{"id":800119,"date":"2019-10-06T15:28:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-06T21:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.summitdaily.com\/news\/shiffrins-wins-chinas-debut-set-to-star-in-alpine-ski-season\/"},"modified":"2019-10-06T15:28:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-06T21:28:00","slug":"shiffrins-wins-chinas-debut-set-to-star-in-alpine-ski-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/local-news\/shiffrins-wins-chinas-debut-set-to-star-in-alpine-ski-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Shiffrin\u2019s wins, China\u2019s debut set to star in Alpine ski season"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Mikaela Shiffrin of Eagle-Vail competes during the women’s super G race at the Alpine ski World Cup finals, in Soldeu, Andorra in March. A new Alpine ski season starts this month with Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel Hirscher, and Aksel Lund Svindal all retired.<\/strong>
Gabriele Facciotti \/ AP File | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

ZURICH \u2014 While Mikaela Shiffrin is the expected superstar of a new Alpine ski season, China\u2019s debut race can be the surprise success.<\/p>\n

The World Cup record book is at Shiffrin\u2019s mercy before the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics based on the pace of her 17 wins last season.<\/p>\n

Skiing looks to the American star in a season without a major championship, and after three of its four biggest names retired.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no Lindsey Vonn, no Marcel Hirscher, no Aksel Lund Svindal \u2014 all Olympic and overall World Cup champions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree names in that category is a big loss,\u201d acknowledged Atle Skaardal, who as women\u2019s race director watched Vonn\u2019s great career and Shiffrin\u2019s emergence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are confident that new names will step up,\u201d Skaardal told The Associated Press at a World Cup pre-season meeting Friday. \u201cThe sport is bigger than a single person.\u201d<\/p>\n

The World Cup circuit takes a leap forward by going to China for the first time in its 53-year history.<\/p>\n

Expectations were initially not high for an Olympic downhill course 90 kilometers (55 miles) from Beijing. The area has few mountains and little natural snow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are going to see the ski world will be surprised,\u201d said Bernhard Russi, the master architect of Olympic slopes and the 1972 downhill gold medalist in Japan.<\/p>\n

The men\u2019s races at Yanqing in February will be a highlight of a season starting Oct. 26 in Soelden, Austria.<\/p>\n

SHIFFRIN\u2019S WORLD<\/p>\n

Shiffrin\u2019s 2018-19 season was remarkable. Her third straight overall World Cup title was a procession of 17 wins in 26 races. She added two gold medals and a bronze at the biennial world championships.<\/p>\n

Only careful management of Shiffrin\u2019s race schedule saved the all-time World Cup points record set by Tina Maze in 2014. That 2,414 tally seems within sight in a 42-race schedule.<\/p>\n

Still, it\u2019s not her main target, the U.S. team\u2019s Alpine director Jesse Hunt told The AP. \u201cHer goal is to win races, and she is comfortable with the workload.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shiffrin now has 60 World Cup wins, fifth most all-time. It\u2019s likely only Vonn (82) and Ingmar Stenmark (86) will be left to chase next season.<\/p>\n

Greatness is best seen in a rivalry, and Shiffrin now has that with Petra Vlhova.<\/p>\n

The Slovak racer, aged 24 like Shiffrin, won five World Cup races last season and took three medals home from the worlds, including giant slalom gold.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a very healthy one,\u201d Skaardal said of their duel. \u201cThey have a huge respect for each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

AFTER MARCEL<\/p>\n

Men\u2019s skiing had the same World Cup champion for eight seasons. Hirscher opted last month to stop in peak condition at age 30 to enjoy family life in Austria.<\/p>\n

The two rivals who most often shared Hirscher\u2019s slalom and giant slalom podiums start favored to succeed him.<\/p>\n

Alexis Pinturault and Henrik Kristoffersen are suited by a 46-event World Cup program weighted against speed racers.<\/p>\n

Pinturault posted a video message to Hirscher last month, acknowledging: \u201cBecause of you and thanks to you I became a much better athlete.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Frenchman has prepared with the kind of bigger entourage designed for a champion.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has to have a good start to the season,\u201d said Didier Defago, the 2010 Olympic downhill champion, who predicts the same extra pressure on Kristoffersen now both are expected to achieve more.<\/p>\n

BREAKOUT STARS?<\/p>\n

With 12 men\u2019s slaloms, Pinturault could be denied points by his teammate Clement Noel, part of a taller new generation of racers.<\/p>\n

Noel, the 2018 junior world champion, won three times last season.<\/p>\n

Swiss prospect Marco Odermatt won three junior world titles in 2018, and was on the podium at two World Cup giant slaloms in March.<\/p>\n

Another junior world champion, Alice Robinson of New Zealand, was 17 when finishing runner-up to Shiffrin at the final World Cup giant slalom in March.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN OUTLOOK<\/p>\n

With Vonn retired and Laurenne Ross taking a year off after injuries, the U.S. gets two healthy racers back in the speed team.<\/p>\n

Alice McKennis, third in her previous downhill 18 months ago, and Jacqueline Wiles both missed last season, U.S. Alpine director Jesse Hunt noted.<\/p>\n

Veteran Ted Ligety will help mentor a men\u2019s roster getting overdue reinforcement in technical races.<\/p>\n

River Radamus and Luke Winters, junior world medalists who have won on the second-tier North American circuit, are tabbed to step up.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey need to make that jump this year,\u201d said Hunt, targeting top-15 finishes initially.<\/p>\n

In downhill, Bryce Bennett is aiming for the podium after a run of top-5 places.<\/p>\n

LACK OF SPEED<\/p>\n

The International Ski Federation is concerned about too few racers in women\u2019s World Cup downhills. The problem runs deeper in youth racing.<\/p>\n

Women\u2019s race director Peter Gerdol, in his debut season, aims for fewer injuries on safer courses.<\/p>\n

Race organizers will cut the height and length of jumps \u2014 \u201cto let the racers get a little bit more confident. Then we can build it up again,\u201d Gerdol said.<\/p>\n

CHINA\u2019S PLAN<\/p>\n

Some thought China\u2019s 2022 Olympics bid was a test for the 2026 campaign.<\/p>\n

Instead, European candidates melted away and Beijing is now less than 2 \u00bd years from hosting.<\/p>\n

Artificial snow will start to be sprayed next month on the slope staging men\u2019s downhill and super-G World Cup races on Feb. 15-16.<\/p>\n

A second Olympic slope, being built nearby for slalom and giant slalom, is still \u201ca construction site\u201d this season, Skaardal said.<\/p>\n

Defago, the assistant to course designer Russi, describes a challenging course with \u201cfour big jumps, two steep parts, a dramatic passage at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

It should time at around 1 minute, 55 seconds and be more testing like the 2014 Sochi Olympic course than the 2018 one in Pyeongchang.<\/p>\n

The women have their speed test races at Yanqing in 2021.<\/p>\n

via:: Summit Daily<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikaela Shiffrin of Eagle-Vail competes during the women’s super G race at the Alpine ski World Cup finals, in Soldeu, Andorra in March. A new Alpine ski season starts this month with Shiffrin the expected superstar and China poised to be a surprise success. Shiffrin is the sport\u2019s most bankable star after Lindsey Vonn, Marcel […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-800119","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-local-news"},"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-25 00:18:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSMT The Mountain","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800119","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800119"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800119\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800119"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800119"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800119"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}