Women’s Alpine World Cup 2023/24

[Rudi Riet]

Someone
Somebody
Umm... is this thing on?

 

[James]

LGB
Hector
Brignone

 

[DocGKR]

Audi FIS Ski World Cup Are (SWE)

www.fis-ski.com

Brignone wins, Hector 2nd, LGB in 3rd; Moltzan 10th, AJ 11th.

 

[Teppaz]

Brignone's second run was for the ages. She threw herself down that course with 100% aggression. Amazing to watch! LGB hasn't technically clinched the GS title yet so the finals should have extra pressure. Speaking of LGB: what a season. Her consistency has been stunning. I wonder if she'll retire on top.

 

[Cat1210]

LGB says she’s coming back next year.

 

[James]

View attachment 228580
Brignone
Ljutic
Robinson

You got first place, I got second.
Since I picked the podium I’m just going to declare victory and celebrate.

LGB
Hector
Brignone

 

[4ster]

You got first place, I got second.
Since I picked the podium I’m just going to declare victory and celebrate.

I’m not gonna go look but I think this may be the first time I didn’t pick LGB for a podium in any event she skis this year. I kinda feel like I cursed my other 2 picks even if they were long shots.
One of my favorites before her injuries Brunner skied well today. Cassidy Gray has been on my radar since Tremblant. Whether she finishes or not, she rips!
Fede’s second run “come from behind” was impressive & what makes ski racing fun to watch!!!

mañana…

Shiffrin
ASL
Hector

 

[Teppaz]

I’m not gonna go look but I think this may be the first time I didn’t pick LGB for a podium in any event she skis this year. I kinda feel like I cursed my other 2 picks even if they were long shots.
One of my favorites before her injuries Brunner skied well today. Cassidy Gray has been on my radar since Tremblant. Whether she finishes or not, she rips!
Fede’s second run “come from behind” was impressive & what makes ski racing fun to watch!!!

mañana…
View attachment 228667
Shiffrin
ASL
Hector

Fede had the best time of run 2 and Hector had the 25th. Quite the gap.

 

[Mike King]

Wow! Won by 1.24 seconds! Welcome back, GOAT!

 

[Awalkspoiled]

Ridiculous. It's like she's skiing a different course. Her team gets a lot of credit for ushering her into the gate ready to run, but she's in another league once she gets there, and we're lucky to see it.

 

[DocGKR]

Audi FIS Ski World Cup Are (SWE)

www.fis-ski.com

Nice to see Gisin on the podium; also another top 10 for Moltzan.

Paula Moltzan seems to consistently be the 2nd best current USST racer after Shiffrin. Since Moltzan came up through the NCAA, perhaps USST should spend a bit more effort fostering NCAA racers and give them a bit more respect....

 

[Rudi Riet]

Agreed about the NCAA as a preparatory environment for elite racing. The Norwegian and Swedish teams have known this for decades, with the Canadians coming on board with it recently.

The problem is that the ingrained culture at U.S. Ski and Snowboard is to identify talent early and silo said talent within their internal development track: D Team, domestic FIS and Nor-Am, and then a handful of World Cups. Europa Cup is often completely off the table.

And NCAA? Like I said in the Men's Alpine World Cup thread:

as the USST and U.S. Ski and Snowboard don't have full control of NCAA racing they seem to give it a bit of a cold shoulder.

I really think it's the lack of total ownership of NCAA racing that has USST "conveniently ignoring" the circuit as a way to develop athletes. It's to their detriment, to be honest as there are a lot of Moltzan-style athletes coming through the NCAA pipeline.

That said, it's worth noting that Moltzan was part of the USST internal development track before she went to UVM. She'd disappointed within the USST system, flaming out a bit, before going to UVM and racing with the Catamounts. In that environment she grew stronger, more savvy, and much faster. When she did well at the Killington World Cups a few seasons back (basically as a walk-on, not working within the full USST system) she showed that her college racing experience had given her an extra gear.

That U.S. Ski and Snowboard continues to hide their collective heads in the sand on this potential goldmine (and the money savings that come from having the schools pay for the training and many of the races). C'est la merde.

 

[James]

Great to see Ljutic get second. I love that Michelle Gisin got on the podium in “click-clack”, as she calls slalom.

I guess Ligety was right in that interview about Shiffrin. He was saying she would only enter if she thought she could win it, and since she entered she was healthy.

 

[4ster]

Holy Smokes! That 2nd run was amazing “slice & dice”!!
96!!!

Always good to see Gisin do well. Ljutic deserved her podium, wonderful skiing

 

[James]

Smoked the last two sections. That’s a good sign. She seemed pretty spent in the finish.

 

[ski otter 2]

Wow! Thanks for posting that.

Agreed about the NCAA as a preparatory environment for elite racing. The Norwegian and Swedish teams have known this for decades, with the Canadians coming on board with it recently.

The problem is that the ingrained culture at U.S. Ski and Snowboard is to identify talent early and silo said talent within their internal development track: D Team, domestic FIS and Nor-Am, and then a handful of World Cups. Europa Cup is often completely off the table.

And NCAA? Like I said in the Men's Alpine World Cup thread:



I really think it's the lack of total ownership of NCAA racing that has USST "conveniently ignoring" the circuit as a way to develop athletes. It's to their detriment, to be honest as there are a lot of Moltzan-style athletes coming through the NCAA pipeline.

That said, it's worth noting that Moltzan was part of the USST internal development track before she went to UVM. She'd disappointed within the USST system, flaming out a bit, before going to UVM and racing with the Catamounts. In that environment she grew stronger, more savvy, and much faster. When she did well at the Killington World Cups a few seasons back (basically as a walk-on, not working within the full USST system) she showed that her college racing experience had given her an extra gear.

That U.S. Ski and Snowboard continues to hide their collective heads in the sand on this potential goldmine (and the money savings that come from having the schools pay for the training and many of the races). C'est la merde.

This is really a shame. And it's kind of shocking. Back in the day, Collegiate racing was a pathway to the Olympics: many racers used it, and top U.S. Olympic coaches were College coaches also, at places like C.U. (Bob Beattie & Bill Marolt), DU. (Willy Scheffler), Dartmouth and Cornell. One could make a who's who list of great racers and coaches who skied and coached in college programs.

What a shame that has all slipped away, apparently!

 

[ski otter 2]

Kind of ironic, then: The CU Buffs just won the national collegiate title, their 21st.

 

[BrianB]

According to Saalbach’s website, hot and wet weather forecasted for this weekend. 13° C on Sunday is 56° F

 

[James]

Just sad

 

[Cat1210]

MS is only going to slalom. She says she’s doing well but has run out of time to get in all the training she needs for GS.