a World Cup downhill since February 2017, on Kvitjfell's snow friends. With the withdrawal of captain Svindal, at 34 he is the absolute reference of the Norwegian speed team: we expect him again at high level with continuity not only in super-g, but also in downhill where he is veteran, except for the coup of Are, from the worst season of the last years of his career, with the 13th place and only 160 points collected in the specialty ranking.
Anyone who has won 22 times in the maximum circuit, including 8 downhill, can expect anything.
5. Max Franz: he was living the best year of his career, in full tussle both for the downhill cup and for the super-g cup, then Kitzbuehel's injury stopped everything.
Winning his second and third career race, within a week between the opening downhill in Lake Louise and the super-g of Beaver Creek, Franz had shown he could often fight for victory, especially on the less demanding tracks given that, in terms of ability to develop speed, it is second to none.
Back on skis in August, it will be necessary to understand if he will immediately find the level shown in 2018/19: if he were able to do it already from Lake Louise, the Carinthian would apply at least for the final podium in the specialty classification.
THE OTHER PODIUM MEN
In our "5 + 5", in the second block we choose two luxury injured players who have shown, even in very different situations, that they can constantly fight for the podium.
Christof Innerhofer did not manage to win in the season of his big relaunch, but the 6th place finish in the Cup is clear: the unknown is obviously linked to the long stop after the break of the crusader suffered for the fall at the Italian championships in Cortina. Difficult to think of being able to repeat the second place obtained in Lake Louise last November, but at 34, "Inner" proves to still have a mad desire (and a lot of quality) to stay there in front.
Another highly anticipated man returning is Thomas Dressen, the revelation of the Olympic season when he imposed himself on Kitzbuehel and Kvitfjell, who lost practically all of the 2018/19 vintage due to the serious injury of Beaver Creek: already capable of flying to South America for summer training, the recovery of the German seems to proceed smoothly and he is the new man, also considering the age, which can fit firmly at the top.
Finally we mention the names of Mauro Caviezel, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde and Matthias Mayer: the Swiss experienced the best start to the season ever between November and December 2018 with burst podiums, to then progressively fall and close in 5th place in the final classification of specialties. He hasn't won in the World Cup yet, but he has grown a lot. The Norwegian is the true loose cannon, enormous potential and also a lot of discontinuity: for this reason AAK has chosen to return with Atomic to find so many certainties, given that the only flash of victory of 10 months ago on the Saslong is not enough to fight up there in summit, even if the 4th place in the 2018/19 downhill Cup is certainly not to be thrown away.
Finally, Mayer, the two-time Olympic champion who exalts himself in big events, but in the course of a World Cup season he still makes several mistakes and has never really been fighting for a crystal ball; most likely he can do it in super-g, but he can win in every situation as well as make a hole ... in the snow. In 2018/19 he finished 12th in the specialty, his last victory dates back to the descent of the Are finals in March 2018.
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