Green light for World Cup opening in Sölden

On Thursday morning, the official snow control took place in Sölden and the World Cup Opening could be confirmed by FIS race director Markus Mayr, chief of course Isidor Grüner and chief of race Rainer Gstrein. Thanks to the work of the cable car company and the fresh snow that covered the Rettenbach glacier in the past weeks, the snow conditions are excellent and everything is set to host the ladies’ and men’s giant slalom.

In less than ten days, the best giant slalom skiers will officially kick off the 2017/18 season and race for the first World Cup win of the season. Even though some big names will be missing on the start lists, especially from the home team Austria (Marcel Hirscher, Philippe Schörghofer, Anna Veith, Eva-Maria Brem, …), the competition promises to be very interesting with Tessa Worley and Mikaela Shiffrin eager to defend their titles (respectively GS and Overall globes) on the ladies’ side, and Alexis Pinturault and Ted Ligety carving for revenge after a difficult end of the season in 2017 on the men’s tour.