Hotly anticipated women’s slalom season kicks off with a reindeer battle royale
Nov 09, 2023·Alpine Skiing
The new women’s Audi FIS Ski World Cup slalom season has it all. The greatest slalom skier of all time: check. A fired-up great threatening a return to top form: tick. A host of highly motivated established stars: certainly. A shower of thrillingly talented youngsters ready to leap up a level: without doubt.
It is no wonder fans cannot wait, and what a setting it will be when the action gets under way in Finnish Lapland on Saturday, 11 November at 10:00 CET.
Vlhova to challenge Shiffrin once more?
It will shock no one in the world of sport to hear that Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) will start the first slalom race of the weekend double-header in Levi as the firm favourite. The most successful World Cup slalom skier of all time was not only in imperious form in her favoured discipline last season – winning six of 11 races and finishing on the podium a further four times – she also has a superb record in Lapland.
But as far the second point goes, the 28-year-old superstar is not alone.
Shiffrin may be able to point to six wins in Levi, including the double last year, but Petra Vlhova’s (SVK) resort form is almost as stunning. The reigning Olympic slalom champion has triumphed five times and recorded a further four podium places.
Despite a series of relatively low-key performances, the Slovakian also finished last season with a bang, relegating Shiffrin to third during an emotional World Cup Finals victory in Soldeu (AND). With another third place in the season-opening giant slalom race in Sölden (AUT) at the end of last month – a race in which Shiffrin finished sixth – Vlhova looks like she may well have rediscovered the mojo that drove her to the overall title in 2021.
With the winners in Levi famously becoming the owners of a local reindeer, has Vlhova already been amusingly upping the ante by posting the below, as she seeks to equal or even surpass Shiffrin’s herd?
First-timers hungry for more
It would be wrong to say 2022/23 was a breakthrough season for two such established and consistently excellent slalom skiers as Wendy Holdener (SUI) and Anna Swenn Larsson (SWE). But both did burst through a barrier that must have long been bothering them.
After a record 30 podium places, Holdener finally grabbed a World Cup slalom win in November last year. Remarkably, 12 years after her first top-tier appearance, Swenn Larsson joined her on the top step of the Killington slalom podium for her own maiden victory.
Intriguingly, both had finished second to Shiffrin in Levi last season.
Holdener in particular went from strength to strength. A second slalom win came just a few weeks later and, allied to enduring consistency, she finished the season second in the standings – behind only Shiffrin.
It also helps that the double Olympic slalom medal winner clearly loves Levi…
Lena Duerr (GER) and Laurence St-Germain (CAN) are another duo for whom the new season cannot start quickly enough. Both recorded major career-first slalom victories earlier this year. For Duerr a maiden triumph came in the World Cup slalom in Spindleruv Mlyn (CZE) in January. While that was not entirely unexpected for the well-regarded German, a month later there were shocked expressions all around when St-Germain produced the performance of a lifetime to claim World Championship gold, ahead of Shiffrin.
The smiles have no doubt barely faded for the Canadian. But having followed up that gold with her best-ever World Cup finish – fifth in Are (SWE) in March – she is now one to watch.
Young guns ready to fire
Hanna Aronsson Elfman (SWE) joins St-Germain on that list. Just 20 years old, the three-time junior world champion drew comparisons with the great Anja Paerson (SWE) after finishing fourth in Sestriere (ITA) last season. A training injury has ruled her out of Levi, but she is back on skis and targeting a swift return.
Despite being a year younger than the Swede, Emma Aicher (GER) already has two major team parallel medals to her name (Olympic silver and world championship bronze). A first World Cup top-10 in Flachau (AUT) would have no doubt convinced the teenager she is ready to challenge.
Add on 25-year-old Leona Popovic (CRO) – second behind Vlhova at last season’s World Cup Finals – plus the improving Norwegian pair, Thea Louise Stjernesund and Mina Fuerst Holtmann and it is no wonder excitement levels are sky high for 2023/24.
