Also trying to be a little more disciplined and so I waited these races to see if the Championships changed something... and something strange but not so unexpected happened.
Leitmotiv of this weekend is the "first time": first career win for Ruiz-Castillo with her surpirsing run in Meribel's dowhill, she was bib #28 so it was one of that situation where podium and photo's are to be redone; first Giant-Slalom win for Pinturault, who already won a Slalom and Super-Combined and a City Event, but until yesterday he still missing a victory in his favourite discipline; and the there's the first World Cup for Maze and Slovenia.
What mostly intrigued me, though, was the second run of the Giant-Slalom where Neureuther wasted a great opportunity in front of his home crowd, he is from Partenkirchen.
Felix was leader at the end of the first run, with an impressive performance, coming into leader's corner with an high bib, #14, while the placement were mostly decided by the starting order: top 3 until Neureuther's run were bibs no. 2 , 1 , 3.
I'll start stating the obvious: Felix is a great champion, he is experienced enough (29 years old), he's always "up there" in top positions...
Although his experience and years of top placements it occurred to me that he hasn't often found himself as last man standing at the starting gate of a second run. He rarely was leader after first run.
And the pressure and tension to handle in that case is something hard to get used to. It really needs a strong mind-clutch.
Being there means that you've got everything to lose, I think it's very different from starting in any other position.
So I reviewed Felix's career to see how did he win and how did he do when leading after the first run:
20-01-2013 Wins Slalom in Wengen, but was 2nd after run 1 (run 1 report)
13-03-2010 Wins Slalom in Garmisch, best time in run 2 but was 5th after run 1 (run 1 report)
24-01-2010 Wins Slalom in Kitzbuehel, was 3rd after run 1 (run 1 report)
18-03-2012, Leads Slalom's run 1 in Schladming, 11th time in run 2 drop to 2nd place, Myhrer wins (race report)
That's all... a bit disappointed, thought I've found more relevant results.
Actually he mainteined the lead in some minor FIS, European Cup, National championships or Summer races but the poor field, no TV and less points made it a bit different.
The visible trend though, is that he tends to drop positions when in top positions (2nd or 3rd) after run 1, while he performs better after a bad run 1.
There's to say that his results have become more constant only from this year, while also last season he was very faulty (remember the ghost-straddles gate?), and his starting numbers where higher.
Here's the video of his run.
Leitmotiv of this weekend is the "first time": first career win for Ruiz-Castillo with her surpirsing run in Meribel's dowhill, she was bib #28 so it was one of that situation where podium and photo's are to be redone; first Giant-Slalom win for Pinturault, who already won a Slalom and Super-Combined and a City Event, but until yesterday he still missing a victory in his favourite discipline; and the there's the first World Cup for Maze and Slovenia.
What mostly intrigued me, though, was the second run of the Giant-Slalom where Neureuther wasted a great opportunity in front of his home crowd, he is from Partenkirchen.
Felix was leader at the end of the first run, with an impressive performance, coming into leader's corner with an high bib, #14, while the placement were mostly decided by the starting order: top 3 until Neureuther's run were bibs no. 2 , 1 , 3.
I'll start stating the obvious: Felix is a great champion, he is experienced enough (29 years old), he's always "up there" in top positions...
Although his experience and years of top placements it occurred to me that he hasn't often found himself as last man standing at the starting gate of a second run. He rarely was leader after first run.
And the pressure and tension to handle in that case is something hard to get used to. It really needs a strong mind-clutch.
Being there means that you've got everything to lose, I think it's very different from starting in any other position.
So I reviewed Felix's career to see how did he win and how did he do when leading after the first run:
20-01-2013 Wins Slalom in Wengen, but was 2nd after run 1 (run 1 report)
13-03-2010 Wins Slalom in Garmisch, best time in run 2 but was 5th after run 1 (run 1 report)
24-01-2010 Wins Slalom in Kitzbuehel, was 3rd after run 1 (run 1 report)
18-03-2012, Leads Slalom's run 1 in Schladming, 11th time in run 2 drop to 2nd place, Myhrer wins (race report)
That's all... a bit disappointed, thought I've found more relevant results.
Actually he mainteined the lead in some minor FIS, European Cup, National championships or Summer races but the poor field, no TV and less points made it a bit different.
The visible trend though, is that he tends to drop positions when in top positions (2nd or 3rd) after run 1, while he performs better after a bad run 1.
There's to say that his results have become more constant only from this year, while also last season he was very faulty (remember the ghost-straddles gate?), and his starting numbers where higher.
Here's the video of his run.
Apart from the big mistake he looked wooden, not as fluent as he was in run 1, and these are the effects of those everything-to-lose thinking at the starting gate.
A fluent second run as leader is something very uncommon, for now only Hirscher and Ligety (in Giant-Slalom) are able of it, and Maze and sometimes Shiffrin for the ladies.
Who knows whether this Neureuther-Hirscher "bromance" will take Felix also to this new ability?
A fluent second run as leader is something very uncommon, for now only Hirscher and Ligety (in Giant-Slalom) are able of it, and Maze and sometimes Shiffrin for the ladies.
Who knows whether this Neureuther-Hirscher "bromance" will take Felix also to this new ability?
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