{"id":2450373,"date":"2019-10-25T23:04:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-26T05:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/news\/skiing-starts-quest-for-hirschers-successor\/"},"modified":"2019-10-25T23:04:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-26T05:04:00","slug":"skiing-starts-quest-for-marcel-hirschers-successor-with-opener-in-soelden","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/skiing-starts-quest-for-marcel-hirschers-successor-with-opener-in-soelden\/","title":{"rendered":"Skiing starts quest for Marcel Hirscher\u2019s successor with opener in Soelden"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Gold medalist Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, center, silver medalist Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen, left, and bronze medalist France’s Alexis Pinturault celebrate in the finish area of the men’s giant slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, and after Marcel Hirscher\u2019s retirement and his 8 straight overall World Cup titles, expectations are on Alexis Pinturault and Henrik Kristoffersen to step up.<\/strong>
Christophe Ena\/AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

SOELDEN, Austria \u2014 The Alpine skiing World Cup is entering its most unpredictable season in many years.<\/p>\n

The retirement of Marcel Hirscher has opened up the fight for the overall championship again, with a handful of racers tipped as main candidates to succeed the record eight-time overall champion.<\/p>\n

The season-opening giant slalom on the Rettenbach glacier on Sunday might give a first indication of the new pecking order, with France\u2019s Alexis Pinturault and Norway\u2019s Henrik Kristoffersen expected to take leading roles.<\/p>\n

Pinturault finished runner-up to Hirscher last season, and the Frenchman increasingly resembles the Austrian standout.<\/p>\n

For three years now, Pinturault has been living in Austria during winter to optimize his training opportunities, often sharing the same practice hill with Hirscher.<\/p>\n

And like Hirscher, Pinturault will now travel the World Cup circuit with his own team.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow all year I am having my own staff around me,\u201d Pinturault said. \u201cIt makes things a bit easier because they exactly adapt to my plans and needs and that\u2019s really important for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Also, Pinturault has started to learn German, the common language in the Alpine skiing world with its strong base in central Europe.<\/p>\n

What still separates him from Hirscher are eight overall World Cup titles. His second-place finish from last season, trailing by 325 points, was the closest Pinturault has been.<\/p>\n

He is well aware of the expectations he is carrying in the post-Hirscher era.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we are the big favorites, with Kjetil (Jansrud), with Henrik, with Dominik Paris,\u201d said Pinturault, a winner of 23 World Cup races and seven medals at major championships. \u201cWe have a lot more pressure now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked if he was feeling the added pressure too, Kristoffersen said no, not anymore, after learning his lesson last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned a lot last year, when there was a lot of talk like: \u2018Now you have to beat Marcel for the overall as he might be coming toward the end of his career,\u2019\u201d the Norwegian said. \u201cThere was a lot of talk like this and that was just too much for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

His lesson learned? Do not focus on the overall title.<\/p>\n

\u201cI shouldn\u2019t say I don\u2019t care about the overall, but at the moment I don\u2019t think about it,\u201d Kristoffersen said. \u201cThe coolest thing is to cross the finish line and see the green light and win the race. That\u2019s the coolest thing, the adrenaline when you win a race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, winning enough races will keep Kristoffersen in the race for the sport\u2019s most coveted prize.<\/p>\n

He entered the World Cup near the end of the 2011-12 season, which was the year when Hirscher started his reign.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was always chasing him,\u201d Kristoffersen said. \u201cI was also beating him sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Specializing in slalom and GS, just like Hirscher, Kristoffersen finished runner-up to the Austrian twice, in 2018 and two years earlier, when he beat him to the slalom season title.<\/p>\n

His intense fights with Hirscher, especially in slalom where they pushed each other\u2019s boundaries, have been one of the highlights of the men\u2019s World Cup in recent years. But Kristoffersen did not believe that his rival\u2019s retirement will affect his own approach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are only motivated to ski faster when there is someone else who gives you the motivation, then you have the wrong motivation. It has to come from within,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Kristoffersen has just extended his contract with equipment supplier Rossignol and also settled a long-term sponsorship conflict with the Norwegian federation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are definitely less distractions now,\u201d he said. \u201cI have my own team within the group, which I am really happy about. Everything is much more calm and it suits me. But it\u2019s a sport with small margins so everything has to work out perfectly.\u201d<\/p>\n

PARIS\u2019 CHANCE<\/p>\n

No super-G and downhill specialist has won the big crystal globe in the past 10 years, but Dominik Paris could be the one to do it.<\/p>\n

Before Hirscher\u2019s dominance, Ivica Kostelic (2011) and Carlo Janka (2010) lifted the prize, making Aksel Lund Svindal the last true speed specialist as overall champion in 2009.<\/p>\n

With more technical than speed events among the 44 races in this season\u2019s calendar, the streak is unlikely to end. Still, Paris won four downhills and three super-Gs last season, earning him third place in the final overall standings. Add some points from GS races, and he could be right up there.<\/p>\n

No wonder that Paris will start in Soelden on Sunday for only the second time in his career.<\/p>\n

ODERMATT\u2019S MOTIVATION<\/p>\n

Comparisons to Hirscher were inevitable when Marco Odermatt won six junior world titles in 2018. The Swiss skier, now 22, has meanwhile made a successful entry to the World Cup with two podiums in giant slalom.<\/p>\n

Still lacking experience, the all-rounder has the advantage that he can score points in all disciplines. Probably it\u2019s too early to make it all the way to the No. 1 spot, but \u201cthat people believe in me gives me additional motivation,\u201d Odermatt said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what I am capable of and what I want to achieve, and that\u2019s how I go into the new season.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gold medalist Austria’s Marcel Hirscher, center, silver medalist Norway’s Henrik Kristoffersen, left, and bronze medalist France’s Alexis Pinturault celebrate in the finish area of the men’s giant slalom at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. A new Alpine ski season starts this month, Oct. 2019, and after Marcel Hirscher\u2019s retirement and his 8 […]<\/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":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2450373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 11:43:56","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":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2450373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2450373\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2450373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2450373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2450373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}