Alpine stars loving life back on tour after Sölden starter

From hanging out with a league of Alpine legends to collecting awards and practising dance moves, the world’s greatest Alpine skiers have been busy in the days following last weekend’s season-opener in Sölden.

With two weeks between Audi FIS Ski World Cup races, there has been plenty of time to fine-tune the snow skills – or, indeed, take advantage of the final break of the year.

Arguably no one embraced Austrian life quite as readily as speed queen Sofia Goggia (ITA) – you need to check out the reigning four-time World Cup downhill champion’s superb accordion playing:

But it has been teammate Marta Bassino (ITA) who has been receiving the Italian fanfare in recent times.

The 2023 super-G world champion has just been crowned the Italian Winter Sports Federation’s Athlete of the Year. Voted for by the public, it is a worthy award for a skier who looks like she will once again challenge at the very top in her favoured giant slalom and super-G disciplines.

Fifth place in the GS in Sölden represents a solid start for the discipline’s 2021 crystal globe winner but she could only watch on as Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI), Federica Brignone (ITA) and Petra Vlhova (SVK) climbed on to the podium.

Fresh from kickstarting her season with that encouraging third-place finish, Vlhova had a night to remember in the Tyrol mountains. The 2022 Olympic slalom champion found herself surrounded by a ‘who’s-who’ of men’s Alpine ski racing, with Bode Miller (USA), Marc Girardelli (LUX), Alberto Tomba (ITA), Franz Klammer (AUT), Ingemar Stenmark (SWE), Marcel Hirscher (AUT), Pirmin Zurbriggen (SUI) and Joel Gaspoz (SUI) all clamouring to be in a photograph with the Slovakian star.

The ever-modest Vlhova framed as she had ‘met some old legends’ but, as one fan quite rightly put it, actually ‘some old boys met a legend’.

Next up on the snow for Vlhova comes the famed slalom double-header in Levi. With the resort having got the green light for action, many of the women’s top technical skiers have already decamped to Finnish Lapland.

Double defending champion Mikael Shiffrin (USA) is among those taking advantage of the wintry conditions.

Should the record-breaking 28-year-old repeat her 2022 feats this time out, she may not need a plane to travel across to the looming North American leg of the World Cup circuit. Levi winners are traditionally awarded a local reindeer and with six already in her collection, Shiffrin isn’t far off the number carrying Santa Claus and his magic sleigh.

Her boyfriend Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) may be heading in a different direction – last season’s World Cup downhill champion is relocating to Zermatt-Cervinia (SUI) in preparation for the start of his speed season on 11 November – but the pair have been having and sharing plenty of giggles nonetheless.

If their moves this season are half as good as those in the recently posted video below, ski fans all over the world are in for another treat.

The sport’s premier couple will then join their peers for the traditional North American World Cup swing. While the men will race two downhills and a super-G in Beaver Creek (USA), the women will visit Tremblant (CAN) for only the second time, and the first since 1983.

As the host nation’s two-time world Alpine ski champion Erik Guay (CAN) shares, the Canadian resort could not be more excited for its upcoming World Cup weekend (2-3 December), with the region’s youngsters ready to be inspired.

One much-loved skier who will not be there for any of this thrilling action but will always remain a huge part of the skiing family is Lucas Braathen (NOR). Much has been said about the now-retired slalom World Cup champion, but perhaps no one will miss him more on tour than his childhood friend and Attacking Vikings teammate, Atle Lie McGrath (NOR).