Garmisch ends in Tinas' favor

The long weekend of speed races that took place in Garmisch P.K. was full of surprises and thrill, records which got broken and bettered, but also showed some of the darkest sides of sport, when Alice McKennis, the young American specialist of speed races, crashed suffering a severe injure at her tibia and later the same day, Tina Maze recived some life threatening which forced her to be escorted to the slopes for the last day.

Weirather wins her maiden race

Friday was the day the first Superg took place, it was the replacement of the one cancelled in Val D'Isere and the eyes of the fans were all set on Maze and Mancuso, as the two were very close before this race battling for the cristal globe for the discipline, but the this time, no-one of the two took the win.
The young girl from Liechtenstein, who's known not only for her famous parents, but also for the great talent and the incredible high number of severe injuries she suffered, started with a very early number, but very motivated by the knowledge of her good feeling with the slope, since last year she scored here one of the two podiums in the discipline she achieved so far. Tina, despite finishing 2nd in the final downhill ranking last year, had never won a race in WC and after a promising start in Lake Louise this year, a minor injury relegated her to some minor placements far from the podium. Today it was different though and she let all the bad thoughts behind the very moment she opened the starting gate, she pushed hard and tried to cut the lines and suceeded in doing so. Tina was almost flawless and no-one later in the race could better her time, giving finally the first victory in world cup to her.
Podium got completed by the two rivals for the cristal globe and to add more suspence to the chase of the cup, Julia Mancuso and Tina Maze scored exactly the same time to finish 2nd.
4th came Austrian Anna Fenninger just ahead of compatriot Nicole Hosp (at the best placement in two years) and in-form Spanish Ruiz-Castillo.

Maze wins and breaks 2000 points

"The most amazing thing from today it was that I won a Downhill. This season I had several good runs, but I never found the victory. My first win was lucky, but today I tried to win by skiing my best" Those were the words of Tina Maze after the incredible win scored in the Downhill of Saturday, with this victory Tina becomes the 3rd woman to ever win in all the disciplines within the same season (after Kronberger and Kostelic), not only, she broke the limit of 2000 points when 7 races are still left and goes just one point away from winning the Downhill cup too.
How could she win this? When the first girls came down Italian Merighetti was leading the race with a solid advantage, but right after her run American McKennis crashed in the final section with the horrible outcome of a severe injury that forced the helicopter to come and recue her. The interruption changed the conditions of the snow which became a lot faster and so the race suddenly changed in its lead.
Lara Gut scored a terrific run and looked on her way for a great result, but not longly after it was Maze's time to test the slope. Tina stayed close to the swiss already in the gliding early section which is always her weak-spot. After that it was just a pure show of class: the Slovene painted incredible lines and attacked the slope with the temper that characterizes her best days. She finished with 74 hundreds over Lara and you could know she was safe for another podium, but she wanted more, she wanted that win.

Not even the home favourite Maria Riesch could do better trajectories than Maze and despite having a small edge on her in the gliding sections, the German couldn't snatch a win on home soil and prevent Maze from taking everything from this win. The slope turned to get faster with the time passing though and Riesch couldn't hold her 2nd place as Laurenne Ross, another youngster of the American Team, made even Tina fear for the worst, but in the end closed behind the World Cup leader, still ahead of the German and by this, scoring her best result in WC.

Fenninger wins first Superg 

Another day, another superg, same rivalry from two days before. But today in Garmisch the setting was quite different and a lot more challenging, mostly because a lot of gates where "blind", hidden behind really tricky waves.

During the night a terrible news hit the German town as Tina Maze recived death threatens from some unknown man and police patroled her hotel and then escorted her to the lifts in the morning.
The new setting seem to suit again the abilities of Tina Weirather as she took the lead and didn't leave it until the top group was to start. Julia Mancuso, this time though, was faster than Tina and made some unbelievable turns up in the steep part to take the lead of the race.
Immediatly after her run it was Maze's time and Tina looked eager for another win, but a bad mistake on one of those nasty waves cost her all the advantage she had over the American and in the end she couldn't make up for that and had to content herself to finish just behind her rival.

The race was far from being decided though, Maria Riesch wanted badly to take a win in her home race and she fought very hard in order to do so. A very smart attitude on the difficult passages and the usual great gliding in the flat sections secured her a good lead in the last intermediate and not even the impressive last leg of the American couldn't make her lose all the advantage.
Riesch's leadership wasn't meant to last and the cheerful screaming of the German crowd was to be silenced soon as Austrian Anna Fenninger exploited her great talent of GS specialist in the big turns of the middle section and this way she launched the final flat at an incredible speed, worth of the best time there and even on the final.
Germany could soon forget the missed-win from Riesch as Veronique Hronek skied some great sections and was leading for half of the race and despite the mistake where many of the racers went out, she could still finish 5th, her best result in World Cup.

Ruiz-Castillo grabs first career victory, Innerhofer wins again in Garmisch

It's never easy to compete at the best of your mental attitude just one week from the ending of the most important even of the season, but that's ski WC and girls and guys had to be ready for their "routine" to start again as after the medals of the World Championships, it was time to battle for the crystal globes once again.

Sun shines for Carolina in Meribel

A very beautiful day, sunny and very cold temperature were the perfect scenario for the comeback of World Cup to the snows of Meribel after 9 years of absence. The slope was very well prepared and the course funny despite being not very challenging.
The early numbers didn't seem to be able to challenge the big names who were to come and so it was until French specialist of speed Marie Marchand-Arvier finished her run with an impressive time and an enormous lead over all the other girls at the moment (she was bib 9). If in the top part where gliding was the main tool to exploit the gaps where always very small, no-one seemed to be able to challenge the time of the French girl from the middle section to the very end, where a perfectly done last turn gave her a terrific speed to finish the race.
All the athletes were losing little by little enough to make their time worse than Marie's and even the first girls in the top group weren't able to challenge her.

It seemed that the first win in world cup for Marchand-Arvier was set to happen, but Maria Riesch had other ideas in her mind: she started pretty slow and among the girls in the top group she got the worst time in the early sections, but with very smooth moves she painted great lines in the middle steep part and made up all her gap and took a solid lead over Marie and in the end crossed the line just one hundred ahead of her.
Best time in the first training Tina Maze as usual suffered the gliding section on top, but bettered the turns of Riesch to try recovering her disadvantage but in the end it wasn't enough as those 8 hundreds relegated her to the temporary 3rd place.
Once again race seemed to be over with the girls after the first group being unable to come close to the times of the podium, but bib n°28, Spanish veteran Carolina Ruiz-Castillo immediately made the crowd well-aware that it wasn't over, not yet: in the first two sections she was the fastest and her lead was impressive, fast and accurate Caroline drew great lines in the turns of the middle section and launched the final section with a great speed which was worth of the best time.

For the Spanish it was the first victory in World Cup, the second podium after the 2nd place in GS in Sestriere 13 years ago. Carolina's win doesn't come as a surprise though as she was very close to the podium few weeks ago in Cortina (4th) and had scored great times in the training. Her joy at the finish area was a great moment for all the fans of skiing as they (and also many other girls of the tour) know the amazing person she is and how much deserved this victory was.
Quite immediately after another girl who had made her name big in the trainings got an impressive result as Regina Sterz finished 5th equalling her best result in World Cup.

Another Italian Victory in speed races

If we do not consider the world championships, this is the 4th downhill of the year where an Italian is jumping on the highest step of the podium after the win of Innerhofer in Beaver Creek and the back to back wins of Paris in Wengen and Kitz, Christof won the historical downhill of Garmisch P.K. even though this year, due to the big snowfall, it was held on a shorter track.
Slovenian "specialist" of the so called classic downhills, Slovenian Andrej Sporn, with bib number 2 scored a terrific time, by exploiting his gliding attitude in the very long flat section that followed the start. The Slovenian wasn't very lucky as the course was still "dirty" from some fresh snow, hence not as fast as it later would have been and most of all later a pale sun improved the visibility on the course. Nonetheless his time seemed unbreakable for a very long while and not even Downhill leader Dominik Paris could as he finished just a bunch of hundreds behind him (the two would finish 7th and 8th by the end).

First one to stop the Slovenian leadership was Austrian Hannes Reichelt, whose awesome first part was confirmed by a very solid choice of lines in the middle section and all that was worth of the temporary leadership. It didn't last long though, because immediately afterwards it was Innerhofer's moment and the Italian's love for the slope (where he won 3 medals at the world championships just 2 years ago) was enough of a good reason to believe he would have done well and so it was.
Despite a couple of mistakes that seemed they could ruin his time, Christof was amazing in the late section where he made almost all the advantage he had at the end over Reichelt.
The better visibility didn't prevent Svindal to fall in the traps of the waves of the middle section and those mistakes would cost him the podium as he finished 5th in end, right behind Reichelt. In any case, thanks to this placement he could overtake Paris in the leadership of the discipline.
Two Austrians completed the podium behind Innerhofer as Klaus Kroell made a very similar race to the one of the Italian but in the end a bunch of hundreds set him behind him and later (with bib 30)  Georg Streitberger scored his first podium in WC in downhill, after the 4 he scored in superg.
Very good surprises came from outside the top 30 as German youngester Josef Ferstl made his first top 10 result (9th) with bib 39, just ahead of Johannes Kroell (bib 35), while French guy Muzaton finished 13th with bib 50!

Mikaela makes it 3

“You are a dancing queen, young and free, only seventeen” sang the Abba many years ago, but queen tonight was a slalom queen as the 17 years old American Mikaela Shiffrin conquered her 3^rd win in a row by capturing the victory in front of the amazing crowd of Flachau.

The first run, any way, had closed under the sign of a rescue for the German team as on the lead there was Maria Riesch, who after the several disappointments of the last events seemed to have found back her security and the time immediately followed. The advantage of the German start was of over half a second on slalom leader Shiffrin and close to the second to Christina Geiger, surprisingly 3^rd.

As a confirmation of her great form this season Frida Hansdotter scored a 4^th placement, while a good news came to Tanja Poutiainen, 5^th after the latest disappointing results. Who surely wasn’t happy with her run was Tina Maze, only 8^th, but the Slovene looked pretty tired and somehow worn out and she’s probably not to blame for that, after all she’s racing in all disciplines and with a terrific outcome in each of them since the very first race of the season.

Among the surprises of the first run, surely one was to see Bernadette Schild placing herself as high as 7^th and another Austrian Thalmann 13^th. While with higher bibs Terwiel from Canada managed to hit her 2^nd top 30 finish as with number 45 got to the 21^st place, bib 50 Barbara Wirth got 28^th and bib 43 Michelle Gisin hit the 29^th.

The latter, sister of the excellent speed skier Dominique, was to be the main protagonist of the second run a couple of hours later. Michelle exploited the clean course and attacked from the very beginning the very complicate setting of the second run, managing to tame all the many figures and the waves of the slope. The result was almost a perfect run, whose value was to be proved by the number of girls that one after the other finished behind her and in the end by the fact that hers was the best time.

The raise in the ranking looked unstoppable as when the top 15 were to start, none had finished closer to her than Holdener and Loeseth, both still further than half a second away.  The leadership of the young Swiss wasn’t to last much longer though, as former world champion and Czech star Sarka Zahrobska by skiing a very solid performance in that second run, could snatch the lead, even if for few hundreds. After the famous delicate operation she had to undergo last summer, it was such a great joy to see her again smiling in the leader box and finally see her back into top 10 as she finished 8^th, right in from of Gisin.

Local favorite Carmen Tahlmann, after the very convincing first run, started the second very aggressive and looked on her way to a great time, but when less of half of the course was missing she knocked into a gate and fell.

A few important runs happened then one after the other, first Swede Swenn-Larsson took advantage of the setting done by her coach and took the lead hitting a very interesting time, which will eventually take her at the feet of the podium as she ended up being 4^th. Immediately after, Tina Maze, still looking far from bright as she usually was in slalom earlier in the season, could ski very composed and if she failed to overtake Larsson, she could take her contrail and finished 5^th, a placement worth of important points for the Overall WC.

Bernadette Schild, after the great first run, didn’t let that placement scare her and could defend it and improve it little as she finished 6^th and best Austrian in the race, as Kirchgasser, after having lost a pole in the early gates, went out.

First Poutiainen and then Hansdotter bettered Larsson’s time, with the former Swede taking a great lead with an outstanding last flat section.

Then, in just a few minutes lapse of time, all the dreams of the German team crashed against a cold reality, in which both Geiger and Riesch fell, giving a great disappointment to the many German fans who came to Austria to cheer for their girls. In the break between the two a true masterpiece was to happen though, as Mikaela Shiffrin, the amazingly talented American, despite a little wary start in which she lost almost all her advantage, shone brighter than the lights of the slope to ski one of the most amazing sections in this season, taking almost a second of advantage over Hansdotter, whose flat already seemed outstanding.

For the American this way came the third win in world cup and her winning streak remains open, while her leadership in the slalom cup looks more and safer.

Maze breaks podium record, Shiffrin amazing first time!

Rebensburg ends Maze's winning streak

Slovenian Tina Maze, after another amazing win last weekend in Courchevel, was called for another record to break. Her start of this season made the Slovene to win more races in the same season and we are not even halfway! But most of all, she was able to win all the first four Giant Slaloms, equalizing Karbon's record of few seasons ago.
Had she made it to five, she would have done something extraordinary, but the quality of the field in the discipline is one of the highest this season and the rivals were angry for a victory: one out of them was the most motivated, Viktoria Rebensburg, the GS Cup winner of the last seasons had finished second behind Maze in Saint Moritz for a bunch of hundreds and after the debacle in the French race wanted to prove herself back.
In last night's race the German already did something uncommon for the season, because she was the first one to finish ahead of the Slovene after the first run, but most of all she had done that in style, by setting a great advantage over her. Right after Tina, placed herself Austrian Anna Fenninger; the two had a good advantage over all the others, so that it seemed unlike to have big surprises regarding the final podium and so it was indeed as those 3 placed themself on top at the end of the race too.
The rather easy hill of Aare and the even easier course set for the 2nd run didn't let much space open for making the difference and so not many come-backs took place.
When the top 10 was to run down, French specialist Tessa Worley surely wanted to forget her rather pale first run and attacked the course with a better attitude and menaged to be fluid in the gliding parts around the middle. Tessa hit what was and eventually would be the best time for the run and that was worth a great jump up from her 8th place, but it was enough to make it to the podium as she finished 4th.
Austrian Kathrin Zettel, for the first time in the season looked rather fatigued and menaged to stay in the top 10 just for a bunch of hundreds finishing 10th indeed.
Anemone Marmottan came to Aare with a poor row of falls in the latest races, but a great first run had placed her as high as 6th, but sadly her streak was to continue as she fell in the early gates of the second run.
Swedish slalom specialist Frida Hansdotter came to her home races strong of her best result ever in GS just scored in Courchevel and she wanted to improve it on home soil. 5th after the first run, the Swede -who was 5th in the French race- didn't menage to better Worley's time, but finishing right after her secured herself another 5th place, when immediatly later Maria Riesch failed to stay in front of Tessa and Frida too.
Anna Fenninger knew she had some margin over the French leader, but she didn't want just to finish her run still on the lead, she wanted to provide an assault to the first place and so she had to invent a great run, even better than her first one. Her run was very impressive indeed, but didn't better Worley's partial time, so despite her big lead over her by the finish it was hard to believe she could make up all the gap with Rebensburg.
But before that it was Tina Maze's turn, the queen of this year's GS, the Slovene looked a little tired though and seemed to have a not so great feeling with the Swedish snow, so despite a great show of technique and lines, she wasn't as fast as usual and in the end, she couldn't stay ahead of the Austrian breaking her hopes for keeping the winning streak alive even before the last skier had run down.

It was all on Viktoria's hands or better on her skis as she had a huge advantage to administrate, but she seemed not to be content with winning only, she wanted to give a sign that she is still the best one and so she attacked as if she had to make up a gap.
She looked unstoppable and even gained a bigger advantage after the first part, then suddenly a huge mistake slowed her down and her gap drastically reduced. Suddenly a safe victory seemed to be under question, even more when few gates from the end another big mistake happened to Rebensburg, but she reacted as the champion she is and despite it all she still finished with a big gap of 60 hundreds ahead of everybody else.

Shiffrin living a teenage dream

If the GS didn't give many emotions the slalom that followed the day after surely didn't lack of them. Even before its start a news shocked the whole world of skiing as Marlies Schild injured herself during a training in the morning and vague news give her out possibly for the whole season.
The race started with an unexpected fall from one of the favourites as Kathrin Zettel went out, then it was Maria Riesch's turn, but the German didn't shine in the Swedish night and in the end was just 7th at the end of the first run. Tina Maze then took the lead, with a very solid run and she kept for the whole time the first group was featured, but today it was the day of youngsters as many of them found their best results in the first run and eventually by the end.

First Mikaela Shiffrin started with a very aggressive attitude and by exploiting the lightheartedness of her 17 years, she skied as if it was effortless and in this way she could better Maze's time and jump on the leadership.
Her status didn't last much as hot-form Frida Hansdotter, after a terrific run, overtook the American in the leadership. Another Swede soon made her name big as Maria Pietilae-Holmner fought very hard and in the first intermediates stayed close to her team-mate, so much that she finished 3rd by the end of the run.
Another good news came, this time to the Canadian team, as last year's first time winner Erin Mielzynski, after many disappointing falls scored a very good run, placing herself on the 5th place, just behind Maze.
The great day of the Swedish team didn't end with the top names, and not even the fall of Wikstroem - who was on the way for a great time too- could make it go bad, as Nathalie Eklund was 9th.
In the second run Swiss Wendy Holdener scored the best run time, but it didn't give her much of a raise in the ranking since from 14th she finished 10th.
The young Swede Eklund didn't let the placement of the first run scare her and by showing another great display of technique she took the lead and climbed the ranking finishing as high as 6th, her best result so far in WC.

Erin Mielzynski had a lot of pressure on her shoulder because of the many falls, but this time she could stay strong and despite looking a little cautious at times she menaged to keep her position, 5th at the end and her second best result in world cup.
Tina Maze, only 4th in the first run knew she was just one podium away from the record of number of them before the new year, but most of all, she knew Maria Riesch had a pretty bad day and was almost sure to finish out of the top 10, so when she started she found back the fire she had in all the races she ruled so far and made a terrific display of her great weapons such as strneght and technic. An outstanding bottom part made her cross the finish line with a very big lead and in the mind of everyone the image of her first win in slalom for the year was already there.
If Maria Pietilae couldn't do much to stop the Slovene, Mikaela Shiffrin surely had something else on her mind, as when she started, she started to win. The American looked incredibly solid and despite the fighting attitude she barely ever fell backwards with a complete control of her skis. Before the last section she was very tight with Tina, who had the best bottom part up to that moment, but Mikaela topped that one too and finished with the best time in front of the world cup leader.
First run leader Frida Hansdotter then knew that if she wanted to achieve her first victory in world cup she had to outdo herself and she tried, she gave everything to stay in front of the young American, but a little too wary bottom part took that chance away, but as the big celebration while crossing the finish showed, she was very happy to be back on podium, even if again of the second place.

To double the joy of the moment, with this very first victory Mikaela jumps in front of Tina Maze in the slalom cup and snatched the leader bib from Maria Riesch.

Saint Moritz goes drama

Rivalries in sport are among the things that add thrill to events and it's quite well known that in women sports rivalry can become way more intense than the ones between men; if you consider an individual sport like skiing and you think of one of the most successful athlet ever like Lindsey Vonn, and one of the most fiercy girl on the circuite like Tina Maze, it was to be expected that the two big personalities would sooner or later clash, mostly in the moment when the latter calls into question the predominance of the former.

The eppisode happened after the 2nd day's SuperG, when the Slovene was leading when Vonn took the lead and apparently said "f*ck off Maze", the Slovenian team made a formal report, but the FIS turned it down confirming Lindsey version, which was "it was f*cking amazing". The two still look far from cool about that, but in all honesty it couldn't but add a spicy taste to that more and more interesting world cup.

Maze wins the super-combi ahead of Austrian duo

The first speed race in the old Europe was the SuperG valid for the Combi in Saint Moritz and a lot of interest was on Lindsey Vonn, who completely owned the speed events in Lake Louise and of course on Tina Maze, the overall ranking leader, called for a better display of her talent after the murky Canadian week end.
Because of the cloudy sky, the setting, inspite of being rather easy, had its major difficulty on the flat visibility, which didn't let the girls see all the waves which the Swiss slope is famous for.
Among the first racers no-one made such a run that could seem to bother the big names that would later follow, only German slalom specialist Lena Duerr hit a good time, mostly because she knew she could better her ranking in the slalom which would follow.

Compatriot Maria Riesch, many numbers later, scored a great time thanks to a superb late part, where she eventually would be the faster. Nontheless, Maria didn't finish the first run on the lead as home favourite Lara Gut was faster and so Tina Maze.
An Austrian trio made by Fenninger, Hosp and Zettel finished right behind Riesch, but ahead of Duerr, but the biggest surprise came from Lindsey Vonn, who didn't score the best time in the speed race, for the first time after a very long while.
The slalom looked pretty easy, nontheless the slalom specialists showed their skills on the track, so Marie-Michelle Gagnon came from the bottom of the ranking with a terrific run and same did Michaela Kirchgasser as they finished respectively 8th and 9th.
Lena Duerr was the first one to end the climbing of the Canadian, but then Kathrin Zettel, winner of the last slalom, scored the 2nd best run and snatched the lead. Against all odds her leadership lasted but few moments as team-mate Nicole Hosp found probably her best slalom run in a year and took it.

The raise of the Austrians looked unstoppable as one by one many possible contenders started to fall behind them in the ranking, names the like of Goergl and Mancuso couldn't do anything and then after no longer than a few gates Lindsey Vonn unexpectedly went out.
Everyone was expecting Riesch to battle hard or at least administrate her lead, since she was the winner of the first slalom of the year, but the German looked a bit too cautious and she eventually finished behind the Austrian duo.
2nd after the first run, Lara Gut tried her best, but the lack of training in the fast gates of Slalom took its toll and so Lara couldn't stop the Austrians, but her run was still very solid, enough to eventually finish 5th.
Superg leader and overall WC leader Tina Maze knew her biggest rival was out, but that didn't prevent her from skiing the best she knows, attacking the course and crashing everyone's time in the slalom run too, winning the whole.

Vonn still unbeaten in speed.

The superg that followed only 24 hours later was menomated of its top part because of the huge wind that was blowing early in the morning, but the setting done by Maze's trainer didn't make it much of a loss, as he could draw a very entertaining course, where the girls had to ski at their best to prove their values.
On such a technical setting it didn't come as a surprise to see German GS specialist Viktoria Rebensburg taking the lead early in the race, followed by Italian Specialist Elena Curtoni. The two led the race until the very best girls of the top group came down the slope and finished eventually both in the top 10.
One of the huge favourite after the SuperCombi of the day before was surely Lara Gut, but sadly for her she couldn't back up the result as a fall took her chances off from the day.
Tina Maze, bib 17, was the first one to better the German's time and she actually crashed it by being almost flawless in each section of the slope finishing more than 1 second ahead of everybody.

Maria Riesch first and Julia Mancuso then tried their best, but little seemed to be possible done to prevent Maze to win her first Superg in her carreer and finally enter the exclusive club of the ones to have won a race in each discipline. The German closed the race on the 5th place, while Mancuso was eventually 3rd.
Lindsey Vonn knew there was little to be done indeed, but she knew how to do that little, she was extremly fast in the parts that most suited her, but didn't risk too much in the middle section where the GS-like turns might have demaged her. It was close, really closer than an eye-blink, but those 20 hundreds were enough to secure Vonn's win over Maze and that was the moment when all the drama descibed above happened.
The race wasn't over though, as Swiss Fabienne Suter showed her great attitude in the discipline, despite a slow start this season and scored a great time that secured her the 4th place and many other girls scored good time with higher number as Tessa Worley 7th with 31 or M.M. Gagnon 13th (bib 56) sharing the placement with Duerr (bib 45).

Maze stronger than Vonn's mental games

Slovenian Tina Maze has built her leadership on the overall WC by being more than solid in every discipline, but most of all by going undefeated in Giant Slalom up to date and on this status she still was able to leave St. Moritz, but her win came after a great quality run from all the top names in both runs.

After the first run little surprise found room as everything went almost as expected: Tina Maze was leading, though this time with not much of a gap, Tessa Worley of France. 3rd place for Rebensburg, while 4th place was snatched by a very inspired Lara Gut. The 5th place was taken quite surprisingly by Vonn and 6th was Italian Federica Brignone, still far from her best in this season, but willing to make a turn around.
The second run was marked by a few girls running great manches with early numbers as Italian Elena Curtoni rose from 30th to 16th, while Marie Michelle Gagnon did even better to confirm her great form finishing 12th from 26th. Right ahead of the Canadian finished another comebackers, Swedish slalom sensation Frida Hansdotter, who was 19th after the first half.
The raise of the latter was stopped by Italian Irene Curtoni, who took the lead and in a few moment secured herself another top 10 placement, sharing her placement with Austrian Michaela Kirchgasser - eventually 7th by the end.
Maria Riesch didn't ski the best, but a solid run for her standards in GS and still secured herself a top 10 finish. Austrian Zettel finished just ahead of the Italian-Austrian pair, but the real surprise came from Marlies Schield as she skied a very impressive run in Giant Slalom, showing how her hard work is paying even far from the rapid gates of her beloved Slalom.
Italian Federica Brignone, vexed by a little injury and by the fears of two bad races in the first 2 GS, started very bravely trying to prove herself and the world that she's still competitive even after the change of materials, but luck didn't assist her and a mistake caused her a fall, with no consequences but a great disappointment.

Almost the same destiny was written for Lindsey Vonn, who was leading up to the point when she committed a huge mistake and only her rough power let her stay inside the course. Nonetheless she was last at the finish line.
Despite the amazing run she had in the second leg, Lara Gut wasn't able to improve her final position as the three girls ahead of them menaged to do even better. German Viktoria Rebensburg was surely given on a great form and for sure, we don't discover her talent today, but she pulverized Gut's time by skiing such an errorless run fought from the very beginning to the last gate.
Tessa Worley seemed to know she needed her best run to stay ahead of Viktoria, but her tactic of attacking full-forces didn't pay at the end as the little mistakes she had cost her that loss of one placement, but she was still able to finish 3rd eventually.
Tina Maze had quite a good gap to start with, but she was concious it wouldn't have been enough if she had just tried to administrate it. She started very aggressive and could even enhance her lead, but the impressive run from Viktoria had been done from half to finish and slowly Tina started to lose her advantage, but by the end 8 hundreds saved her from losing the race.

Vonn back to top in Lake Louise

A lot of talking has been going around the health conditions of Lindsey Vonn since the very misterious hospitalization she underwent a few weeks ago; she looked very tired in Aspen and everyone was wondering whether or not she would have done well in the speed events, mostly because she has always shown a great feeling with the Canadian slope.
All the doubts were cleared, or at least the questions about her chances here in Lake Louise. In less then 48 hours the American won both the downhills making it extremely clear, that on such slopes there's no chance she gets defeated by anyone - it's not a case that with those two wins she's on a 6 races winning streak here-.
In the first Downhill on Friday Stefanie Moser from Austria, with the low bib number of 2 led the race for quite a while thanks to a very impressive first part and an overall solid steep before scoring good sesctions in the final flat again.
The real surprise came few numbers on when American Stacey Cook surprised anyone by exploiting her gliding abilities in the upper and bottom parts, but most of all by hazarding a very brave line to begin the steep in the middle, which eventually paid well as she bettered Moser's time and one after the other saw a lot of big names finishing way behind her.
First to go down in the top group was Lindsey Vonn and she immediatly started to score the best timings in each session and her advantage over the team mate wouldn't but get bigger: one the steep she seemed not once troubled by the speed or the big turns set, like a missile she crossed the finish line with an actualy gap of almost two seconds on everybody else.
Nothing could Maria Riesch do, but see her sectors being one after the other sign the growing distance between her and the American, whilst Tina Weirather from Liechtenstein gave the illusion to be able to stay close to Vonn, before eventually lose distance on the last long flat section at the end. The two finished tie on third place, while Stacey Cook, with the 2nd place, scored her best result ever in World Cup.

The second day the conditions where tougher and the first 15 girls had much of an advantage as after the fog-break a big wind started to blow and none could do much against it, none but Vonn. But let's start from the beginning.
After a couple of rather colourless performances by the first numbers, Swiss Kaufmann-Abderhalden took the lead by using her gliding abilities to the very best of her chances and despite a pretty poor couple of turns in the steep, she could create an impressive speed on the flat session by the end that secured her the lead for many runs after.

Called to the remake of yesterday's unexpected result Stacey Cook didn't fail: she made again a terrific entry to the steep and could accumulate a terrific advantage over the Swiss, but the latter had an unbelievable flat section, so the gap in advantage of the American started to grow thinner and thinner, but by the end it was enough to take the lead.
As it has already been said above, after the longer break caused by the fog, a big wind started to blow on the upper part and almost none could deal with it and lots of them suffered major gaps from Cook already after less than 40 seconds of race.
That didn't happen to Italian Mereghetti, one of the best in the trainings but only 7th yesterday. Dada started with an avarage upper part, unless starting to recover by the middle, when suddenly she almost fell at the beginning of the steep. The huge mistake cost her quite a bunch of hundreds, but in the end she would still finish 5th.
Of course Lindsey Vonn had to leave her trademark on the race and after killing the race just one day back, she did something even great today, by first staying ahead of Cook in spite of the wind blowing, but then by almost stopping on the big turn before the steep because of a bad mistake. The American didn't let this bring her down and despite the error, she gained an unbelievable speed to launch the flat and there she simply blew everyone else's assault to her victory away, by finishing ahead of her team-mate of more than half a second.
In the wind none of the other expected prtagonists could do much but trying not to lose too much, but Lindsey not only made up for that, but with a mistake that would kill anyone's chances for a good placement, she won the race and with margin...just unbelievable!

Svindal goes back-to-back, Zettel stronger than ever

Svindal rules the superg too

That he was the favourite to win, it was rather clear to everybody, but it takes a champion to back-up the expectations of the eve; Aksel Lund Svindal has proven several times in his carreer to be an undoubtfully great champion, but the way he skied today added another proof to his status.

Starting with a low number Ted Ligety surprised the viewrs by skiing effortlessy not only in the very technical passages on the steep part of the slope, but also being better than usual in the very last long flat of the Lake Louise course. Still, he was the 2nd to race down the setting, so none really believed he had a chance for a great placement on the final ranking, but one by one a lot of specialists of the Superg started to finish behind the American "Giantist" and so his run started to look more and more convincing.
Italian Werner Heel, bib number 7, looked very close to oust the American from the temporary leadership as he finished the steep very close to him and started to recover distance by the middle of the final flat, but a little mistake cost him the couple of hundreds that set him right after him. The Italian had to be happy at the end of the race as he eventually finished 5th, his very best result in a long while - Ligety finished 4th!-.
It needed a truly inspired Joaquim Puchner, from Austria, to better the time from Ted and he really had to ski an incredible flat section in order to do so. Another Austrian, Max Franz few runs later had a solid run too, yesterday's 2nd finisher didn't ski as well as in downhill, but still made a very good display of calm after the amazing result from 24 hours earlier finishing 8th.

Right after the colourless run from Innerhofer, French skier Adrien Theaux skied an incredibly solid run throughout all the legs, making a terrific final intermediate to size the lead, just in time to check what Svindal would have done.
All the pressure was on his wide shoulder, but as a Champion he is, the Norge didn't let all this prevent him from skiing his own race: he started good and by exploiting his gliding attitude took a great advantage in the early section already. He then made a terrific line to enter the steep and despite looking rather mechanic on the making went through the big turns in the steep with such a big speed that couldn't but increase his advantage over and over until the very finish when he lost a few decimals because of a little flaw in the flat, but still almost a second faster than everybody else.

Top 4 slalomists from another planet

First run in Aspen, CO, was a little pale, some sort of lazy start for the actual party which took place a few hours after for the 2nd one. After the first half the top 5 skiers came all from the top 8 at start with Zettel leading, but all them were in the space of 80 hundreds. Right after that little group the gaps were fasting growing bigger as the bib's number rose -the only exception being Irene Curtoni, but she sadly fell before the finish-.
In the second run the plot shifted to a more interesting one: first it was Italian Manuela Moelgg trying to add some spices to the race as she scored a very interesting time and started to climb the ranking from the bottom (she eventually finished 18th from 27th). But then it was Zuzulova's turn to show how the 1st run had only been a mistake in the making and she was a much better skier than her first run's placement suggested: from 20th she rose as much as 11th, but her partial time was eventually the 3rd at the end.
When the top 10 were to get down, the local crowd went comlpetely crazy for the run of the local star Mikaela Shiffrin, as the young amarican stopped the Slovakian leadership and started to climb the ranking too as high as 7th by the end.

German Lena Duerr edged the lead, but she didn't last longer on the top of the ranking as her team mate Maria Riesch knew she had to ski a terrific run to make up the gap from the 1st run leader and most of all recover from the GS fail. Riesch started very agressive and immediatly scored a great intermediate, but nonetheless kept pushing hard on the throttle until the very end. It was hard to believe someone could better such a run and a proof to that seemed to be given by Pietilae-Holmner solid, but not good enough run.
Marlies Schild was of another idea though, fire was burning in her eyes as she had her amazing winning streak interrupted in Levi because of a fall and she's been just one win away from all time record of slalom victories in WC. She wanted to show she was still the best and the 3rd place of the first run was too little for her. She started like a fury and in a blink of an eye she was crashing Maria's hopes for the win.
Yesterday's winner and Levi 4th placed Tina Maze knew she could do less to bother such an inspired Schild, but she also knew that every point is precious for the overall cup, so she skied smartly and without mistakes she could secure herself another podium, by finishing between the Austrian and Maria Riesch.

The first run leader, Kathrin Zettel had a lot of pressure to deal with as she hadn't been winning in slalom for a very long time in World Cup and she surely knew it wouldn't need just a solid run to edge the team mate, she needed something exception and so she did: in the first half of the race she had a little mistake,nothing very serious, but it cost her almost all the advantage and on the intermediate she had nothing but few hundreds left. One could think it was over, but she didn't, she knew she could do it and by putting together a stellar final section she gained a gap big enough to stop Schild's assault and win her first race of the season.

Riesch and Myhrer take the first slaloms of the season

After the season opening in the Austrian glacier of Soelden, it was time for the slalom specialists to start their season and so it was high time for them Levi to come. Up in the very north of Finland the "black Levi" was ready and majestically prepared for the WC and maybe the good lightening, the great public and the very nice ammount of snow in the lovely town, but the atmosphere was the best on for these very first slaloms.
On saturday it was women's turn and the very question was about who could have bothered Marlies Schild after the amazing season she once again scored last year in the short gates of slalom. The austrian star had bib number one and so immediatly everyone was ready for another great display of technic, but this time surprisingly her race was much shorter than her opponents' just because she had gone out beforetime.
Immediatly the chance of a win seemed very much possible for a lot of girl up at the start and so every one of them fought hard against the very difficult setting of the first run, in order to make the best out of herself.
Austrian disappointment for Schild's turnoff was soon increased by a very poor performance of Michi Kirchgasser and then another exit from Zettel.

Out of that few exits, not many surprises signed the first run as local champion Tania Poutiainen was leading the race with a little gap over Maria Riesch -who looked far better than a couple weeks ago in GS- and American Mikaela Shiffrin.
In the second run a couple of great runs were shown by the girls who clearly were disappointed after their first run. That was the case with Canadian Gagnon, rising from 18th to 10th place and Zuzulova, who as usual displayed an amazing feeling with flat parts scoring a terrific time that almost looked unbeatable, until Tina Maze came down and took the leadership. The two led the race for a very long while, so that only the virtual podium was yet to go down, but then all three of them could stay ahead of the come-backers and the Slovakian ended 5th and the Slovenian 4th.
American young talent Shiffrin looked very strong-minded and could confirm her 1st run placement with a very brave 2nd run, snatchig the 2nd podium of her carreer being only 17!

Maria Riesch had a lot of experience on her side and a little advantage from the first run, but that alone wasn't enough to take the lead and try to grab another WC victory, she had to ski errorless and so it was, she ended her run with a very solid run that secured her the lead, but would that be enough against local favourite Poutiainen?
Tania started the 2nd leg with a terrific upper part adding precious hundreds to her leading, but as the steep started she lost a little determination and a couple of mistakes cost her the lead, but with experience she still could end 2nd.
THe real winner of today's race is Sarka Zahrobska though, who suffered a brain surgery this summer, but still she was able to compete and quite well considered all she's been through, bravo Sarka!

The day after it was about men to face eachother on the Finnish slope, but even if the first 4 position after the first run didn't change by the end, the race was even more spectacular than the women's one.

A lot of uncertainty was in the air throughout the race and it was not only about the fog, but all the racer showed a very great form already and the gap needed to quality for the 2nd run was so small that everyone almost had a shot for a good result before the 2nd run to start.
Surely aware of that it was Austrian Reinfried Herbst, who got in last-minute thanks to his team-mate Matt disqualification. Herbst took advantage of the perfect conditions and risked it all by attacking from the very first gates till the end and his run made him climb more than 20 places in the ranking as he finished 6th.

Italian Giuliano Razzoli took advantage of the low number in the 2nd run and could rise from 29th to 13th place, whilst Norvegian young hope Kristoffersen - year of birth 1994- rose from 24th to 11th.
It was just when the top 10 was to start that Herbst leading was broken though and it needed a terrific run by Italian Patrick Thaler to do so, but the two kept rising the ranking together for quite a few runs more.
The top 5 racers of the first run were the only left and the two above were still on the lead, Russian Sensation Aleksander Khoroshilov looked a little too cautious after the amazing first run (5th starting with bub 45) and sadly for him this attitude didn't pay off as he eventually finished only 18th. Italian Moelgg, 4th after the 1st leg, had a completely different attitude and attacked with no fears and could overtake his team mate in the leadership, but it didn't last longer as Swedish Byggmark skied an old-fashioned runs of his and despite a couple of big mistakes he still could secure himself of the podium.

Austrian Marcel Hirscher looked unbeatable when he ended the second run's course, as he showed some incredible agility down the steepest part of the slope, but 1st run leader and last year's Slalom cup winner Andre Myhrer had other weapons on his side and by painting amazing lines in the top flat and pushing hard like only he can do in the bottom, he still could overtake on the Austrian and took the Levi's slalom.

aMAZEing Tina wins Soelden opening GS

A lot of interest was concerning this year's opening race of Soelden (Austria). As usual there was a lot of talk ongoing, mostly regarding who could confirm last year's form and who wouldn't, who could make it close to the bigger names and if there would be some newcomers.
Not only, two great questionmarks were finding place in all those rumors: the first one, pretty common here in Soelden, concerning the weather as the forcasts for the weekend were the ones of January, not of October and up to the glacier that could mean a lot of troubles; secondly, and probably the hottest topic of the year, dealing with the change of materials, with longer skis and their radius.

Surprisingly the first run was graced and all the girls (a part from the unlucky ones from 18 to 22)  could race under a covered sky, but no trubles given by snow or fog.
Bib number 1 was Austrian's evergreen Lizzy Goergl, that made quite a few mistakes in the early gates and seemed to never find a good way to deal with the long turns and maybe even with the new skis.
Two year's defending champion in GS Viktoria Rebensburg skied a very solid run, but differently from what happened in the past two season she didn't look unbeatable and soon we had a confirmation of that as after a pretty bad run of last year's winners here and overall champion Vonn, Tina Maze showed that with a bit more of corague and determination, those longer skis can still perform as well as the old ones.
Maze looked very impressive mostly on the steep gates of the middle part of the Rettenbach glacier ending the run with over a second of lead on Rebensburg and eventually only one skier could do any better of the German and it was Tessa Worley, who seemed to well adapt her tecnique to the new skis and finished the run "only" 0.76 seconds behind the Slovenian.
None ever again got any closer to the terrific time from Maze so that the last to qualify for the 2nd run was over 4 and half second trailing.

The second run had to be postponed several times because by the end of the first run a very heavy fog started go down the slope, but finally Frida Hansdotter from Sweden could make it begin with more than one hour of delay.
She could ski a very solid run, which eventually will give her a quite good uprise in the final ranking, but the girl that went down right after did something even greater. Susanne Weinbuchner, 21 year old German, didn't get any fear from that first experience in a world cup 2nd run, but on the contrary looked very enthusiastic and could take advantage of the low bib and made a terrific run, that hardly anyone going down right after her could challenge - only Nadia Fanchini, from Italy, seemed to be close on beating her time, but she eventually went out at the end of steep - and so she made a great improvement in her placement finishing the race with a raise of 17 places finishing 12th!
The weather looked like getting worse, so the girl started their run with little breaks one between the other and the rythm of that second run became even more fast and rich of emotions.
Lindell-Vikarby first and Curtoni Irene first could overtake the German in the leading, but then it was Vonn's turn and everyone was expecting her to make a great comeback in the second run; unfortunately in the early gates Lindsay crashed into a gate and was forced to retire looking highly on pain on her arm.

Then it was Koehle's turn and the Austrian made exactly what the public expected from Vonn: she started with fire in her eyes and took every risk she could painting incredible lines down the steep turns of the Rettenbach ending with the best partial time so far.
Gagnon and Gisin seemed to be unable to better Stefanie's run, but both could finish close enough to climb the ranking with her. Sadly for Italians fans Brignone couldn't really cope with the second run and went out, whilst Denise Karbon looked a little worse than in the 1st run finishing far from the podium.
An even greater disappoinment arrived to the German fanbase as Riesch skied in a very horrid fashion, never really doing anything down there and quite often going in over-rotation with the upper body and losing the outer ski.
When Zettel was about to start the fog and snowfall clearly seemed to be too heavy to let anyone making a better time than Koehle's, but so it wasn't. Kathrin risked everything and in the first gates she almost fell as much she was going down inwards to close the turns faster. She hit then an amazing time, better than the team mate and so it was all on the top 3's shoulders.
Rebensburg fell immediatly in the trapts of the upper part and after a couple of gates she was already out, same for Tessa Worley, who unluckily entered the gate with the inner ski and so had to stop.
Tina Maze was sure of a great advantage she secured after the first run, but clearly she knew that she couldn't deal on that only after the amazing run of Zettel.
So she started a little more coutious than in the first run, but still solid and aggressive enough to stop Zettel's attack to her leadership, with a magistral display of mental strenght she closed in the first position, finding a win again after more of a year.
Final result: Maze, Zettel, Koehle. For Stefanie it was the first podium in her carreer.