‘Three women over 30…that's really cool’: golden GS generation still ones to beat in Sölden
Oct 21, 2024·Alpine Skiing)
The 22-year-old Alice Robinson (NZL) perfectly sums up the challenge facing the next generation of Alpine skiing stars as they look to challenge the established order when the women’s giant slalom kicks off the new Audi FIS World Cup season in Sölden, Austria on Saturday.
Last season the New Zealander stormed back to the sort of form that landed her three GS titles as a teenager. But come springtime she was still left looking up at Sara Hector, 32, Federica Brignone, 34, and 33-year-old Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) in the Crystal Globe standings.
“Pretty amazing to have them in their early 30s still doing so well,” Robinson acknowledged. “It goes to show the complexities of the sport and how they can use all the experience and all the knowledge that they’ve learned over all these years and it puts them in the position where they are the best.”
Best getting better and better
Gut-Behrami and Brignone shared eight World Cup GS wins equally between them last season, with the Swiss skier snatching the Globe by just 21 points. Both are gearing up for more of the same, starting in Sölden.
“Us two, we have been good many, many years,” Brignone said. “Our generation was really strong since we were young. Since we entered the World Cup we did big fights and that’s why we are still really good.”
Twelve months ago Brignone was leading after run one in Sölden before Gut-Behrami produced a masterful second effort to claim victory by a tiny 0.02-second margin.
The Italian has plans to reverse the order on the Rettenbach Glacier this time around.
“Until now I was able to get better and give myself something more in terms of results and performances (each season),” said Brignone, who registered her best ever points total in 2023/24 (1581), became the first woman to win a GS aged 33 and extended her record as Italy’s most successful female World Cup skier (27 wins).
“Every year I think I am getting better. I work on the details.”
Gut-Behrami chasing history
A fourth season-opening win would push Gut-Behrami past Tina Maze (SLO) as Sölden’s most successful female skier. Hector, the reigning Olympic GS champion, is loving being part of the fight with such contemporaries.
“Three women over 30, I think that is really cool,” said the Swede who won in Jasna in January.
“I think some races (last season) I probably skied the best I ever skied and probably Lara and Federica the same. As long as you keep fit, it’s really possible to keep developing.”
As always coping with the steep pitch – 68% at it’s most fearsome – and taking that speed into the flat section will be key to victory in the Austrian Alps. Gut-Behrami and Brignone clearly know just how to do that. When you add on the presence of the great Mikaela Shiffrin, 29, you can see why the young guns do not start as favourites – even if Petra Vlhova (three podiums in her past three Sölden races) is not yet fit enough to join her long-time rival.
Shiffrin raring to race
A win and four podium places in the seven GS races Shiffrin competed in last season before injuring her left knee represents a great set of results in most people’s book. But the fit-again Shiffrin has far better numbers to lean on as she contemplates a third Sölden crown.
In 2022/23 the USA skier won an extraordinary seven out of 10 GS races. With positive noises coming out of her camp, do not bet against her kick-starting the countdown to her 100th World Cup win in the best possible style by claiming title No.98.
Youngsters preparing to fight
Not that Robinson – and no doubt other likely contenders including the promising Thea Louise Stjernesund (NOR) and Zrinka Ljutic (CRO) – are planning on letting the old guard have it all their own way. Especially in a season where the 2025 World Championships in Saalbach (4-16 February) looms so large.
“I think I have just matured a lot and started to figure out some pieces of the puzzle that needed to be come together,” Robinson said.
“My aims for the season is to be really competitive, fighting for the wins and the podium in giant slalom and then also bringing up my super G to a high level as well. With World Champs thrown in there as well, getting a medal there would be unbelievable.”
FACTS & FIGURES
This will be the 31st FIS World Cup in Sölden
The course on the Rettenbach Glacier starts at an altitude of 3,038m, has a steepest gradient of 68% and sees skiers reach speeds of 65-80kmph
A win would make Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI) the most successful female skier in Sölden - currently, she is tied with Tina Maze (SLO) on three wins each
Gut-Behrami beat Federica Brignone into second place by 0.02 seconds in Sölden in 2023 en-route to claiming her first GS Crystal Globe
Federica Brignone (ITA) won the final two GS races of the 2023/24 season
Brignone has finished second in three of her past five races in Sölden, having won the title in 2015
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) has two Sölden wins to her name, in 2014 and 2021
Shiffrin currently has 22 GS World Cup titles and 97 across all disciplines
Sara Hector (SWE) recorded a win (her first for two years) and three further podiums places in GS last season
Alice Robinson (NZL) finished second four times in GS World Cups last season, including missing out by just 0.01 seconds in Soldeu, (AND)
Robinson’s first World Cup title came in Sölden in 2019 aged 17
