These stars are still about crystal balls

The ski winter is entering the decisive phase. This is how the starting position in the battle for the individual ratings presents itself for the last third of the season.

Eleven races before the end, Mikaela Shiffrin is clearly leading the women’s race. The defending champion has more than 700 points ahead of technology specialist Petra Vlhova (Slk). With only four technical races left on the schedule, things seem to have gone well.

In men it is not so clear. With Marco Odermatt, the defending champion is also in the lead. With eleven races to go his lead is just over 300 points. Both he and his first pursuer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde are in excellent form, every point can be decisive. But the advantage lies with the Swiss.

The ball fight can hardly be surpassed in terms of tension. With four races to go, 18 riders are within 200 points. With Lara Gut-Behrami, a Swiss is also leading the way. As the first pursuer, she is only 30 points behind Ragnhild Mowinckel (nr). For the Ticino it would be the fourth victory in the discipline classification after 2014, 2016 and 2021. With a strong final sprint, victory is theoretically still possible for Corinne Suter (8th, 114 points behind).

The men have two more Super-Gs to ride. Two athletes are eligible for the ball: Marco Odermatt and Aleksander Aamodt Kilde. The advantages lie with the four-time winner of the season, Odermatt, who is 148 points ahead of Kilde (two wins). The Swiss could grab his first Super-G shot next week in Aspen (USA) – if he wins and Kilde doesn’t get better than 7th.

For the last three women’s downhills, Sofia Goggia has the best cards to take the small ball. The Italian leads Ilka Stuhec (Sln) by 108 points. The two would have to determine the winner between themselves.

Marco Odermatt may be crowned Men’s Downhill World Champion, but he hasn’t yet won a race in the World Cup. Aleksander Aamodt Kilde (5) and Vincent Kriechmayr (3) shared the wins this winter. The advantage in the ball fight lies with the Norwegian, who is 156 points ahead of the Austrian for the last three descents.

For the last two races, Mikaela Shiffrin is 118 points ahead of Lara Gut-Behrami. Theoretically, the Swiss still has a chance to catch the ball. However: Shiffrin has won six of the last seven giant slalom events (including the World Championship). If she doesn’t give up, the ball is hers.

Four giant slaloms are outstanding, Marco Odermatt is 70 points ahead of Henrik Kristoffersen (No) and 130 points ahead of Zan Kranjec (Sln) – even though he missed a race due to injury. The world champion competed six times (including the World Championships) and won five times. The second giant ball in a row should be hard to take away from the dominator of the season.

The ball is awarded to women. Mikaela Shiffrin has a 255 point lead in the last two races. This makes her the first athlete to be the best in her discipline this season.

Dumeng Giovanoli (1968) is the only Swiss to win the slalom World Cup. Daniel Yule gets the chance to become his successor. He is only 36 points behind Lucas Braathen (nr) with two races to go. The question is: how well did the Walliser digest the World Cup disappointment (24th place)? In addition to the two, last year’s winner Henrik Kristoffersen (No) is also participating. The backlog of Ramon Zenhauser of 103 points is probably too big. (bir)

Source : Blick