The Men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup continued after Christmas in Santa Caterina, Italy with a downhill and on the following week with a slalom.
Downhill
The downhill in Santa Caterina took place in rough conditions; some skiers even lost their ski on the icy and bumpy course. Adrien Théaux of France dominated the race and beat the second-placed Hannes Reichelt of Austria by 1.04 seconds. The 2013 downhill World bronze medalist David Poisson achieved his first World Cup podium finish with a third place, 1.15 seconds behind his countryman Théaux.
The most spectacular performance of the race was Italy’s Christof Innerhofer skiing down with a gate pole. He hit a gate during his run and the gate flag got underneath his goggles’ strap with the gate pole hanging from the flag. Despite the gate pole, Innerhofer was able to set a time that was enough for a fourth place, just 0.07 seconds from the podium.
The Santa Caterina race was difficult for the downhill World Cup frontrunners. The leader Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway finished seventh, 1.61 from Théaux. Second place in the standings, Guillermo Fayed of France, finished ninth, and third place in the standings, Kjetil Jansrud of Norway, finished only 27th.
The downhill standings’ top three remained the same after Santa Caterina, however, Svindal extended his lead over Fayed to 117 points and over Jansrud to 163 points.
Slalom
The slalom of Santa Caterina had a very tight first run. Russia’s Alexander Khoroshilov was leading the slalom World Cup leader Henrik Kristoffersen by 0.07 seconds and the three-time defending slalom champion Marcel Hirscher by 0.10 seconds.
Austria’s Hirscher set the quickest time of the second run that the first run’s top two couldn’t match. Kristoffersen finished second, 0.21 seconds behind, and Khoroshilov was third, 0.32 behind.
Fourth place was tied between two Germans; Fritz Dopfer and Felix Neureuther lost 1.07 seconds to Hirscher.
Henrik Kristoffersen remains in the slalom World Cup lead. Second-placed Hirscher halved the gap to 20 points whereas Khoroshilov climbed to third place, 166 points from Kristoffersen.
The overall World Cup lead has been changing hands between Hirscher and Aksel Lund Svindal since December’s Val Gardena downhill. Svindal claimed the lead in the Santa Caterina downhill, yet Hirscher claimed it back in the slalom race and leads now by 85 points. Kristoffersen took the third place by 60 points from his countryman Kjetil Jansrud and is now 250 points from leader Hirscher.
Next stop: Adelboden, Switzerland
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Adelboden starts a series of classic races in January, followed by Wengen and Kitzbühel on the following weeks. A giant slalom will take place on Saturday and a slalom on Sunday.
Giant Slalom
The defending giant slalom World Cup champion and last year’s Adelboden GS winner, Marcel Hirscher, has started the season strongly in giant slalom - three wins and a third place. Chuenisbärgli in Adelboden has been a successful slope for him, five wins with two of them in giant slalom. He is the biggest favorite to win Saturday’s GS.
The most successful GS skier of this decade, Ted Ligety of the USA, won the season-opening Sölden GS but has struggled since due to back and hip issues. A strong second run in the last GS in Alta Badia to finish fourth was promising but he’s already 204 points behind the giant slalom leader Hirscher. Also, Chuenisbärgli has been quite an unsuccessful slope for him; the 2013 win is his only GS podium finish in Adelboden.
With Ligety struggling, Hirscher has new rivals in GS this season. Victor Muffat-Jeandet of France is second in the GS standings, though already 109 points behind. He is still to win a race, yet in his third-place finish in the last GS in Alta Badia he was leading after the first run.
Henrik Kristoffersen is fourth in the GS standings, 170 points from Hirscher. The three-time GS junior World Champion isn’t yet ready to be a title contender in giant slalom, yet he is a strong contender for race wins. He is yet to win this season, however, he finished second in Alta Badia, just 0.19 second behind Hirscher. Last year he finished third and achieved his career-first World Cup GS podium finish in Adelboden.
Felix Neureuther is a more experienced challenger for Hirscher. Despite only one podium finish, he is third in the GS standings, 153 points from Hirscher. Adelboden has been his most successful giant slalom; Neureuther scored his only GS win there two years ago as well as finished third and achieved his first GS podium finish three years ago.
Thomas Fanara of France hasn’t been able to repeat his performance from the season-opening GS of Sölden where he finished second, between Ligety and Hirscher. Alta Badia was the only GS after Sölden that he finished, only in 18th place. Yet if he could find the form he showed in Sölden, he could be a contender for the podium positions, even for the win. Two of his nine podium finishes are from Adelboden, yet he is still to win a World Cup race.
Slalom
Henrik Kristoffersen and Marcel Hirscher are favorites also in the Adelboden slalom. Before the second place of Santa Caterina, Kristoffersen won the season’s first two slaloms by over a second. He already has made the slalom podium in Adelboden, a third place in 2014.
Marcel Hirscher achieved his first slalom win of the season in Santa Caterina. The slalom in Adelboden has been successful for him; he has made the podium in each of the last six years, including three consecutive wins from 2012 to 2014. Although he beat Kristoffersen in Santa Caterina, he couldn’t match him on the steeper slopes in Val d’Isère and Madonna di Campiglio. The Chuenisbärgli slope in Adelboden has a very steep final section, which may be an advantage for Kristoffersen against Hirscher.
Alexander Khoroshilov, third in last season’s slalom World Cup, found his form in Santa Caterina and finished third. The quickest time of the first run in Santa Caterina showed he can challenge Kristoffersen and Hirscher.
One must not count out the last three seasons’ slalom World Cup runner-up Felix Neureuther, despite his mediocre start to the season. He has so far one slalom podium finish this season (third place in Val d’Isère), though he hasn’t yet showed the pace to win races. He is only fourth in the slalom World Cup, 170 points from lead.
Fritz Dopfer, second of last year’s Adelboden slalom, has been struggling especially in giant slalom this season. Slalom is his better chance for success, especially as he just achieved his best result of the season in the Santa Caterina slalom where he finished fourth.
Stefano Gross of Italy won last year’s Adelboden slalom. Repeating that feat seems very unlikely, so far his best result this season is a 12th place in Santa Caterina.