Alpine Skiing 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

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Saturday's Alpine World Cup races cancelled

 

A winter storm continued to wreak havoc on the Audi FIS Alpine World Cup weekend as both the men’s and ladies’ races on Saturday had to be cancelled.

 

The ladies’ were due to have both a downhill training and downhill race today in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee (AUT) but due to poor weather conditions and heavy snowfall both had to be cancelled. The schedule for tomorrow has been decided and it will give the downhill another try, with the training run scheduled for 9:30 and the downhill race beginning at 12:15 CET.

 

On the men’s side, the heavy snowfall in Wengen (SUI) forced the cancellation of the Lauberhorn downhill race today. After nearly a half meter covered the course, there was no chance to clear the track with the snow forecast to continue to be heavy throughout the day. The men will stay with their original programme tomorrow with a slalom schedule for 10:30 first run and 13:30 second run.

 

FIS will keep you posted should there be any additional programme changes.

[dareza 911]

Ilka

 

Vonn

[dareza 911]

yeeeeeeeees!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Lara

[dareza 911]

woohoo Weirather

[dareza 911]

what was this wow! Scheyer

[dareza 911]

Scheyer is from Austrian B team!

Edited January 15, 2017 by dareza

[dareza 911]

and now Wiles

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Surprise Austrian Scheyer tops Altenmarkt-Zauchensee podium

 

A wild week of weather in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee, Austria, finally gave way for the ladies' World Cup tour on Sunday as the speed athletes were able to hold both a downhill training run and race in the same day. And to the delight of the local crowd, a relative newcomer to the circuit – and Austrian – skied away with the victory from bib 25 after posting the second-fastest training run earlier in the day. 

 

Christine Scheyer had only ever stood on a European Cup podium twice and competed in a total of three World Cup downhill races prior to the day. But she had scored in all three, with a best result of ninth in Val d'Isere, and she knew she had the potential to be somewhat fast, at least within the top 10. 

 

"No, not that fast," she replied when asked if she knew she had winning speed. "I was fast in training, but this is amazing. ... It's great to be proud. And if an Austrian wins, I think it's the best that can happen." 

 

Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein was holding down the leader box when Scheyer overtook her, but she was still thrilled to finish the day in second place.

 

"It was amazing because at the start, I knew that Lara was leading and I was like, ‘Well, this could be a revival of the Junior World Champs where I won seven hundredths in front of her.'  So I was trying to believe that I could win," Weirather said. "I knew it was going to be tricky just because the light changes and also [Scheyer] was so fast in training that I knew that she was going to be a tough one. And she did really well, so that's fine. I haven't been on the [downhill] podium in almost two years, so it still feels great." 

 

Scheyer was joined on the podium in third by another first-timer, Jacqueline "Jackie" Wiles of the U.S. Ski Team, whose previous best downhill result was 15th and super-G 10th. Wiles made her World Cup debut in 2013 and has been working toward a career result over the past few seasons. 

 

“You dream of it. But for it to actually happen, you know, it’s unreal,” she said of her podium finish. “After a tough start to the season – of so many expectations falling flat – I really needed this, and it couldn’t have come at a better time."

 

Two top-10 ranked athletes heading into the day suffered season-ending injuries during the training run and were long-lined via helicopter off the slope. Nadia Fanchini of Italy sustained a fracture to her right humerus and also transverse process fractures in the lumbar vertebrae. She will undergo surgery in Italy and will miss the rest of the season.

 

Edit Miklos of Hungary also crashed during the training run and sustained a severe right knee injury including unspecified ligament ruptures and a patella injury. She also sustained a less serious injury to her left knee.

 

One athlete quite familiar with the dangers of downhill who returned to racing on Sunday was a bit rattled by the training run crashes.

 

Lindsey Vonn skied with little training but still managed a top-15 result in 13th as she made her comeback to the World Cup. 

 

"It was really fun. It was definitely a little bit nerve-wracking because of the crashes first run. And I just skied solid in the training run, but there was a big time difference. You know, the track got considerably faster from my training run to the race. So it was hard to kind of find the timing. I felt like I wasn’t quite on my game. But otherwise, I attacked. I was confident in the start, just missed the timing in a couple turns and just have to watch some video. But I know my skiing, I know what I’m capable of, I know what mistakes I made, so all-in-all, it was a very positive first race." 

 

Downhill standings leader Ilka Stuhec finished fifth, just 0.03 seconds behind Lara Gut in fourth. 

 

 

Full Results Here

 

Christine Scheyer

 

 

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Kristoffersen wins two in a row in Wengen

 

Heavy snowfall prevented the organisers from holding the traditional Lauberhorn Downhill on Saturday, but today the weather was more clement and allowed a fantastic show on the original Wengen slalom hill.

 

After ripping the first run, Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen was able to hold on to his lead and won his 13th career slalom win. The slalom prince already took the win last year in Wengen, but due to lack of snow, the course was set on the downhill track, which has a complete different profile.

 

In 4th position after the first run, +0.56 behind, Marcel Hirscher had to push hard in the second run and managed to grab 2nd place, +0.15 off Kristoffersen’s pace.

 

Germany’s Felix Neureuther finished 3rd and his constant performances allowed him to close the gap that separated him from to discipline standings podium, as he is now little over 100 behind Manfred Moelgg, who finished 8th today.

 

Before this race in Wengen, Kristoffersen and Hirscher were tied in the discipline standings. Mid season, the Norwegian is 20 points ahead of the Austrian. With Kitzbuehel, Schladming, Stockholm and Aspen coming up, the battle at the top of the standings promises to be exciting.

 

The slalom marks the end of the race week-end in Wengen, Switzerland. The men’s World Cup Tour now moves to Kitzbuehel, where a super-g, a downhill and a slalom will be held on the mythic Streif and Ganslernhang courses.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

Henrik Kristoffersen 1st Run

 

Henrik Kristoffersen 2nd Run

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Petra Vlhová finally back in Slovakia