I tried to figure out something about ladies Super-G but I came out with nothing.
As seen so far all the events of alpine skiing have been quite crazy, with all the favourites (but Hoefl-Riesch in ladies combined) flopping big and outsiders popping up everywhere.
That's all about this kind of events, where all that matter is being in one of the top three placements, so everyone push to 100% and the space between a big performance and a failure is very narrow, and failure in alpine skiing is also a line just 1 meter wider that results in few cents of second loss.
Only safe statement about what has happened so far is: "team Switzerland is in excellent form".
And Swiss have few good arrows to shoot in ladies SG: Gut, Gisin and Suter.
Hoefl-Riesch, Maze, Fenninger, Mancuso, Hosp among the others, while Goergl seems to be not liking this snow- she's always dangerous though-, Weirather is in the starting list but her forms should be vary bad after an injury in training that had her missing the downhill, same for Gagnon and Rebensburg -always struggling with health issues.
Opposing these last names is all I advice. With spring-time temperature an early starter winner is much possible, I'm not doing any specific name though as it didn't pay so far (I haven't posted the outcome of ladies DH, a bit late eh?):
Very heavy saturday as both gender are racing on the best (imho) downhill courses of their calendar.
Open brawl in women's one, where I honestly don't know what could happen. Maze likes this slope, but Maria Riesch looks like the one to beat. Fenninger, Weirather and Kaufmann-Abderalden, though, have been the most solid so far, while Gut's shape has little faded and Goergl's one has raised.
To all this there's to add the cancelled training, and due to fog start has already been lowered.
In men's DH I think there might be surprises -read Svindal could not win this. The vinking in fact doesn't like this course and has never won here (he also crashed dramatically last year).
I couldn't say who could replace Svindal on the top step of the podium though; my names are: Innerhofer, who usually does well here, and so do Reichelt; same for Kroell but his form doesn't look the best; my dark horse would be Beat Feuz: the Swiss has won here in 2012 and his season has been decent considering he's skipped last season
Interesting weekend, mostly because one of my favourite courses - Adelboden, with its breathtaking hump from which you can see the standings in the finish area, best camera angle of the Tour imo.
Giant-Slalom on Saturday and Slalom on Sunday for the men.
Ladies with a Downhill on Saturday (after only one training run) and a Super-Combined made of Super-G and a Slalom run
Here's my picks, for now. All on Saturday's ladies DH:
Hoefl-Riesch is favourite to win, honestly I don't know this DH but I don't think it's like Lake Louise.
Anyway Weirather, Gut and Elena Fanchini look all top competitor to me (along with Fenninger, who's odds are too low, though) and I fancy those pricese, above all Fanchini's ones: in 4 DHs she's been 3rd twice, 5th and a DNF.
And so I fancy them in head to heads: Weirather over Riesch; Gut over Maze, who's still far from the best shape; Fanchini over Goergl who's got nice Super-G results but hasn't backed them in Downhill.
I didn't find any good price for men's GS; I also have difficulties to read trends going on there: Ligety isn't the one he used to be last year - Olympics preapration maybe the cause - so Hirscher is closer same for the other topo one Pinturault, who though seems to lack of "the peak" to win.
Results form the two downhills, a little 1.8u profit.
Fanchini crashed, it was a strange crash after a jump but not on the landing, her run was too short to be commented.
Maze, though, made a good run and was 2nd behind Kaufmann-Abderalden at her 1st career victory. Swiss team was all over placing also Weirather (not Swiss but training with them) Aufdenblatten and Gisin in the top10. Gut was 25th and Suter 17th, and this says much about the characteristics of this slope: it's quite easy, all that matters is being fast, there are few key passages which you have to prepare so to come out of them with the right direction and speed.
Val Gardena's downhill as expected was a question between Canada and Norway, placing a combined of 5 athletes in the top 10. Guay won in front of Jansrud and Clarey.
Picks for sunday's Giant-Slaloms
In short:
Shiffrin was slow in her last slalom, it could be the physical preparation.
Brignone looked good before going out in last GS. She even finished in the top30 in super-g meaning she's in good shape.
Maze was 2nd in DH but I'm still doubtful on technical disciplines.
In men's GS I'm opposing Simoncelli and Rychard for the same motivations: they're in a falling phase and the change of ski radius last season emphasized this fall.
Same could be said for Blardone, anyway Dopfer isn't too brilliant at the moment and I don't trust him on a single at a low price, so put it in a double with Raich which should beat Olsson, but again the price is too low.
Nani - Luitz is a tough head to head between two raising youngster, anyway to me Luitz is like a one-event-man (Val d'Isere) while Nani is doing good everywhere.
Both ladies and men are up to downhills today. Sun is shining on both venues, that marks a big differences compared to mid-week trainings that were done either on snow or fog, included yesterday's men's super-g which had good 30 seconds of the course wrapped in a thick fog.
I don't remember Val d'Isere course, also because in the past the slope changed for the World Championships but I can't say in what year changed as well.
Val Gardena's Saslong, on the other hand has always been the same, the course it's "easy" but its easiness makes it hard to recover from mistakes, even little ones. Characteristics of this slope are the humps and jumps and its bulging ground.
Italians, although "at home", don't like this slope and use to perform badly, opposing them would be a goog move.
Canadians and Vikings -they also share radio reports- have a good tradition here. Last year US Steve Nyman won with an high number as he started with improved weather conditions and visibility.
Anyway I couldn't find any bettable selection for in men's DH, all pick are from ladies' one:
Elena Fanchini is among the most consistent downhillers (with Weirather and Fenninger) so far, showing great performances on all kind of conditions. Gut and Riesch have their favourite kinds of slope, technical and tough the first flat and easy the latter; Vonn seems back but I keep doubt on her shape; same for Maze whose shape still not the best.
Surprised to see Fanchini underdog vs Maze, and that price for the podium with so many doubts around those "above" her.
Picked Aufdenblatten on Suter as I rate Suter more like a Super-G-er than a downhiller, opposite consideration for Aufdenblatten. Low expectation on this anyway since both aren't consistent and could be either black or white.
I was totally wrong abut Goergl, underrating her. She's doing great in Super-G while Suter is performing below her standards at the moment.
Weirather confirms her good shape.
Riesch goes behind Gut by just .01s... aaargh, it was a juicy price.
Right impressions about both courses: St.Moritz is average for SG, speed little prevail on tech. Val d'Isere is strange, unconventional GS, lots of DNFs etc... that Ligety has won here only once says it all.
On to next races:
Lindell-Vikarby - Fenninger was taken earlier this week, thinking the price was wrong, odds have changed now proving my thought right. Also fancying Fenninger to win, with Wairather's win in super-g, now Anna is the one without wins of the three that are dominating this season. Technically she's improved a lot and she's got the skills to do better than others in the flat sections of this slope.
I haven't liked Worley this season till today, 9th in SG. She seems to have a great feeling with St. Moritz, she's got a 1st and a 3rd place in GS here, she's got a far better starting bib than Pietilae-Holmner, 6 to 18 so I see value in that price.
Brignone is improving, she's recovering the time off for injury and little by little could go back to the top position of GS, Hoefl-Riesch has a weak point in GS perhaps her worst discipline.
Long shot picking Gagnon for the podium, the canadian girl is in great shape and scoring good placements everywhere. Got a 1st place in a Nor-Am GS with other WC-level skiers (Zettel, Brem to name few).
Few picks in men's slalom, also given the easiness they're falling on this slope.
Pranger is one of the few to have a rilevant history on the "Bellevarde": Gold medal at the World Championships in 2009, while last year was 2nd after run1 but made a little mistake and finished 6th.
Deville is on his falling phase of his career and hardly reaches the top20.
World Cup back in Europe
Ladies in St.Moritz: saturday a Super-G, sunday a giant-slalom
Men in Val d'Isere: giant-slalom on saturday, slalom on sunday
Footnote of a post from last year: "In St.Moritz the slope offers a good variety for the GS. In Val d'Isere very narrow slope but well steep... strange comebacks in run2" Val d'Isere last year was thrilling. Local hero Pinturalt scored his first WC win in the night slalom, it was special because he won a slalom before winning in giant-slalom, his favourite discipline. In giant-slalom Hirsher won in front of Luitz and Ligety. Scandal was Ligety not winning, the features of this slope and the course setting made everybody think they've finally found a way to stop him - he won the next GS, in Alta Badia, with one of the most terrific performances I've ever seen (you'll easily find the video on youporn or nearby, for a skiing fan there it belongs). Luitz was at his first WC podium - a year later the best he's placed is 9th two weeks ago in Beaver's GS - he was bib #35 (his compatriot Neureuther was bib #36 and finished 4th). Luitz was placed 25th after the first run, scored the best time in run2 to recover up to the 2nd position, Nani made another interesting recovery from 29th to 10th place. St.Moritz lost the super-combined. Last year Vonn won the super-G ahead of Maze, who won the giant-slalom and the combi. Vonn is not racing this year, Maze isn't the absolute dominator she used to be. St. Moritz isn't particularly fashinating, it's average on many levels: lots of turns and "S", but not technical or challenging, fast but not even close to Lake Louise, some jumps but it's not Cortina. It's like a bigger version of a giant-slalom. Being the actual leader of giant-slalom the same of super-g I'm expecting the same names at the top: Gut, Riesch, Weirather, Fenninger Picked some bets earlier, prices tempted me.
First three picks refers to saturday's SG. It's Weirather - Fenninger again and I still see Weirather ahead. I see value in both Suter and Riesch prices. Riesch on this course could be closer to Gut, while I had priced Suter favourite against Goergl. Lindell-Vikarby vs Fenninger is from the giant-slalom market and I think this price is ridiculus and won't last long - Pinnacle makes Fenninger 1.7 to Vikarby 2.1.
Got a day short in posting and betting.
So this post will be a bit obsolete, but anyway...
Opposing the US didn't work, they actually showed signs of improvements in saturday's downhill and peaked yeasterday with Vonn finishing 5th in super-g.
The most disappointing thing of the weekend was skipping all the bets on Weirather after friday's lost ones. For the second DH there were the same odds in Weirather - Fenninger h2h market, and likely there were also for the SG.
Men's double was lost by just .02s thanks to a big run of Jansrud.
Weekend turn from profit to a 1.2 units lost and a ROI of -2.85%
Season finally getting on the heart: there will be races every weekend, but above all the fight for the standings is flareing up as contenders becoming more defined.
Ladies. Gut held on her WC lead on a course not suitable for her, runnind defensively in the two DHs and hit ting as soon as she could winning the SG.
Maria Riesch rose to the 2nd position, she easily dominated the DHs, but a big mistake in the SG prevented her from another solid placement. Being a top competitor also in slalom potentially she's winning big points in every event (super-combis and city-events included), she's now favourite to win the Crystal Globe.
Tied in third place Weirather and Fenninger are solid competitors, they are skiing at Gut's level and it's just a matter of time before they step on the top of the podium.
I'll limited the field of competitors to them. Maze and Shiffrin are more than 100 points behind Weirather/Fenninger, I'm about to rule them out with different reasons: Maze, as I said before, centered her summer preparation on the Olympics so she'll probably float mid-standing for another while, if form will eventually come she could have a Kostelic-like month although the lot of competitors has grown tougher in every discipline -hard task. Shiffrin runs for the win in slalom and giant-slalom, but though her regularity of results it's only two disciplines against Gut/Weirather/Fenninger's three and Riesch's four.
On men's side it's Svindal vs Hirsher again but with another character coming on the scene. Ted Ligety somehow increased the gap dividing him from the chasers in giant-slalom, and with solid super-gs and slaloms he could become an unexpected guest in the Cup fight.
Other interesting features: Bode and Vonn coming back, Janka and Jansrud as well.
Super-G surprise by Kueng (first Swiss win in centuries) and Otmar Striedinger
Italian speed team great form and GS team disaster, while France GS and speed are to be put back into perspective.
Here's the complete results of my yesterday picks.
Weirather let me down a bit, she got disqualified but her 5th place wouldn't have been enough anyway, although it was a confirmation of her form, 5th isn't that bad.
I can't actually say much about women's race since I haven't watched. I'll just say I didn't expect Fenninger this good on this course, maybe tough condition "helped" her, I mean she's a top performer in adverse conditions.
Hoefl-Riesch did what she was expected to do, Fanchini confirms her good period, my fault I didn't pay attention to her when in the reasoning that took me to pick Goergl for the podium.
Big luck with the boys - Paris finished in front of Franz by just .01s.
Svindal won proving he's the best. Only one training session on a new course (it wasn't the Bird of Prey, but a BoP-Raptor hybrid) it's a bit like racing a super-g, where Svindal excel even more than in downhill. Reichelt in great form, technically speaking he's flawless, Fill scored another good podium for the Ital-jet.
-------------------------------------------------
Today ladies are re-running the downhill, while boys have a super-g
Here are my picks, I'm fiercely opposing US ladies, yesterda the best of them was Julia Ford from the B-squad, Mancuso was 26th and Cook, Smith, Ross and Vonn all finished outside the top30.
I'll re-pick Goergl vs Stuhec almost at he same odd of yesterday.
I'll give a chance to Spaniard Ruiz-Castillo against Moser, Moser finished .10s ahead yesterday, but I feel like Ruiz-Castillo deserve to be trusted a little where she does good from the training sessions as it happened last year in Meribel for her first career win. Moser is still too erratic.
In mens SG I'll only bet on a double picking two austrian, Reichelt and Mayer, both with a terrific season opening. Jansrud back from an injury as yet to find the better form, while Heel hasn't convinced me so far where the course becomes curvy.
I'm in danger to come out with few fingers burnt after today's DHs.
Luckily enough I still don't get much about mens fast disciplines, plus there's been only one training before the race.
I took this early this week, well before the starting list came out, thinking the odds were good because Franz would have got a bad bib. Actually Franz in bib #14 so a good one. Paris is still better than Franz but the difference in their level isn't as large as the spread in their odds here, a bad call, shit happens.
I went crazy with the ladies.
I believe Weirather is in top form (2nd in DH and 3rd in GS last weekend), she's already done good here in the past as well, reaching the top3 twice.
From training Hoefl-Riesch looks like the one to beat she loves the easy course (has won here in the past) but she often shows a bit of nerves when she's the favourite or she's put under pressure, plus her odds were too low; Gut in my opinion is too light for this course, while Vonn's shape is too doubtful.
Cutting off Gut, Vonn, Maze, Fenninger (for she's too light too), Cook (because what I wrote about the US team in a previous post), I found Goergl a possible name for a top3 finish, she's been under par so far but would have got the 3rd place in last SG if she wasn't disqualified for some unregularities in her skis.
On to the head to heads.
Already said enough about Weirather's form, while Fenninger usually here performs better the SG than the DH.
Goergl 1.83 against Stuhec is ridiculus to me, I won't hide that I still have to understand what Stuhec is (technical, slippery, a mix of these) anyway she's still got difficult to find the top10 and her results are a roller coaster.
Aufdenblatten (along with the Swiss team) is in decent form she hasn't got a good relation with this course though while Merighetti finishe inside the top10 several times. The main reason behind this pick though is that Aufdenblatten is bib#1 so starting with no infos about the course.
Picked Marchand-Arvier over Fischbacher for the same reason of above, Fischbacher in #3, plus the high odds. And also because this course better suite to MMA, with many long flat section.
The tremble has to be staked with ease although made by large favourited: Sejersted did good in training, while Goggia is maybe too light for this course; Riesch is the favourite for the final win, Maze is in clear difficulties and this is not her kind of course; both Fanchini and Suter are in great form, but Suter is more a SGer than a DHer, she prefers technical courses to flat ones.
Back blogging; I have few thoughts to write down about what's happening on the World Cup. A decent amount of races already completed some trending becoming evident.
Maze doesn't amaze anymore
Unrecognisable in giant-slalom and in super-g where she showed some lethargic movements, a little sparkle came with a 3rd place in Levi's slalom.
She's collected just 130 points and is 7th placed in the Cup standing.
My humble opinion is: she's aiming the Olympics, her form will come later this season.
This and Vonn still out make the fight for the Crystal Globe interesting. Although some young guns are make it interesting anyway.
Young guns: Gut, Shiffrin, Weirather
The hot names of the moment.
Gut is finally proving her talent. Three wins on the first three races and a solid lead in the Overall Standing, then out during the first run of the GS... she's still kind of unbeaten so far.
Shiffrin won the opening slalom starting the new season from where she left, but as proof of her growing up there's her first GS podium. In very short she'll rule both technical disciplines -Hirsher teaches that they're enough to win the Globe, do your math.
Weirather more than a Tina 2 looks like Gut's double, they trains together indeed. Technically speaking Tina is less aggressive on turns than Gut but has better flat sections. 3rd place in Beaver's GS was her first podium in that discipline, made even greater by the fact she was bib #29, so she's lot to work on her Starting List.
Team talk: US, Norway.
The aspect that probably most intrigues me of this sport it's the [with Gandalf voice - it sounds a bit philosophical and I had a teacher who... long story, nevermind] duality Team-Athlete: it's true that you're on your own out on the slope, but that is just a drop in the sea of training either on slopes and in gyms (plus other pre-season exercises like running and cycling), all shared with teammates. So when you leave the starting gate you put on course your individual value, your liking or disliking the slope, the course setting, other mental factors and so on, but beside this there's a big slice of the pie made by training, which is the same for you and your teammates. It's not uncommon seeing few flags of the same nation gathering at some point of the final standing of a race.
For example tennis is individual, and training is individual too. Pro-tennis players have their own staff and there aren't groups of players with similar trends. Yet Errani and Vinci since they started working together showed "similar" progress and reached their career best rank almost at the same time.
All this to say that I love talk teams.
US have to thank Shiffrin, who all alone saved the USskiteam on home soil from what looked like a Little Bighorn. Although she has to be considered more by herself than as part of a team -sorry, Resi!-, where US really team-up is in fast disciplines: Vonn and Mancuso are top racers while Smith, Ross and Cook are solid teammate worth of top10 placements. The best this bunch has done is Cook's 19th place in DH.
The most probable explanation to this is their preparation that has to be centered on the Olympics, this would be typical of the US above all of Mancuso: she better performs on biggest stages like Olympics or World Champs than on tours stages - she's won more Olympics medal than Vonn, to say.
Opposite form is showed by the Norway team, or Vikings as they're nicknamed. Actually they're not at the very top but this is a young team and after few years passed fighting for a top30 placement now they're finding the top10 with some continuity.
Ragnhild Mowinckel was the one showing the greater improvement, previous to her 8th place in Beaver's GS she scored great results in some "warm-up" events held in Copper Mountain. Almost all those events were won by Lotte Sejersted, on the World Cup satges she probably was the most disappointing though, with only a 10th place in Super-G.
The elder Loeseth, Nina, was 12th in Beaver's GS backing her 7th place achieved in Levi. She's recorded a 1st and a 3rd place in two Nor-Am GS kept this week.
The younger Loeseth, Mona, remained in the old continent competiting in European Cup record a win and a 4th place in GS and a win and a 2nd place in SL.
Other team worth mentioning are Swiss (+ Weirather), with solid team either in fast and tech disciplines, and Canada.
South American Cup went on in La Parva (Chile) with a Super-G and a Super-Combined (by adding a slalom run to the SG time) for both men and women.
Men's Super-G
Another German youngster on the top of the podium but surprisingly this time is not Ferstl, who has been detronized by fellow countryman Klaus Brandner -a regular in European Cup though with no top10 placement, and one WC appearence (59th in Garmisch last season).
Frenchman Theaux completes the podium leading the French troupe which has placed many skiers (including few new names) here and there within the top20.
Slovenian Sporn is 10th while Perko 12th.
Argentinian Cristian Javier Simari Birkner 16th is the first South American, but it's not good news as Ferstl overcame him in the SAC standing, and he might lose his first SAC overall since 2000.
Men's Super-Combined
Super-Combined has always been a bit in the limbo, on the verge of cancellation, but there are few specialists of this discipline, Mermillod-Blondin, winner here, is one of those - he had few podiums also in WC, including Kitzbuehel this year. Another specialist is Zrncic-Dim who was 3rd.
Ferstl held strong his 2nd position, there weren't previuos relevant results neither in slalom or super-combined from him.
4th the young Frenchman Valentin Giraud Moine, who was 14th after the SG; followed by Cristian Simari Birkner, but as said wasn't enough to seize Ferstl and now the Cup is in danger.
Other nice comebacks from the British duo Crawford-Baldwin, 20th and 21th in the order after SG and American Roberts, a slalom specialist from US university circuit, who recorded the best time of the run and raised to 10th place from 27th.
Women's Super-G
Tina Weirather geared up to win the Super-G, preceeding Fabienne Suter and Lara Gut in a podium not so different from those of the World Cup.
Then there's a long plot of Swiss skiers broken by a girl from a B French team, followed by Ilka Stuhec who has showed consistency here in SAC.
Women's Super-Combined
Weirather and Suter manteined the placements they achieved with the SG while Kaufmann-Abderhalden stepped on podium also thank to another slalom letdown from Gut. She couldn't be defined as specialist of the Super-Combined but she is better in slalom than the average downhiller.
Good runs for Stuhec, Strachova -formerly Zahrobska- world class slalomist, and young Russian Yakovishina consistently in the top 10 here in Chile.
I'll leave with few videos:
As I mentioned it before: Lara Gut crush in super-combi at the World Championships in Garmish.
I'm sorry but I can't help but think the crush is funny.
Vail-Beaver Creek 2015 are taking shape, and women's speed track has just been named Raptor (because 'murica). Link
In La Parva took place some speed events valid for the South American Cup, but which involved some names of relevance also for the World Cup.
Men's downhill 1
Josef Ferstl finished in the top 30 only twice in WC, 9th in Garmisch, 30th in Kvitfjell. He has some good placements, with some wins and podiums in European Cup though, and also was 3rd in DH standind in 2012.
Brice Roger, scored several top 30 placements last season in WC and also was 15th at the Championships in Schladming. A good up and comers
Not much to say about Russian Alexander Glebov, he can easily dominate National Champs but no important results on main tour.
Just down the podium Clarey leads the group of France's veteran which includes Fayed, and out of the top10 Bertrand, Theaux, W-Champs DH bronze Poisson, Mermillod-Blondin and W-Champs SG silver De Tessieres.
Other interesting names: UK's hope Crawford and Baldwin, who's found several top10 finish here in Chile; Slovenia's Perko and Sporn
Men's Downhill 2
Josef Ferstl doubled the succes, followed by his countryman Andreas Strodl who hasn't competed since 2011.
France scored a good team-result: Theaux was 3rd, Clarey 5th, Bertrand just behind, while Fayed, Poisson, Mermillod-Blondin and De Tessieres ended inside the top 20. Roger didn't race.
Good 4th place for combined specialist Zrncic-Dim and the two Britons both in the top 10
Women's Downhill 1
Swiss team makes big thing from the start placing all the atlethes in the top 10.
4th placed Joana Haehlen is the only new name, she has never raced
in WC, some good placements in European Cup and couple of medals at the Junior Champs.
Good 3rd place for Slovenian Stuhec, and two Russian novice Yakovishina 10th followed by her countrywoman Bedareva, both class '92.
All Ferk and Brodnik from Slovenia and Weirather from Liechtenstein finished inside the top 20.
Women's Downhill 2
Switzerland still dominating. Gut didn't take part as well as Weirather.
Another top 10 finish for Stuhec and Yakovishina while Bedareva was 11th again.
Gisin showed great appreciation for La Parva on her blog, even though internet and news have some difficulties to make their way up there.
Long morning of fast speed today.
At 10:30 (CET) kickoff of ladies' downhill in Garmisch, followed by men's downhill in Kvitfjell at 11:45 (CET).
In his homeland Svindal is seeking points for both Overall and Downhill Globes.
In Germany Maze needs at least a 4th place to keep alive her hope for the Downhill Cup.
Yesterday the Super-G in Garmisch was affected by the early worn of the snow, that played an important role for the winner, Tina Weirather.
Today I expect something similar to happen: h2h Marchand-Arvier - Gut - pick Marchan-Arvier 2 units @2.42Lost -2
Marchand-Arvier is bib #9, Gut is 15.
Gut still too much up and down. She's aggressive and takes many risks resulting in some great performances and many mistakes. Allegedly the bad snow conditions won't suit her style. Still she's able of doing anything.
Marchand-Arvier, as the whole french team, recently has leveled up her performances.
h2h RuizCastillo - Weirather - pick Ruiz-Castillo 2 units @2.37Lost -2
Ruiz-Castillo in no.8, Weirather is 17 in the starting list.
As said before Weirather took great benefit from her low number, #3, yesterday to claim her first career win.
And so did Ruiz-Castillo, #4, who was 6th, 0.33 s behind Weirather.
So the two are close in their skills.
Ruiz-Castillo recently claimed her first career win, last weekend in Meribel; she has worked a lot and partly with the french team and results are coming for her.
-4
No way Marchand-Arvier can beat Gut when Gut is in a good day.
Anyway both lost because it's worked opposit to my thinking: the course has become faster as the race went on.
In other news Maze made history beatind Hermann Maier's points record of 2000 overall points.
Long weekend of speed events starting with a Super-G, replacing the one cancelled of Val d'Isere.
The two Super-Gs are different: sunday's one is the classical Super-G entirely along ladies' slope, "Kandahar 1"; this one has a little variation starting from ladies' start going a little on men's slope and then going back to ladies' slope just before the section called "Hoelle" (hell).
These little variations, never practiced before, could cause some troubles for early starters.
Maze, already Overall winner, is aiming the cup of Super-G, she has a good margin to defend from Julia Mancuso.
Fenninger is back from an injury but from downhill's training seems she's feeling well.
Other hot names are the germans Hoefl-Riesch, who's from Garmisch, and Rebensburg, winner of last World Cup Super-G.
h2h Ross - E.Curtoni - pick Curtoni 3 units @2.15Lost -3
Mainly against Ross, bib #2, while Curtoni is #14.
Curtoni seems to have a great feeling with this place, and her results are constant enough.
Ross has highs and lows.
h2h Weirather - Sejersted - pick Sejersted 1 unit @2.25Lost -1
Little shoot against Weirather who hasn't entirely recovered from an injury in late december and her results have been pretty disappointing since then.
Sejersted still struggling to find some top spot, but she's little leveled up since the Championships.
Weirather #3, Sejersted #6.
-1.72
Not a great race on a course not so difficult, and with snow early worn.
After very few numbers "2nd tier" athletes really struggled to make a good time even though the perfarmance was mistake-less.
Weirather bib #3, Hosp bib #1 and Ruiz Castillo bib #4 were leading in this order up to the top seeded starters.
Weirather's lead held, and the girl from Liechtenstein maged her first career win, ahead of Maze and Mancuso, tied at+.12 from the leader. Mancuso keeps her chance to rip the Super-G Cup off Maze.
Last time there's been a race here was six years ago, very few racer are still in the "circus".
From interviews it seems that this slope is really hard, very technical.
Today's time trial was cancelled so there's been only one, where Lara Gut won, but missining some gates.
Time trial aren't really a good proof as racer don't go down 100%, someone skips gates, somene tries only some section.
Anyway Lara Gut seems very pumped, and she's better on technical slopes than on flat ones.
So I'll try her to podium. Gut to podium 2 units @2.50
h2h Cook - Weirather - pick Cook 1 unit @2.56
Little stake against Weirather, who had an injury recently and with less training in the legs might suffer this hard slope.
Cook has had a great season so far with two 2nd places in Lake Louise, but the two slopes are very different
