Lthe World Cupcortina d’Ampezzo (February 8-21) are the first big date outside of the Alpine Ski World Cup if the presence of Marcel Hirscher. The withdrawal of the Austrian giant (seven world golds) has triggered competition in technical tests. The relay of dominance that seemed to the Norwegian Henirk Kristoffersen it has not been such.
There are many names that aspire to a medal. To these 10 that we choose are added Foss-Solevaeg, Matthias mayer, Johan clarey, Alexander Aamodt Source, Manuel Feller, Filip Zubic… Because the Cortina is presented as a slide with strong sensations.
The French is the leader of the general of the World Cup and has reached a point of maturity to be in the very well placed medalist pools. Overcome the coronavirus, Pituperman started the season like a plane, but arrives in Cortina with some doubt. In the last four races the most he has achieved is third place. He recognized that he needed a few days of rest both to clear his mind and head. Find your first gold big after hanging in 2017 that of the Team Event and in 2019 that of the Combined.
If you are tired of being second behind Marcel Hirscher, to the point that everyone believed that his era began with the withdrawal of the Austrian. However, it has gone from disappointment to disappointment to frustration. Lately it’s easier to see him angry and running off the track than on the podium. If he channels all that anger at once, no one will be as favorite as him in techniques. More if you correct the problems with the external supports. He arrives at the World Cup after showing his two faces in Chamonix: out at the first doors on Saturday and winner on Sunday. It will be his fifth World Cup and he only has the gold in the Giant two years ago in re.
With two slalom races remaining in the World Cup, the Crystal Globe is on the brink of candy. Until this season he had not finished on the top of the podium in a Slalom. They debut in Abeldoben and repeated in a temple in his country such as Schladming. It has imposed its law on a regular basis: seven podiums out of the nine slaloms and always in the top 10. Give it to the gold? It is the big question. It is his third World Cup. Two years ago he was bronze in Slalom and Combined and silver for teams.
With 21 he tiptoed through the World Cup. Two years later, it is a reality that confirms the five golds at the 2018 Junior World Cup in Davos. There, five of the six golds were finished Buochs Swiss neck. I just stopped winning in Slalom, which was for Clement Nel. A Cortina arrives as third in the general of the World Cup and as a candidate for everything in the two tests in which he already knows what it is to win in the elite: Gigante and Super Gigante.
From his 200 centimeters this Swiss from Brchen has shown this season that you have to count on him. He arrives in Cortina after a second-place double in Chamonix and sending signals that he is ready to win, something he has only achieved twice outside the Parallel: the 2019 Slalom in D and the Alta Badia this season. He was gold with the Swiss team in the World Cup team event.
Along with Christoffersen, possibly the best talent out there for the Slalom. But this student from the University of Savoy does not find the consistency that led him to break the mold in 2019. In Chamonix he won again after a year without triumphs, but the next day he did not finish. As soon as a chilling sleeve is scored as it does a silly wheelie or throws a good lead overboard. In Cortina it will be a melon to be opened.
The big favorite for the queen of speed, the Downhill. Forgotten the serious health problem that put much more than his sports career at risk, the Neverita has 17 podiums and five victories in the last three seasons in the world Cup. The one of cortina d’Ampezzo It will be his sixth World Cup and his best memory is gold in D, in 2019. He has three crystal globes in Descent and is on his way to fourth.
One of the sensations of the season in the Sper-G. He was facing it after a ruptured Achilles tendon and the first thing he did was win in Val d’Isere and be second in Val Gardena. The news is the performance after such a serious injury, because the Swiss won the overall last year. He arrives as one of the favorites to Cortina and to remove the thorn from his three previous World Cups in SG: 17, 20 and each. It was booked at Garmisch last weekend.
Another coming from a serious injury, this one to the knee. It has not recovered its best version, but almost. He has left clues that he has little left to win again. He likes the march, like the leading heavy metal band, and you always have to have a brave skier like few others who grows when he runs at home. If someone did not count on him, his victory on Friday the Descent of Garmisch Partenkirchen It should make you reflect.
After more than a decade in the World Cup, two World Cups and a few Games, he starts as a candidate for gold in the Super Giant (he was silver in the 2019 World Cup) and also to play metal in the Relegation if he has a good day , as happened two years ago when he took the bronze. It may not have the menacing name of others, but its results in speed are to be taken into account. He arrives at Cortina with the victory in the SG of Garmisch, for a balance this season of two victories and one second place in the five tests this season.
February 9, Supergiant, 13.00 hours.
Feb. 10 Combined 10.00 (SG) -13.30 (Slalom)
February 14th Decline 11.00 hours.
February 16th Parallel 14.00 hours.
February 17th Mixed Team Event (12:15 pm).
February 19th Giant 10.00 a.m. and 1.30 p.m.
February 21st Slalom 10.00 a.m. and 1.30 p.m.