Globes and records up for grabs as Alpine skiing season reaches climax
Feb 06, 2024·Alpine Skiing
In-form Swiss star Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) will resume her quest for the overall title this weekend as she chases Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) in one of the most compelling stories to watch in the final six weeks of the Alpine skiing season.
Gut-Behrami won the last two World Cup races on the women's tour before a weather-enforced break last weekend, triumphing in super-G in Cortina d'Ampezzo on 28 January and in giant slalom in Kronplatz two days later.
Those victories lifted her to 1,114 points in this season's overall standings, just 95 behind leader Shiffrin, whose return date is uncertain after she suffered a knee injury in the first downhill race in Cortina on 26 January.
With Shiffrin unlikely to ski when the season resumes with a giant slalom competition on Saturday in Soldeu, Gut-Behrami could claim the lead in the race for the overall crystal globe with a victory and the accompanying 100 points.
The 32-year-old, who won the overall title in 2016, is favoured by the speed-heavy schedule and can expect to pick up points in 12 of the 15 remaining races, with only three contests left in the one discipline she does not compete in (slalom).
While Shiffrin skis all four disciplines, she will need to regain top form right away upon her return if she is to reach her stated goal for this season of winning a sixth big globe to equal Annemarie Moser-Proell's (AUT) women's record.
Unsurprisingly, Shiffrin and Gut-Behrami are also in the mix for small globes, with the American's lead in slalom practically insurmountable given Petra Vlhova's (SVK) injury, and the Swiss racer currently on top in both giant slalom and super-G.
Gut-Behrami has an 85-point lead over Federica Brignone (ITA) in giant slalom with three races left, while she leads Cornelia Huetter (AUT) by 10 points in the super-G standings with five races remaining.
The Swiss No.1 could also be in contention for the downhill globe after three-time defending champion Sofia Goggia (ITA) was ruled out for the season this week after fracturing her tibia in training.
Goggia currently tops the downhill standings but is likely to lose her lead in the final four races, with Stephanie Venier (AUT, -89 points) and Gut-Behrami (-141 points) primed to overtake her.
If everything breaks perfectly for Gut-Behrami — and that's a big if — it's possible that she could win three discipline titles plus the overall crown, a feat last achieved on the women's tour by Shiffrin in 2019.
As remarkable as that would be, however, Gut-Behrami isn't the only Swiss star who can win four crystal globes this season.
All alone at the top, Odermatt chases ghosts of the past
Leading the overall, downhill, super-G and giant slalom standings, Marco Odermatt (SUI) is on track to become the first man since Hermann Maier (AUT) in 2001 to win four globes in a single season.
Three of those titles — overall, super-G and giant slalom — seem to be a foregone conclusion provided Odermatt stays healthy, leaving only downhill in doubt for the 26-year-old superstar.
Chasing his first downhill globe, Odermatt leads Cyprien Sarrazin (FRA) by just six points with two races left, after the epic battles between the two in Wengen and Kitzbuehel in January created some of the biggest highlights of the season.
If Odermatt holds off Sarrazin and retains his other leads, he would join Maier (2000, 2001), Pirmin Zurbriggen (SUI, 1987) and Jean-Claude Killy (FRA, 1967) as the only men to win four crystal globes in a single season.
Beyond trophies, Odermatt is also bidding to eclipse the men's record of 2,042 points in a season that he set last year.
Having claimed 1,406 points from 17 races so far this season at an average of 82.7 points per race, he only needs to earn 63.7 points per race from the remaining 10 contests in his three disciplines to break his own record.
While Odermatt keeps inserting himself into the history books, one name still appears to be untouchable: Tina Maze (SLO). Even if Odermatt wins his remaining 10 races he will fall eight points short of Maze's 2013 record of 2,414 points in a season across women's and men's Alpine skiing — unless he straps on the slalom skis to try to earn a few additional points.
Away from the Odermatt show, Manuel Feller (AUT) is in the box seat to win the slalom title, leading Linus Strasser (GER) by 164 points in what has been the best season of the enigmatic Austrian's career.
Feller has won three of the seven slalom races this season, but he has been slightly off the pace recently, with no podiums in his last three attempts after consecutive victories in early January.
Strasser and unlikely Chamonix winner Daniel Yule (SUI) have taken advantage of Feller's dip in form to move up in the standings, and with five races still remaining, we could still be in for a grandstand finish.
Comeback starts now for absent stars
While Shiffrin is expected return to the tour shortly to make a push for the overall title, several other stars are already looking ahead to next year after being ruled out for the rest of this season through injury.
Those athletes include Goggia (tibia), Vlhova (knee), Corinne Suter (SUI, knee) and Valerie Grenier (CAN, knee and shoulder) on the women's side, as well as men's stars Marco Schwarz (AUT, knee), Alexis Pinturault (FRA, knee) and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (NOR, calf and shoulder).
Most of these skiers have posted updates and images from their rehabilitation on social media, with their collective optimism epitomised by Schwarz's use of the hashtag #comebackstartsnow on Instagram.
French star Pinturault, who suffered his injury in Wengen just days after his wife Romane gave birth to their first child, said he was "slowly feeling better" with the help of what he called "the best pain killer": his brand new baby daughter Olympe.
Olympic downhill champion Suter, meanwhile, posted two snail emojis on Instagram to indicate a truism not often heard in Alpine skiing circles, but one that perfectly applies to the journey facing these athletes on the comeback trail: slow and steady wins the race.
