Maze and Hirscher win 2013 ski world-cup

Maze wins and breaks records but can't take all the Globes

24 podiums, 11 victories, 2 "small globes" and the Overall title with record of points ever scored by a human being in a single season. Yes, Tina Maze just finished the best season ever in the history of ski world cup, but probably a little of a bitter taste stayed as she was very close to win all the crystal globes possible. She unarguably very unlucky with the cancellation of the final downhill where a top 7 finish would have given her the title, no matter the results of the others as she was just 1 point trailing to the injured Lindsey Vonn, who thanks to the horrible weather (and in all honesty the dumbness of FIS rules, which don't let the final races be replaced, not even in the space of the same week) won the crystal globe for the 6th time in a row - that's a record too-.
The same bad weather forced the organizers to cancel the superg too and by the effect of this choice, Tina won the superg globe without the need of defending it from the last assault of the only rival left, Julia Mancuso, who later of twitter expressed all her resentment towards FIS, which decided to hold the team event the really next day, instead of letting girls fight for either the superg or downhill title.
It wasn't then a surprise that USA pulled out of the team event and Maze didn't compete for her country there. In that atmosphere of controversy Germany could run off with the victory ahead of Sweden and Italy.
Saturday was then the day of the slalom, the last unsecure title to be given in the season, Maze was leading the standing thanks to a win in the last race, which made her overcome Mikaela Shiffrin, but the two were just few points away one from the other, hence the one of the two placing ahead of the other would have won the title.

After the first run Maze seemed so sure of the win, as she was leading the race with a margin of over a second, but in the second run the just-become-adult Shiffrin, having nothing to lose skied probably the most impressive run of the year pulverizing whatever attempt to overcome her in the final standing. As usual Tina tried it all, but there was nothing she could have done there and in the end she finished only 3rd, behind a surprising Bernadette Schild.
Tears run down the face of Tina as she crossed the finish line, Lenzerheide, after having given her first win in slalom two years ago, seemed to have become jinxed as in two days she lost everything she could have lost, but all in honesty Shiffrin totally deserved this title and for sure she will see many more coming in the next years, so there's no shame in losing a tight battle with her.

In the last day of this 2013 ski world cup GS was to be hold. Title was already secure to go to Tina, but despite that, you could see how much she wanted to finish this season well, because she attacked from the very first gates of the first run too and she was second only to Tessa Worley when one run was yet to be done.
In the second run a great comeback avoided Lara Gut to snatch her second ever podium in Giant Slalom, but nothing could stop Maze to take her 11th win of the season, she was just flawless and not even an inspired second run by Worley could do much to stop her. Tessa finished second in the end and Tina could finish the season exactly the same way as she started, winning.

Weather kills Svindal's last chances, Marcel wins the Overall again

Heading to the world cup finals Aksel Lund Svindal knew his hopes for the overall title were really few, he was trailing in the run for the title of some 50 points to Hirscher, but he could have had a chance if he had won both the downhill and the superg as everything would have then been on the Austrian's young shoulders, but the Norge didn't even have the chance to try, because as it happened for the Ladies, weather has been harsh during the days of the speed events and forced organizers to call them off.

Svindal won two globes nevertheless, the superg and the downhill ones, yet this wasn't enough to challenge Hircher as the number of slalom and giant slaloms this season was a lot bigger than the one of speed races and in the technical ones Marcel kept an impressive pace, which in the end could give him the overall title, even if he competed only in those two events.
After the team event, it was giant slalom's day and as usual it was an only man show, with Ted Ligety dominating the race in both runs, in the second of which he tamed the attack of Hirscher and Pinturault, who finished 2nd and 3rd, making the final standingof the race, the same of the GS cup!

Last day was the one for slalom, once again everything was already decided for the discipline globe and the overall was already "booked" under Hirscher's name, nonetheless the race was hugely enetertaining and in the end Felix Neureuther could snatch an impressive win over Hirscher and the once again incredible Ivica Kostelic, who's been able to win last week in Kranjska Gora and now to finish on podium despite another severe injury occurred to his knee not long ago.

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.

Superg gives first medals in Schladming

It's the most important event of this season, it's the event of every uneven year, it's the chance to win a medal to write your name in the history of this sport, it's a single race, all or nothing, it's the world championships.
This year's edition is taking place in the heart of Austria, in Schladming, but from the very beginning it seems to be destined to be one of the most discussed.

Maze wins through the fog, Lindsey crashes.

This seems to be Maze's season, she's the most impressive skier out there, being on top of every discipline in the world cup standings, having won more races than every one else in 4 out of 5 disciplines since October, but at the World Championships is never easy to win, mostly if you come as a heavy favourite.

Despite her leadership in the SuperG standing, the favourite for the win was surely American Lindsey Vonn, winner of several crystal globes in that discipline, world champion in Val D'Isere four years ago and 20 times winner in WC. The rivalry between the two was set  to be one of the most interesting sides of this year's edition of the WCH and with the superg as the first race taking place in the very first day, things seemed to get interesting from the start.
At 11:30, time at which the race was supposed to start, a very thick fog was stuck in the middle of the curse and a light rain was dropping on the finish area. The jury hoped for a sudden improvement of the conditions and start to delay the start of 15 minutes. That happened many many times as much as most of the girls and commentators were pretty sure it was a matter of time the race was cancelled. That didn't happen at the very moment it was slightly clearer the race started. It was 3pm.

As it was evident after the first runs, the slope was as easy as it was expected to be, but the course set to make hard to interpret the waves and bumps of the slope, mostly with the bad light caused by the cloudy sky and the wintry afternoon light.
Bib number 4, Slovenian Ilka Stuhec, didn't seem to be scared of the conditions and exploited the big talent of hers to score a very interesting time, which eventually let her achieve her best ever placement in the discipline in a world cup level race. The Slovenian, who was one of the most interesting youngsters only a few years ago, suffered many injuries in her young career and you could see the joy of hers while one after the other important name in the lists of Superg finished even far behind her in the standing.
The first one to better her time was Swiss superstar Lara Gut, whose talent in Superg doesn't come as new to anyone following skiing even seldom. Swiss's race was almost errorless and her great ability to create speed even in the tightest turns let her score amazing partials whenever the course was more technical.
The Swiss led the race until the beginning of the top group and neither Rebensburg nor Suter could finish close to her, even though her team-mate Fabienne finished just ahead of Stuhec in the temporary 2nd place.

Then it was Tina Maze's time. The world cup leader started like a fury, pushing hard from the very moment she opened the starting gate, combining her power with a smooth technique. Her intermediates were all very close to Gut's, but a perfect final section gave her the necessary speed to gain as much as 38 hundreds to finish ahead of the Swiss.
Her scream for joy was suddenly silenced by another scream, coming from several gates above. It was Vonn's voice, her tears, her pain. Lindsey had just badly crashed landing from a jump and the helicopter immediately came to rescue her. Later news announced the rupture of some of her knee ligaments and the fracture of the top of the shinbone.
After the long break it took to take the American to safety the atmosphere at the start of the race was tense and one after the other Maria Riesch and Anna Fenninger committed two bad mistakes probably due to the tension, which set both of them out for the race.

Race was far from finished though, as Julia Mancuso found the strength to give her best despite the injury of her compatriot and the news of the death of her grandad. She skied some of the best sections mostly in the middle part of the race, but it wasn't enough to trouble Maze's leadership. Still, her run was worth a 3rd place, which would be hers even by the end of the race, despite two thrilling assaults brought by two Italians.
First it was caused by Daniela Merigetti, whose awesome final part made her gain quite a lot of positions, but couldn't make her finish higher than her 7th place. But mostly the 2nd was sure to scare the American, as Italian Sofia Goggia, at her very first race above European Cup level, decided she had nothing to lose and skied out of her mind being very close to cause some major upsets. By the end she was 4th, only 5 hundreds behind Mancuso, but as she herself said, this was not a loss, but an amazing result, even if it was not worth a medal.
The race was very soon interrupted due to darkness once the legal number of racers to make the result valid was reached.

Ligety surprises the specialists and wins the gold

Men superg didn't suffer of the painful delay that the women one had, but the condition of weather and snow weren't good neither. A cloudy sky made it again difficult to see and face the many waves of the slope, whilst the humidity had the snow gone soft hence difficult to cope with.
Immediately in the early runs two French skiers showed very convincing runs, first Alexis Pinturault, whose time would eventually set him at the 6th place, but most of all De Tessieres, who came to Schladming as a make up choice, the reserve, whose start happened only due to the injury of Clarey.

Gauthier, whose only podium in World Cup came in Giant Slalom a few seasons ago, knew he had nothing to lose and starting with the early number of 4, he exploited his qualities of GS specialist and the good conditions of the snow, before it worsened passage after passage. The French man had the very best section in the upper part, but his fluid movements made him keep a very interesting pace up to the end.

No-one of the following athletes could get a time close enough to worry the leadership of the two French guys, until American Ted Ligety started. GS world cup leader, despite having showed great improvements in superg throughout the season, had never won a race in that discipline, not even out of World Cup, but that didn't bother him as he knew the setting and the slope could suit his talent and skills. And so it was. Flawless he made an impressive central section and most of all painted lines in the latest steep that no-one else could copy, not even close.
His lead over De Tessieres wasn't that big though and one could believe the specialists of the superg who were soon to go down could better his time, but it just didn't happen. Aided by the fact that the soft snow made it more difficult for the top group to tame their skis and hence the snow, every one of the favourites for the title failed to catch on Ligety and De Tessieres, who both kept their first and second place until the very end.
Austrian hopes for the first medal in this home-world championships grew in the public when first Matthias Mayer and later Hannes Reichelt snatched a temporary placement on the lowest place of the podium, but in the end they were to be undecieved by Aksel Lund Svindal, the greatest favourite for the win, who had to content himself with a bronze medal, whilst the now-former world champion Christof Innerhofer seemed never racing for a medal and placed only 7th.

Getting to know: Daniela Merighetti

In a cold and slightly cloudy evening, among the streets of Cortina, a very smiling Daniela Merighetti welcomes me in the hall of Savoia's hotel, where she sleeps with the rest of the Italian team. It's the night before Downhill's race, still she looks very relaxed and very kindly grants a few time for me and a little talk to me, whose result is the following interview.

so, Daniela, better known with the nick-name of Dada, was born in Brescia in 1981 started her career as a specialist of slalom and giant slalom, moving later to the speed races, where now has taken her place among the best names.

So let's start by asking you, how does it feel to be back in Cortina after last year's victory?

Coming to Cortina is always a great emotion for me, because it's my favourite slope in the whole tour and then, well, last year I won my first race ever here, and the only one so for, hoping it won't remain the only...

Sure, and then we arrive here strong of the 2nd place in St. Anton and today's training went...
well! (best time scores in the only training done -editor's note-)
well indeed. so?
I am even more motivated than last year. You know, we can say that last year it was rather much of a surprise, I mean, I was feeling great and I knew I could make it to the top 3, but coming here with a 2nd place in the last downhill, I am not expecting to win, but I know I can do it, that's it!

Other than Cortina, where else do you enjoy racing the most?
I really like Garmisch, snow it's always hard there and I enjoy the course setting a lot.

Making a little step backwards in the past. You arrived to world cup for the slalom, your first podium arrived in Giant Slalom and then...you've reinvented yourself as a speed specialist.

Yes, after the nth injury to my knees I was struggling to come back in GS, results weren't satisfying and so I tried downhill and it immediately went great, so from then on I didn't do speed only, but almost, you know, results were much better there.

We can say, love at first sight?
More or less, I can say I didn't feel like a true speed specialist at first.

When did that breaking-point happen?
It was a FIS race in Bardonecchia, I was starting with such a high number because my points were really high...I didn't even put on the national team's race suit, but a very shabby old one from FILA ("una tutina sfigatissima" orig.)

Don't you miss racing in GS and slalom though?
Of course I do, well, I did until a few years ago. Now, not really, but I missed racing in GS a lot.

Going to a more hot topic, how's the atmosphere of the top group? I mean, Maze, Riesch...Vonn and Riesch that are best friends on one day and foes on the other...
Well, honestly, we see each other almost only during races, in the sense that we train in different places and such, so we don't see much of each other. I am quite much of a friend with Maze and Gut anyway and with Maria (Riesch) too. I don't have much of a intercourse with Vonn, we just say hi when we meet, that's it. I just find the friendship between Riesch and Vonn odd to say the least, it doesn't look much true.

Do you think it's possible to be friends when you race at such a competitive level?

Yes, I do think so. Because I think at first should come respect for the athlete and for yourself. You have to be sincere and admit when someone has been better than you, tell her she's done great and recognise it. So yes, I think it's possible to have friendships with other athletes.
Because you know, generally it's believed girls can be a lot meaner than boys.
Well that's true, but if a friendship is true, it surely is stronger than such things.

Going back to past again, how was your first time on snow?
Terrible! My first time on snow was traumatising. honestly I don't even recall it, I must have been 6 and a half or something. I was going just because my older sisters were going too.
At first I didn't like it at all, but then I started with some small races and the team mates were cool, so I kept it going.

I think the answer is already known, but I want to hear it from you. Which is your best moment on skis?
Well, of course, last year here in Cortina, when I won the race and then singing the national anthem.

...not very nice to be asked, but what about the worst one? or the biggest disappointment, the one which was harder to move over?
Oh, you know, there are many, but you forget delusions, still I would say injuries, all of them, from the first to the last.

Moving to what is in my opinion a great compliment, you know, finding the best form of your life...
late in the career. (she very brightly smiles)
...exactly, well, I think it's a such a great message for the youngsters, since nowadays girls (and boys too) give up when still very young if they don't immediately score big results. What is the reason behind that in your opinion?
In my opinion if you have a big passion and you really want to arrive to the top, things seem less heavy. Skiing is such a difficult sport, very traumatic and there are a lot of variables. You know, one day you ski amazingly and the day after not even close and you can't understand how could that happen. But that teaches you to never give up and keep hanging on, because when victories or good results happen, you are wholly paid back for your hard work and all the sacrifices. I've never given up and in the end one could see it, I started to win - well I won (laughs) my first race at 30 and so I hope to be a good example for the younger girls.

Absolutely, mostly because, generally more often in women ski, there's a big pressure on girls to achieve great results while still young, so many girls crumble after the big steps of European Cup or World Cup.
Yes, absolutely. And then World Cup and European Cup are very different and a lot of girls, we've seen in the years, failed to prove themselves from one to the other tour and often good names of WC get bad results if they race in EC. It's very weird I know.
Coaches should still understand that every girl needs her own times to mature and so if they see something good in her, she should be given time and support even if results don't arrive immediately.

Life as a sportsman is about goals, isn't it? What are yours?
Actually I don't set much goals for me, I just think of staying healthy and so I do everything it takes to do so, in gym as on snow. So whenever I do that, I just get what it gives, of course having been on the podium last year, I wanted to be back this year, but the most important thing is to do your best at the end of the day.

The day you'll call it a career, will you be working as a trainer?
Until last year I didn't even want to take the ski instructor course, but now I think I should after all, but I am sure I won't teach skiing, not immediately at least. I will do whatever it will inspire me the most then, I've never considered it, so I don't know yet.

Outside of the world of skiing, how is Daniela Merighetti?
When I am home, I honestly love to spend time with my family and my nephews, and seeing my friends and having some fun with them too.

If you hadn't gone on with what was then a splendid career as a skier, what do you think you would have ended up doing?
I don't know, I loved playing volleyball, but I was a better skier, so it was what I went on doing, but volleyball is still my favourite sport, not skiing. So I don't know what I would have been doing, probably studied a bit more, I did only my high school because after that I knew skiing would have been my life and so I didn't take further studies.

The important thing is seeing you happy of your choices even now, after all, if you kept it going for years the passion must be very strong...one last question, what other sports do you enjoy the most or practise?
As I said I love volleyball, but I also enjoy tennis, mostly watching because I am a terrible player (schiappa - orig.)...really, unwatchable! And I think that's it...and I don't like football.

Well since this blog is about skiing and tennis, I couldn't have had a better guest. Thank you so much and all the best for tomorrow and further.
Thank you and good luck to you too.

Sadly in today's race Dada couldn't confirm the great result of last year and of the training as a big mistake almost made her fall, relegating her to a 28th place, far from the podium she was probably going to take otherwise. At the end of the race, she still looked positive and could even smile and be kind to the crowd and in a brief talk told me how that result won't affect her positivity and that she'll still go and try her best tomorrow and after. One can't but be behind her after such a display of kindness and true goodness, so good luck Dada!
 

Maze writes history once again

However the season will finish, Tina Maze will remember this season for the great pages she wrote in the history of skiing. After having broken the record of number of podiums achieved by the new year, after hitting more than 1000points by the half of the season, she still had one great achievement to hit: winning at least one race in all five disciplines, something that only five girls were able to before this weekend (Petra Kronberger, Pernilla Wiberg, Anja Paerson, Janica Kostelic and Lindsey Vonn). Maze needed only one superg win and after the delusion of seeing that win fading in St. Moritz for a bunch of hundreds, she could finally snatch this very first win in St. Anton and enter the history once more.

McKennis wins her first WC race

The first day of this Austrian weekend devoted to speed events saw a shortened downhill, which had brought a lot of talking even before its start. The very technical slope had seen only one training because of the very intense snowfalls of the week and the organizers decided to make it a little easier by cutting the top part trying to clean the course from the fresh snow.
In such conditions it's known how the early numbers can be favourited by a slope that passage after passage gets more and more ruined hence harder to ski well on it, but that didn't diminish the amazing display of technique and wise choice of lines that the young American Alice McKennis showed by running down with bib 4. Alice looked very determined and made almost no mistakes on the technical turns that characterize the Austrian slope, nonetheless looking very compfortable in the few gliding sections.
The proof that her leadership was going to last longer than one could have expected arrived a few runs afterwards, when hot-form Anna Fenninger skied an almost flawless run, but still finished behind the American (the Austrian eventually finished 3rd).
One by one all the big names of the Downhill had to surrender to the young American, who stayed on the leaderbox watching anxiously each of them until the very moment they had crossed the finish line with a higher time than hers.

Bib 10 and World Cup leader Tina Maze after the big disappointment of Zagreb knew she had to do a great run in order to stay ahead of Vonn and keep gaining points on the American, but as for Fenninger her almost flawless run wasn't enough and that little mistake on the long turn to beging the flat section would eventually cost her the podium, as she would be 4th by the end.
Everyone was waiting to see what Lindsey Vonn would have done, the American had been away from the tour for almost a month and little news came from her, surely if she was back, she was back to win and even if a little rusty, she clearly tried her best and you could see on Alice's eyes a great surprise when even Vonn finished behind her and for a bunch of hundreds even behind Maze.
If the next few girls in the top group didn't seem to be able to cope with the bumps which formed on the course, the last one of them to run down, Italian Daniela Merighetti prooved how it was still possible to score a competitive time and for very little she didn't break Alice's dreams for a victory. The Italian, who had scored her very first victory in world cup just last year in Cortina, started with a very convincing lead on the top intermediate, but making a very big mistake on the entry of the "channel", which cost a big toll by the next intermediate, but surprising as no-one else was able to do such a thing, she started to make up hundreds on hundreds on the second half of the course finishing very close to the American, but still second. Nevertheless you could easily see the great happiness of hers to be finally back on podium.

Maze above all first time in Superg

Unlike the day before, the Sunday's Superg didn't see a lot of surprises in terms of names on top, as all the top 7 finishers came from the top group, the surprise came though by the absence of Vonn from the podium and the fact that the win was a duel between two girls who had never won in that discipline before.
When top group was about to start at the lead of the race there was Viktoria Rebensburg, who exploited her great ability of GS specialist to do so and her time seemed very hard to be beaten. Actually the first to better her was the queen of last years Superg's cups, Lindsey Vonn, who, by taking the lead, seemed on her way to another podium, but some insecurities in the very tight turns on the top could give hints that today she was beatable.

Immediatly after the American, Austrian Fenninger did exactly what was possible to better Lindey time, which meant to be absolutely perfect there where Vonn had not been, where the turns were tight and very hard to tame. The Austrian was smooth and elegant and that gave her an amazing advantage by the end as she was almost a second faster than everyone else before.
Lara Gut, after the big disappointment of yesterday's downhill, had little to content herself as she didn't shine as she hoped, even if she could finish 7th by the end. Right after, it was Maze's turn and by showing a very different way of performing this course wasn't but as effective as Fenninger in every section of the course and this way she made a nail-biting race where every little flaw, even the smallest could have meant enough for the final win. It was all between the two of them, both with 3 second places in that discipline and no win yet, one of them would have finally taken this victory, for the other it would have been the 4th silver. 4 hundreds, so few that when you have said it loud they have passed already, so few, but they meant so much for Maze as she could take, thanks to them 4, her very first win and enter history.

But if the duo on top finished very tight, the podium got decided by even less as Swiss Fabienne Suter killed the chance for Vonn's podium by just one single hundred.

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.

Italians tame the Birds of Prey

Christof on the top of a very Norse podium.

The Birds of Prey is known as one of the most difficult slopes for speed races in the WC because of its unique mix of flat parts and the famous steep and its waves. Because of the lack of snow and therefore, the bigger jumps, the course setter decided to try and slow down the course.
Sadly, despite its success in making the jumps relatively easier, one guy still got injured: Tobias Stechert from Germany was one of the first runners on course and he was skiing a very convincing run until he finished long in one of the trasverses set on the steep and in the attempt of recovering from that mistake he got his knee's ligaments torn.

After the long break it needed to take the German safely away from the course, Austrian Georg Streitberger with bib number 6 and immediatly after Peter Fill scored two very solid runs and started to lead the race.
Italian Innerhofer, despite the low number, was reported to be on a very good condition and he didn't fail to prove the rumors right. He found a very good feeling with his skis in the gliding part on top and then painted amazing lines down the steep middle part of the Beaver Creek's course.
None seemed to be able to ski anywhere close to the Italian until Kjetil Jansrud with bib 14 showed a great feeling with the snow and the course and he was making up the gap he had from Christof and seemed set to better the Italian time, but a sudden and unexpected mistake on one of the last waves and that cost him the chance of taking the lead - he would finish 3rd eventually.
The big favourite for the race was surely Svindal, the Norse came here with the impressive wins in Lake Louise last weekend and he indeed started to ski a great run by exploiting his great power even on the more technical passages. He kept staying very close to Innerhofer throughtout the course, but by the end as like as his team-mate a mistake cost him the chance of winning the race, finishing incredibly close, but still 2nd.
The top 5 finishers were completed by Austrian surprise Florian Scheiber, that could finish 4th with a big as high as 42! 5th placement for another Italian, Dominik Paris.

Marsaglia makes a win out his first podium

Matteo Marsaglia had shown bright sparkles of talent in the past few years, but so far he had never menaged to score a run errorless or worth of his abilities. In a race that again was sadly signed by another crash and the injury of a racer in the early runs (Austrian hope Max Franz lost consciousness on the crash, but apparently he's already well), out of the first names, only Italian Werner Hell had done an errorless run -he would finish 5th-, as the tricks set by the course-setter were many and it was very hard to find the right lines and the right attitude towards such a difficult slope.
Then it was Austrian Reichelt's turn and he didn't let the thought of his friend's injury get into his mind and found the right motivation and corague to attack this slope, probably angry for a good result after the bad ones of the last speed races. Reichelt took the lead over the Italian and kept his place on top for a few more runners, as long as another Italian, Matteo Marsaglia, took the lead over him. Matteo was coming from a couple of very convincing results in GS and he showed his great form by looking effortlessly painting lines, rahter than skiing down an iced hill.
If being ahead of such an inspired Reichelt wasn't enough of a proof of the greatness of his run, one by one all the specialists of the discipline started to fall behind his back whenever they crossed the finishline.
Once again the Norwegian team mated looked ready to trouble the Italian leadership, but in some sort of re-happening of yesterday's plot both Jansrud and Svindal couldn't but make a mistake that would cost them too much for the win: Kjetil this time not even making it to the podium, only 6th, whilst Aksel-Lund didn't change his placement of the day before, ending up 2nd.
Italian Peter Fill wanted to leave his sign on the race too and made a promising start by scoring the best time in the upper part, but due to a bad line-choice he went out right away.
4th in the end was Ted Ligety, who seemed to have worked hard on the discipline, by proving his Lake Louise's great placement wasn't a fluke and this run can't but put him the heavy favourite target for tomorrow's GS.

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.