Giant Slalom - Sölden

Well, although it’s been a good summer for sport – I’m glad to say it’s once more winter sport time! The first event of the new FIS season is the Women’s GS from Sölden, from the Rettenbach glacier at about 3,000 metres above sea level. Some early concern about fog and new snow, but the visibility improved and the resort team cleared the snow to leave an icy base as Lizzie Görgl opens the new season, on what I understand will be the steepest GS on the programme! Controversial changes to the GS ski equipment for this year – slightly longer, and thinner in certain parts of the profile which apparently requires more physical input from the skier – could make for some surprises?

Today - 66 starters for the first run, but alas no Brits. Viktoria Rebensburg (Ger) made a good start, but the first surprise of the day was last year’s outstanding performer, Lindsey Vonn (USA), who made a small error – looks as though the new skis punish that, as she ended quite a way down on Rebensburg – looks like a wide spread of times today? Tina Maze (Slo) however seemed very happy with her new kit and set a very impressive time for the first run, with Tessa Worley (Fra) also very competitive. Some big names missing today due to illness and Germany’s Maria Höfl-Riesch was not certain to start after flu, but still managed a respectable run, although her legs looked a bit shaky! Later starters suffered a bit from the fog drifting back on the upper parts of the course, making the steep section even more testing, so nice to see Gagnon (Can) put in a good time to get into the top 10, displacing Vonn. With most of the big names down, the situation after run 1 looks like – Maze; Worley and Rebensburg in the top 3 places separated by just over 1 second with Zettel best of the Austrians in 4th – M H-R is 7th and Vonn 12th; nice to see Gisin (Swi) in 10th after all the stick I believe the Swiss women have been getting in their press! Next run live at 1245 (UK time, I hope)

Well – not good conditions, but after a delay of about 1 hour, the fog lifted a bit and run 2 got under way. I’d forgotten how excruciating Nick Fellowes’ tortured pronunciation of names can be, but nice to have the coverage back!!! Susanne Weinbuchner (Ger), a wild card entry (?), was second down the new course and made a great start from 29th place to take the lead, holding it for an impressive time, as conditions began to worsen again. She was eventually dislodged by Jessica Lindell-Vikarby (Swe) and after that the lead began to change quite often. It obviously wasn’t Lindsey Vonn’s day - just as she looked to be recovering from a poor start she clipped a gate and went out – seemed to have hurt her wrist but hopefully nothing too serious? As the visibility got worse and the snow heavier, Stephanie Köhle (Aut) put in a very aggressive run, building on her advantage to take the lead – local crowd went wild! Nice to see Gisin (Swi) also going well in what I understand isn’t really her type of discipline; at that stage 2nd. Maria H-R seemed not to be over her flu, looking very tired on her second run (and remember it’s at about 3,000 metres), but ended up 11th to score some points, which should be some consolation. Local hopes had another boost with a superb run from Kathrin Zettel (Aut), which put her into the lead; both Rebensburg and Worley then went out in truly awful conditions, which just left first run leader Tina Maze to spoil the Austrians’ day. She began with an advantage of -1.59, which remained at the first split – from there it ebbed away, but not enough for local hopes – Maze took the win by -0.42 from Zettel and Köhle with Gisin 4th ahead of Fenninger and Gagnon, surprisingly perhaps the best of the north Americans! Testing conditions, but a very exciting start to the season.

Well, what a change – overnight the wind seems to have died away, but winter has arrived in the shape of 40/45 cm of fresh snow! Something of a headache for the jury, although an army of course workers have cleared most of the racing line – apparently it is also a little warmer, so the course is less icy and maybe a bit softer – even more of a challenge with the new GS skis, which I understand don’t work as well in softer snow? Anyway – difficult conditions or not, the jury have decided to start as planned, and the first men’s event is running – 71 starters today, with a reduced start interval to get things completed! Early pace in run 1 from Hannes Reichelt (Aut), but a DNF for Max Blardone – as he only races GS that’s a significant chunk of his season gone already. Apparently Ted Ligety (USA) likes the new kit and it shows – a massive 1.48 faster than Reichelt; surely that’s going to be tough to beat?

So, what do I know; with conditions improving, Thomas Fanara (Fra) nicks it by 0.04! Great run too from slalom specialist Andre Myhrer (Swe), but no Beat Feuz today (despite appearing on the start list) apparently due to knee problems. That’s the top 20 down, but with the snow stopped and the sun out some of the later starters could perhaps cause upsets – as Manfred Mölgg (Ita) shows with a good run into current third place. With 30 skiers “down” the run 1 placings are Fanara, Ligety and Mölgg (only 0.16 seconds between them), then Myhrer, Baumann and Jansrud – although the weather is better, the course is getting rutted and the battle now is to get inside the top 30 to qualify for run 2.

Run 2: The snow is back with a vengeance, as is the fog and so once again the vis is not good as run 2 starts! Good debut day from Adam Zampa (Svk), getting his second run and making a good job of it – with 10 of the 30 qualifiers for the 2nd run down he’s holding on to the lead! Conditions seem to be getting worse if anything, and the list of DNFs starts to grow; including such names as Berthod and Svindal! Eventually Hannes Reichelt (Aut) manages to end Zampa’s dream, and Benni Raich makes it an Austrian one two until Gauthier de Tessieres (Fra) splits them. Here we go – the big boys are coming; Marcel Hirscher (Aut) takes the lead as the snow gets even heavier. More excitement as Manfred Mölgg (Ita) puts in a very brave run and takes over the lead – now it’s Ted Ligety, and he’s actually building on his advantage; a massive lead of 2.75 seconds at the line; absolutely brilliant! Fanara just can’t match that and can only manage 4th. So, what a performance from Ted Ligety, taking the win by over two and half seconds from Mölgg and Hirscher. Fanara was 4th, then Defago, Reichelt, G d T, and Raich with Adam Zampa managing to hold on to 9th – good effort from him.