[OlympicsFan 783]

Great result for Emma Aicher, top 15 in giant slalom and the 4th best second run. She could realistically become a podium contender in all disciplines. Colturi on the other hand has been disappointing this season, i thought that she would regularly fight for the top 10. Maybe a dip like that is normal at her age, hopefully she just needs a bit more time.

[OlympicsFan 783]

They should switch to indoor races and move them to Saudi Arabia/Qatar.

[OlympicsFan 783]

Now we have seen it all. I guess Greece winning a medal is not that crazy, considering that Croatia and Slovakia have won medals before. Even Belgium, GB and Albania have good athletes nowadays. I wonder why Guinness doesn't compete for the US? The american men are really weak right now, so he easily could have made their team.

[OlympicsFan 783]

I think so far Austria and France can't really be happy. Austria with one silver medal and two bronze medals in olympic events, France with only one bronze (Same as Germany). Also Sweden without any medals. USA also used to be more competitive, at the moment Shiffrin is keeping them alive. Apart from the historic overperformance by Canada (3 different individual medalists, same as Germany/Sweden/USA/France combined) the norwegian women's team is the biggest overperformer for me. I never thought that Norway would have two individual medalists on the women's side. I think in the future we will have a big four (Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Norway) and then the rest.

[OlympicsFan 783]

Once in a millenium performance by Canada. Even in my wildest dreams i never would have imagined them winning more than 1 medal (At best). 4 medals and 2 of them in gold is absolutely mindblowing. I could see Crawford regularly winning medals in the future, but the other 3 medals seem like complete flukes.

[OlympicsFan 783]

2 hours ago, Federer91 said:

Not really surprised, it's more sad and pathetic how even at the World Championships, they can't make a Super-G, that's not barely over a minute long. What, France doesn't have mountains anymore?.....

Everyone knows that Pinturault can't compete in a real Super-G, so you could say that french officials weren't sad about this race turning into a joke.

[OlympicsFan 783]

Almost historic result for the german team. Can't even remember the last time Germany had 3 women in the top 10. Especially promising result for Emma Aicher (born in 2003), now she finished top 15 in both slalom and downhill this season already. There can't be many other women who are currently able to do that (probably only Gisin and Shiffrin).

[OlympicsFan 783]

On 11/26/2022 at 7:06 PM, Monzanator said:

Lara Colturi will score her maiden WC points

I think she had the 4th fastest second run, only 0.03 seconds behind 3rd. If she has a natural progression for a girl her age and becomes more stable, then she might make the podium at some point this season.

[OlympicsFan 783]

After Aicher missed the second run of all three slaloms so far, i thought that german coaches "destroyed" her, but now it all makes sense. Obviously they try to turn her into a second Rebensburg. Not sure if i like this strategy (given that the speed events are more competitive and injury prone and that Aicher seemed more like a natural slalom/giant slalom talent), but in the end athletes like Gut/Weirather/Rebensburg/Fenninger can win medals in three different events (super g, downhill, giant slalom), while athletes like Hector/Vlhova/Holdener can win medals in only two different events (slalom, giant slalom). I had the hope that she could be competitive in all four events, but i guess the german coaches gave up on that idea. I am interested what she can do in her first giant slalom this season. If she doesn't have the level to compete for the top 20, then the decision to shift away from slalom will look like a mistake, at least short term.

[OlympicsFan 783]

This was an amazing for Germany:

- 4th best nation overall (behind Austria, Italy and Switzerland)

- No nation had more different (individual) medalists

- Most individual medals since 1994

- First time since 1994 that two different men won individual medals

- Emma Aicher became the first woman since 1995 that won medals in both the downhill and slalom

 

On the men's side Steen Olsen and Franzoni (both born 2001) were the clear standouts, Ax Swartz (born 2004) was also super impressive. On the women's side Aicher (born 2003) was the biggest star, followed by Egger (born 2001) and Ljutic (born 2004). France, Slovenia and to some degree Norway (great men's team, but only one individual medalist and not too convincing on the women's side) were rather disappointing in my opinion.

[OlympicsFan 783]

Promising start for Germany, only the 2nd time in the history of junior worlds (after 1988) that Germany won a medal in both downhill races. Especially promising since Aicher on the women's side will be able to compete 2 more years at junior worlds while Vogt on the men's side will be able to compete one more year at junior worlds.

Other german women since 2000 who won a downhill medal at junior worlds: Maria Höfl-Riesch, Viktoria Rebensburg, Kira Weidle (all of them went on to make downhill world cup podiums)

[OlympicsFan 783]

2 minutes ago, vinipereira said:

Obviously I'm not familiar with the sport, but that seems so stupid. So theoretically a team can have 2 DNF and still win?

I think you can have 4 DNF and still win.

[OlympicsFan 783]

A bit of a mess up by IOC to first tell everyone that only athletes who actually raced will get medals, just to go back on that shortly before the race (according to german TV). Germany didn't want to take any chances, so they used their replacement (Rauchfuss) instead of Strasser in the final.

[OlympicsFan 783]

Happy that Dürr and Straßer won a medal after all, but sad that Aicher will also get a medal. A bit tragic that Dürr again missed gold by 0.19 seconds as she already did in the slalom. Perfect end to the olympics for Austria, they simply couldn't do no wrong here. One of their best ever olympics with such a mediocre team (especially on the women's side) shows how incredibly lucky they were here. They easily won 6 or 7 more medals than they deserved.

[OlympicsFan 783]

7 minutes ago, NearPup said:

No, it's fastest men's and women's.

 

This event is more or less a two person show when courses are this uneven.

Yes, this is why FIS should change the rules. Only have one man and one woman per nation and have all athletes race on both courses. Would also help nations like Slovenia or Sweden who don't quite have the depth.

[OlympicsFan 783]

4 minutes ago, heywoodu said:

That was an excellent attempt by Schmid! But just shy.

 

And Strolz does it, three golds in three events, and today gold after losing every single one of his races  

?

[OlympicsFan 783]

I am happy that Germany made the semifinal, but if Switzerland would have competed with their best team they probably would have won.

On paper it should be gold for Austria, silver for USA and bronze for Germany. Too bad that Dürr will race against Shiffrin, would have been better for her to face Moltzan.

[OlympicsFan 783]

29 minutes ago, hckošice said:

Would not be fair to Austria. They have a bye and are already in Quarterfinal, so they should have the gold, all others tied silver

No, objectively Germany would deserve it the most. No other nation had more 4th places here.

[OlympicsFan 783]

2 hours ago, dcro said:

It's debatable whether this event deserves a place at the Olympics. IMO, it definitely does not deserve to be scheduled for the final, primetime weekend. That one must belong to slalom.

Still it is infinitely more deserving to be part of the olympic program than a nonsense event like mixed curling. At least it isn't the same as the other events just with one man and one woman. Also i think than most people would rather watch the team event than the combined.

[OlympicsFan 783]

Extremely unlucky draw for the german team. Sweden is probably a top 5 team, can't believe that they are only seeded 10th. I think Germany could have beaten every team except Switzerland/Austria.

 

Quarterfinals:

Austria vs. Slovenia/Canada

France/Czech Republic vs. Norway/Poland

Italy/Russia vs. Slovakia/USA

Germany/Sweden vs. Switzerland/China

 

Semifinals should be:

Austria vs. France/Norway

Italys vs. Switzerland

 

Can't believe what an easy draw Austria has. Germany probably would have made the final with a draw like that. The austrians should be ashamed if they don't win at least silver.

 

[OlympicsFan 783]

6 minutes ago, justony said:

Actually it is quite the opposite, I am worried that some sports will extinguish, we only have representatives in 6 sports in Beijing, which is the least after Lillehammer 1994, and even here Nordic Combined almost does not exist, and in other sports we depend almost exclusively on individuals, who are training outside of national program.

 

Ski jumping is the only bright example, other than that we could well end up without a medal or with 1 or 2 in Cortina in four years time.

I agree, you aren't world class in any snowboarding events anymore (you used to be good in men's halfpipe) and women's cross-country skiing used to be better too. This olympics was obviously a huge fluke and 4 medals would have been a realistic expectation for Slovenia. On the other hand you could become really good in biathlon (and maybe nordic combined), which would be a complete gamechanger. If you keep your strength in ski jumping and become good in biathlon, you could regularly go for 10+ medals.

[OlympicsFan 783]

2 hours ago, George_D said:

alpine countries (switzerland, austria) are the strongest in alpine skiing

Not that surprising ...

Interestingly Austria won the medal table at 3 of the 5 last olympics and the two other times the medal table was won by Croatia and Germany of all countries ...

[OlympicsFan 783]

3 hours ago, NearPup said:

In that case we might as well get rid of the big globe too.

I don't really see the connection. Crystal globe is just adding up points, it seems pretty fair as long as there is the same amount of races in every discipline while the combined always has favored slalom specialists. Someone who wins 8 out of 10 slaloms has a case to be considered a better athlete than someone who won 6 out of 10 downhills (and to get some kind of recognition for being the best athlete of the season).

 

You could say that the alpine combined, where the best slalom skiers are usually at the top, is a bit like nordic combined where the best cross-country skiers usually always end up at the top. The difference is that noone is specializing in the alpine combined, so basically you are just giving an extra medal chance to athletes who are already medal contenders in the downhill or the slalom. In the nordic combined no ski jumpers/cross-country skiers are competitive. If the alpine combined would be designed in a way that makes it (close to) impossible for slalom/downhill specialists to win medals, then it would make sense to keep it, but i don't see how you could do it. In this century (5 olympics) 60 % of the medalists in the alpine combined won a medal in one of the other events as well. Only 1/6 of the medalists in the combined didn't finish at least top 8 in an other event at the same olympics.

[OlympicsFan 783]

Kind of crazy that Shiffrin has "only" one olympic medal in slalom so far and it came at her first olympics when she was still 18 ...

Based on her world cup dominance she should (have) end(ed) her career with at least 3 golds in slalom. Kind of reminds me of Viktoria Rebensburg (although she obviously never was this dominant) who won her only olympic gold in giant slalom at her first olympics. At this point you probably wouldn't even bet on Shiffrin winning a medal in 2026. Would be kind of crazy if Shiffrin would end her career with less olympic slalom medals than Wendy Holdener.

 

Edit: The gaps today were really "interesting". Between Nullmeyer in 22nd and Della Mea in 30th there were 2.57 seconds and between Vlhova in 1st and Nullmeyer in 22nd there were "only" 2.98 seconds.

[OlympicsFan 783]

3 hours ago, OlympicsFan said:

We all know how the second run will end: Gold for Sweden/Slovenia (not sure about the other medalist, maybe Austria, but certainly not Germany)

I am not sure whether i prefer Dürr crashing or just being too slow for a medal ...

Luckily i didn't watch the race, but now i can say that i would have preferred Dürr to miss a gate. Leading at the last intermediate and then not winning any medal ... this has to break you. I would be shocked if she wouldn't end her career after this season. At least Germany already has a replacement in Emma Aicher (who probably should have finished top 10 today if she wouldn't have become too cautious half way through the second run). Vlhova certainly was the most deserving champion, but i still would have liked to see her without a medal.