World Cup Has Heated Up with Beaver Creek World Ski Championships in Sight
Mother Nature was close to her most temperamental, ski race organiser-baiting, wintry worst across Europe's mountains last weekend (January 16-19). Yet despite some forced rescheduling, the latest round of World Cup skiing managed to take place, and thank goodness it did.
The action in Cortina d'Ampezzo and Wengen, for the women and men respectively, captivated in its own right and also set the scene for a crucial few weeks in the hunt for honours this season.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Coupled with this weekend's latest World Cup races in St. Moritz and Kitzbuhel, it was essentially part one of two in a tradition-laden precursor to February's World Championships (with next Tuesday's night slalom in Schladming the appendix). The stories told had value as standalone tales, but they were naturally also part of varied grander narratives.
For Elena Fanchini and Carlo Janka, it was about the joy of experiencing long-awaited victories in front of compatriot crowds.
The Friday downhill course in the Dolomites resort was shortened for Fanchini and the other female skiers, leaving it just over the one minute limit for the discipline. Undermined by troublesome visibility and with less time to work with, some struggled to build up sufficient speed.
For Fanchini it was made to measure. Not only did she produce a season best performance, she also skied her strongest run in almost a decade.
"I have been through so many injuries in my career," she reflected on a period which extended back to her last win at Lake Louise, per the official FIS website. "My knees and my shoulders got hurt, but I am so passionate about the sport that it was impossible for me to even think to stop at any stage."
Janka's wait was not so long, but would have felt just as arduous for him.
Heart surgery in 2011 came at a point when the then-24-year-old could do little wrong in his career. A world champion and Olympic gold medalist in giant slalom already, he would go on to win his fourth World Cup race in the event just weeks after the operation to correct his irregular heartbeat.
A barren period followed for the Swiss star—no wins in four years, no podium places for two. Just how problematic his heart issue was here will only be truly known to him. But after he took the Wengen Alpine combined on the same day as Fanchini's own hoodoo-breaking success further south, Janka, still a youthful 28, revealed his intention to push on again.
"To be back on the podium, to be on the top of the podium after a long time, it means a lot to me," said Janka, per the FIS website. "When everything is working well, anything is possible. That happened today, so I’m looking forward to Sunday’s downhill because my confidence is good now."
Janka did indeed please home fans further with a respectable third on the Lauberhorn. He and Fanchini are proof even those not in great form can pull one out of the bag. A timely reminder ahead of this week's big races, not to mention the upcoming opportunities to claim those much-desired metallic accessories at the Beaver Creek Worlds.
The weekend's other success stories captured great individual moments, too, notably in regards to two skiers' legacies.
Winning on the daunting Hahnenkamm in 2014, Hannes Reichelt added the Wengen downhill to his classics set when he narrowly pipped the Swiss pair of Beat Feuz and Janka. Over in Italy, Lindsey Vonn took World Cup wins number 62 and 63 in the rescheduled Cortina second downhill (full-length) and super G. Her dominant showings on the Olympia delle Tofane course saw her equal, then move ahead of Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Proll in the all-time records.
As far as the present is concerned, their victories had potentially exciting ramifications, too.
Reichelt's win not only put him in a good frame of mine ahead of an attempted repeat on home snow at Kitzbuhel, it put the Austrian just over 100 points shy of Kjetil Jansrud in the World Cup downhill standings. The Norwegian—who finished fifth in Switzerland—will be keen to rebound after he finished off the podium in his last two downhill races.
The women's overall title is Tina Maze's to lose (she is 331 points ahead of second-place, defending-winner Anna Fenninger), but with a downhill and super G this weekend in St. Moritz, Vonn is in a good position to strike in the hunt for individual titles in the speed disciplines.
Maze and 2015's bright starters Viktoria Rebensburg and the aforementioned Fanchini will be keen to pull the American back in the former. In the latter, Vonn is chasing Fenninger and the reigning super G title-holder Lara Gut.
In the men's slalom in Wengen (moved to the Saturday to allow the downhill the more suitable Sunday date) a surprise twist occurred last weekend when Marcel Hirscher straddled in his first run. Without the Austrian—who leads the men's overall and GS standings—to contend with, Felix Neureuther recorded his second win of 2014-15 to move ahead in the slalom table.
With two slaloms scheduled in Austria in the next five days, there is scope for Neureuther to drive on forward towards a first slalom title, or for the competition to tighten further.
World Cup points, potential victories and the final competitive opportunities to build form for the World Championships—Mother Nature permitting, this weekend should be another good one.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
