Skiing Season 2013/14

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A thread for all forms of skiing. Whether you're a skier, or just a casual observer, feel free to join in and let's get some conversation going.

Some really good news! Firstly the BBC is reporting that " British cross-country skier Andrew Musgrave stunned his Norwegian rivals by winning their national sprint freestyle race in Lillehammer. Though ineligible for gold as a foreign entrant, the Scot, 23, beat a field packed with skiers fighting for places on Norway's world-leading Olympic team".

And, although it really ought to be in the sliding thread, the BBC also have the following about the skeleton WC: "Britain's Lizzy Yarnold claimed her fourth skeleton World Cup gold of the season with victory in Austria.  Yarnold, 25, completed her two runs in a combined time of one minute 49.04 seconds, with USA rival Noelle Pikus-Pace 0.32 secs back in second.  It was the British slider's seventh medal of the season". Brilliant stuff.

Aaaaargh - women's downhill from Cortina has been rescheduled to Sunday because of heavy new snow! No news at present about the men in Wengen; fingers crossed!

Yes, I too have seen the reports on the BBC. Good news for Andy Musgrave and a big fillip for the Winter Olympics Team GB.

There is quite a bit of optimism emanating from the GB camp at this time, for the Games, especially in the women's sliding events. Perhaps it's a little bit early to get carried away but the omens, so far are good. Let's hope it all turns out well. We'll see

The women's downhill from Cortina was scheduled for this morning on Euro, but as you say, it has been postponed because of the weather. It always gets a chuckle from my wife..... "Ski racing cancelled due to snow" she says, while laughing like a drain.. Grrrrrrrr...!!

Women's Biathlon from Antholz-Anterselva is still on, as far as I know, at the moment and I think we'll both enjoy that. Soukalova is currently leading the World Cup standings in the pursuit at the moment, is that right..?

At the start of the pursuit Gabi is leading the discipline points on 164, just up on Valj Semerenko on 162 but neither are there today; Valj isn't at Antholz and Gabi was DQ'd in the sprint so is also out of the pursuit. Next is Kaisa M on 155, and she is there!

Phew.... that was an exhausting race.  Henkel looks knackered, and I'm not surprised.  

I thought that the section just after the shooting range was quite tough.  Straight onto an uphill section with another one shortly after.  The racers will have just got their heart rate stabilised whilst on the range, only to gave to up it all over again.  

Not for the weak and feeble, is it..?

I see Wengen is on, but with a lowered start. Enjoyed the biathlon, a very exciting race! That really is a sport for the physically and mentally tough - look at the number of misses at S4! That really blew it for Kaisa and Bescond, among others.

Yes, Bescond, the French girl was leading after shoot 1, too..!!

Watching the race from Wengen too. It does seem a bit of a contradiction for the longest downhill of the season to be starting from a lowered gate, doesn't it..? Even with a shortened race, though, one or two of the racers legs have gone by the time they get to the finish.

This is one serious race.

I know this may not sound nice, but there's a part of me that's not unhappy to see Bode Miller not winning, today. There are some things in sport that are (or should be) sacred and one of those is Franz Klammer's record of 3 wins on the Laverhorn. Bode currently has 2 (2008 & 2010).

Don't get me wrong.... I respect and admire Bode. He is a great racer. But FK is an all time hero of mine and for me, he will always be the master of Downhill. I know records are made to be broken, but I hope this one stands for a very long time yet.

For me, my all time heroes (as far as alpine skiing goes) definitely include Herman Meier and Didier Cuche; Bode is good but not yet in that company - Svindal closer!

Ahhh, the Herminator. Yes, he was good, as were Pirmin Zurbriggen, Peter Muller and Kjetel Aamodt.

Svindal is leading the World Cup at this time and really is the man in form. He is the best of the current crop.

Well, masses of venue changes and rescheduled stuff! Well done to Lizzie Görgl for winning the Super G today (with Maria Höfl-Riesch a very close second, which will boost her lead in the overall). Anyone know why Stefanie Koehle was DQ'd?? Meanwhile Bode Miller is the fastest in training for the Kitzbühl downhill!

Also ZDF seem to be reporting that Thomas Morgenstern will be going to Sochi despite his recent training accident.

Not such a good run today for Lizzy Goegle in the downhill at Cortina D'ampezzo this morning.   She took what looked at first like a heavy fall, but she was ok..... gave the thumbs up straight away.

Maria H-R was imperious on her run and shattered everybody else's time.  It really was a textbook lesson in how to handle a course affected by overnight snow.  The start gate was moved about 500 metres further down from the planned start. 

I'm having a nice lazy morning in front of the box, tee hee hee...!!  I've got an empty inbox so I've settled down with coffee and Toblerone to watch wintersport.   As Friday mornings go, it doesn't get better than that.

Conditions in the men's slalom from Kitzbuhel don't look good.  Visibility poor and pretty heavy snow falling.  Marcel Hirscher, the first racer down, does NOT look a happy bunny with the snow on his goggles.  He's just spat out his dummy at the bottom of the course.

I heard the news on Morgi.  It hasn't been fully confirmed yet, that I've seen, but I hope he makes it. 

They make 'em tough in ski jumping.

Quite a difficult year so far with the weather; either not enough snow or too much at just the wrong time! I see the Maribor events for the women next weekend have been moved.

Great run from Maria H-R today (missed Schmidhofer sneaking into 3rd if the ticker is to be believed) , but I haven't yet seen any of the Kitzbühl slalom on TV, just a glance at the ticker - it's apparently on the red button at 1700 so I'll try to catch it then (no biathlon to distract me!!!). Ted isn't going to be happy though, is he??

Well done Felix Neureuther; probably enough said except that conditions for that second run looked very testing!

Well, not sure what the live ticker was going on about last night - there was some suggestion that the Cortina downhill was changed to a Super G due to heavy snowfall (leftover comments from a previous week?), but in fact it's a beautiful day and the race is going ahead on the full Olympia delle Tofana course; it looks lovely there, although I personally don't fancy doing 130+ kph on skis!    Lovely run from Tina Maze who looks like getting the win; I had hoped that Maria H-R might have done the double; she'll probably be a bit disappointed with that run but if she stays in 4th then that will give her some useful points. Also good to see Lizzie Görgl up and racing after yesterday's crash, and Schmidhofer putting in another good run. OK - it's official - Maze gets her first win of the season from Marianne K-A and Tina Weirather with Maria H-R 4th.

Meanwhile, in Kitzbühl it's time for the men's downhill on a modified course (a variation apparently last used in the late 90's, when Didier Cuche won) - not so nice there - bit misty and the course looks very icy.

They're away on the hahnenkamm and it is very quick and icy.  David Poisson has set the pace with 2.05.40 and it looks competitive although you never really know, do you, until a few of the big names have had their run.

I'd love to do 130 kph on skis <laughing> but I fear it would probably be a terminal experience.

As I write, Puchner has crashed out.  He doesn't look badly hurt but he's certainly had the wind knocked out of his sails.  There's no shame in being beaten by the Hahnenkamm..... many a big name has come a cropper on this mountain.... he'll put that down to experience, methinks.

After 7 racers, Poisson still leads.  Bode's got the 11 bib.  We'll see how things stand after he's had his run.

I thought Mayer was looking pretty good but Miller was even more impressive; liked Max Franz's run too - thought he might nick it, but as a consolation his "Cuche helicopter ski removal" was the best I've seen for a while!! Nasty crash by Beat Feuz but he seemed to be up and moving around - that's a mean looking course even in the modified form. Just wrote off Svindal after looking at the early split times, but ye gods what a final section to beat Bode's time - the commentators said it would need a superhuman effort, and that was certainly it! Seems like several skiers can go faster on the upper sections, but lose it lower down - until Hannes Reichelt! What a race!!

Svindall....... Brilliant.    I have seldom seen any skier attack a course like Aksel did on that run.

I feel sorry for Bode, but he's been thumped off the top of the podium by the hottest skier on the tour this winter.

This is shaping up into a great race on a serious mountain.

Well, missed the last race of the 4 at Cortina d'Ampezzo - it's not quite over yet but it looks like a win for Lara Gut with Tina Weirather second and Maria H-R third (now confirmed). Quite a good weekend for Maria; 2nd in the first Super G, won the first downhill, 4th in the second downhill and now a potential 3rd in the last Super G. However it was also a good session for Maria's nearest competitor in the overall standings, Tina Weirather whose tally is 4th, 2nd, 3rd and 2nd in the same order (I think today will be her 10th podium this year). Chemmy Alcott in 23rd in that Super G, which is a bit more like it - brave effort.

Ladies Downhill points: Maria H-R 475, Tina Weirather 400, Marianne K-A 389, Anna Fenninger 344.

Ladies Overall: Maria H-R 1071, Tina Weirather 943, Anna Fenninger 871, Lara Gut 796, Tina Maze 754, Mikeala Shiffrin 614.

Interesting night slalom from Schladming last night (on the BBC red button, amongst others). Exciting stuff - Kristoffersen won it from Hirscher and Neureuther which leaves the overall points tally quite interesting - Svindal on 897, Hirscher on 875!! This weekend sees a downhill (vice Garmisch) and a GS; chance of good points for both of them!?

Mario Matt crashed out of the men's slalom at Schladming. Going last on the second run with a 0.07 advantage he simply missed the fifth gate for no obvious reason. I can only assume the pressure of the situation got to him, although you wouldn't expect that of a racer with 15 world cup wins to his name.

Henrik Kristofferson wasn't complaining. He went from fourth on the first run to obtain his first world cup win. Congrats to him.

I don't think there is any sport in the world quite like ski racing for surprise results out of the blue.

Rats! Lucky I didn't get up too early to see the first run of the women's GS from Kranjska Gora (moved there as Maribor had insufficient snow), as due to too much snow, plus wind and stormy conditions, the race is cancelled. Hope that it improves for the slalom tomorrow (sadly my least favourite discipline of the alpine events). Meanwhile the men are due to race downhill at St Moritz in about 20 minutes - perhaps better there? There's also a women's classic x-country on at Toblach, which I think Marit Bjørgen is winning from Johaug and Kalla although the ZDF ticker shows the current leader as someone from Kazakhstan - one of their odd little glitches, methinks!

Yep, Marit won the X country with 18 seconds to spare.  It was a Norwegian 1 - 2 with Therese Johaug taking second place on the podium.

Marit has to be one of the hottest favourites for gold at Sochi, of anybody.  It's difficult to imagine anything short of alien abduction preventing her winning.

Euro have just announced that the Men's Downhill at St Moritz has been delayed.  Grrrrrrr

Double rats - just rushed back in to catch the downhill and, like 4L, discovered it delayed - too cloudy! New start 1215 CET; no - make that 1245! Got excited when Brice Roger took off his jacket and went towards the start gate, but then the mist/cloud rolled back in and visibility in the middle of the course was awful - another delay and the start has been announced as 1330 CET - couple minutes later and the vis is possibly the best so far, but with a new start time announced I think they have to stick to it - may have missed a chance? As ZDF say - es ist jammerschade! (a new one on me - "it's a terrible pity"). Well, cloud out, cloud in, etc - sounds like the Hokey Cokey! Anyway - still not good and the start slips another half hour to 1400 CET; not sure how long they can keep delaying before they run out of time.
I think that cross country result keeps Johaug in red & yellow but I'll check (prefer freestyle/skating to classic so tend not to watch the classic events). Yep - according to the FIS site Johaug leads both overall and distance points totals, with Denise Herrmann leading the sprint

Well, that's both of today's events cancelled. Good and bad news for Svindal - the bad news is that he's missed the chance to get points in the downhill today; Hirscher is only 22 points behind him in the overall standings, and has to be a better bet for points in tomorrow's GS, if it happens! The good news is that Svindal, with today's cancellation, is on 440 points in the downhill standings. His nearest competitor is Hannes Reichelt (360), but he's recovering from a very recent operation on his back - third placed Patrick Küng is only on 239. Not sure how many downhill races remain (apart from Sochi - does that count? - it looks like just Kvitfjell and Lenzerheite), or if it's mathematically possible to close the gap.

Bleausardv2 wrote:Well, that's both of today's events cancelled. Good and bad news for Svindal - the bad news is that he's missed the chance to get points in the downhill today; Hirscher is only 22 points behind him in the overall standings, and has to be a better bet for points in tomorrow's GS, if it happens! The good news is that Svindal, with today's cancellation, is on 440 points in the downhill standings. His nearest competitor is Hannes Reichelt (360), but he's recovering from a very recent operation on his back - third placed Patrick Küng is only on 239. Not sure how many downhill races remain (apart from Sochi - does that count? - it looks like just Kvitfjell and Lenzerheite), or if it's mathematically possible to close the gap.

I've never known the Olympics to qualify for World Cup points. There are only Olympic gold medals at stake in Sochi. (Only, he said..!!  ) 

It's always more advantageous to the guy at the top of the rankings if a race is cancelled. True, he is deprived the opportunity to go further ahead, but the chasers will feel the effect of the lost points more. They have fewer opportunities to make up the ground.

I've attached a link for the FIS system of points awarding. If you can work out whether or not Svindall can be caught, you're a better man than I, my friend.

http://www.fis-ski.com/mm/Document/documentlibrary/AlpineSkiing/02/06/69/FisptsEdition11314_v6_complett_Neutral.pdf

The Fourth Lion wrote: I've never known the Olympics to qualify for World Cup points.  There are only Olympic gold medals at stake in Sochi.  (Only, he said..!!   )

I was a bit confused as in biathlon I'm fairly sure they did used to include Olympic races in the points! Big fuss when, this time, they decided that the Olympic races would not count, especially as the decision didn't seem to be widely reported. Frankly, I've rather given up trying to sort out scoring systems - the biathlon ones are odd as they seem to change from year to year! Luckily it's not just me - I seem to recall that last season several commentators tied themselves in knots trying to predict series winners!!

Let's hope for better luck tomorrow - should have a good chance of the races as I will be out!

Predictably, I was out and everything seems to have gone ahead on time!! In the women's slalom at Kranjska Gora there was a maiden win for Frida Hansdotter, ahead of the Schilds (Marlies pipping Bernadette). Not a very good day for Maria H-R down in 23rd, but at least her nearest rivals in the overall points Weirather & Fenninger don't seem to be listed in the 2nd run results and Tina Maze was DQ'd so Maria has actually pulled away a little.

Not so lucky for Aksel Lund Svindal at St Moritz in the GS though. Great win by Ted Ligety but crucially Marcel Hirscher was 2nd ahead of Alexis Pinturault while Aksel skied out. Obviously Svindal got no points yesterday as the downhill was cancelled, but Hirscher picks up a good handful today (fairly sure it's 80), but he certainly has the lead in the overall standings! Overall - Hirscher 955; Svindal 897; Pinturault 774

Over to recent cross country - something a bit different - there is coverage of the 46 Km classic race from Ettal [Sunday 2 Feb]; the König Ludwig Lauf on You Tube at Video. Interesting race (even if it was classic style) and some lovely scenery especially in the opening part.

If anyone has a link to the freestyle version which was on the Saturday, I'd love to see it!

Missed the first men's downhill from Kvitfjell (the race that should have been in Garmisch), but hope to catch it on Eurosport later. A win for Georg Steitberger with Kjetil Jansrud second (has the man no shame, beating poor Aksel again when he needs the points!?) with Travis Ganong third. Erik Guay 4th and Svindal 5th; Bode 16th. Well done Eurosport (not) - advertise the repeat at 1900 and it's freestyle instead - I don't know why they bother with a schedule because they so often do something else!!

Drat - women's downhill in Crans Montana delayed (too much fresh snow) until 1200 GMT (at present) and in Kvitfjell they are salting a warm downhill course to try to harden it up! Sadly I'm just about to go out and miss the action - have to hope it's repeated. Good early run from Didier Defago; looking at the split times of the next few, Defago seems to have skied the lower section of the course well - it's also starting to snow a little which might not help the later start numbers? Just as I type, Werner Heel takes over the lead! Great run from Matthias Mayer, making amends for skiing out yesterday!

Well, back in too late for any live action, but as the women's race was cancelled/postponed I didn't miss that - meanwhile in Kvitfjell Eric Guay seems to have rediscovered his form - bit late but a good win today! Johan Clarey was second, ahead of Matthias Mayer so his good, fairly early run paid off for him. Travis Ganong obviously had another good day to finish 4th, ahead of Kjetil Jansrud with Zurbriggen and Svindal tied for 6th. As I understand it, that keeps Svindal in the lead for the downhill globe and puts him ahead in the overall?

Sunday 2 March: A few changes to the plans, the women's super combined at Crans Montana has been replaced by the rescheduled downhill that was abandoned yesterday - should have started at 0900 GMT, which became 0930 and now 1130 due to fog/cloud. In Kvitfjell the men's Super G is running but the visibility doesn't look too good there either! Plus there is cross country from Lahti, where the women's race includes Kaisa Mäkäräinen!  The men's 15 Km free is over - another win for Martin Johnsrud Sundby who has the overall series pretty much sewn up (now 1127 with Jespersen on 739 his nearest challenger) although the distance series is a little more open, as Legkov is still in the mix according to one report (haven't checked the maths myself). Second was Rickardsson (Sweden) with Legkov 3rd. There are 7 Norwegians in the top 20! Points now in the distance event are 441 for Sundby, 378 for Legkov - now I have checked! Andrew Musgrave was 27th from a field of over 90, so top third today.
Meanwhile, in Kvitfjell the vis seems to be getting worse; Svindal was 0.60 in the green at the second split, but lost time lower down - currently in third behind Küng and Mayer. Jansrud is similar; 0.79 up at split 2 but losing time lower - however he has enough in hand to take the lead, nicking yet more potential points in the overall from Aksel!! Ouch - nasty fall by Ondrej Bank, looks like a leg injury, really hope that isn't serious again. Looks like it's going to stay as Jansrud, Küng, Mayer and Svindal in that order, which means (according to Eurosport) that Aksel has won the Super G crystal globe, to add to the Downhill that he secured yesterday. Now, we are switching to Crans Montana where, at long last, the rescheduled women's downhill has started! There are some nasty clouds coming in again, maybe an early start number will be an advantage if the vis gets worse again? Huge collective sigh as local hope Lara Gut skis out while nicely in the green. There is a slight improvement in the vis, with even a hint of sun - just perfect for Anna Fenninger who takes over the lead; Maria Höfl-Riesch drops to 5th, so she isn't going to wrap up the globe today, especially when Tina Maze skis into second, dropping Maria another place. So, currently Fenninger, Maze and Görgl with some names I recognise still to come. And here's a surprise, Edit Miklos (who produced a couple good results at Sochi) skis into 4th, making Maria H-R's task even more difficult! And it gets worse for her - Andrea Fischbacher, who presumably wanted to make a point about being left out of Sochi, really gripped the course to go into the lead - brilliant skiing! Almost all down (or not) and it looks like Fischbacher, Fenninger and Maze on the podium; good day for Austria with 1st, 2nd and 4th!
A few surprises in Lahti too - Bjørgen wins the 10 Km free (no real surprise), but interesting to see Kalla in second, just beating Therese Johaug into third. That makes the Bjørgen/Johaug battle for the yellow vest very close (40 points tighter??). Currently 4 of the top 5 are Norwegian! Not over yet, but Kaisa M is lying 9th, just over a minute behind, which seems fairly creditable in that company; she's taken a few good scalps there including several who beat her the last time out.
Can't find any updates on Bank's fall - one French report suggests damage to the tibia.

A lot of action this weekend, starting with the women in Are - first race there is the GS that should have been in Maribor, was moved to Kranjska Gora and then postponed! I saw some of this, including a very good run from Tina Maze, who finally ended up 5th. The winner was Anna Fenninger, who seems to be really hitting form at present. Anemone Marmottan was second, with Eva-Maria Brem adding to Austria's joy by taking the final podium place, although she had to share it with Lara Gut; another tie! Poor Maria Höfll-Riesch was down in 21st, so although she still leads the overall on 1118, Fenninger is closing - now on 1051 and there are 2 more races here.

Today's GS race (7 Mar) is postponed due to rain and wind, but should run from a lower start position, hopefully!! Success - the race is running on a shortened course; so far on Run 1 Anna Fenninger is again the one to beat with Marmottan and Maze in close contention, but there is only just over a second between to the top 8. Not such good news for Maria H-R who is over 2 seconds down on Fenninger's time - the overall points race is definitely hotting up!

OK - on to Run 2, and the course looks as though it's cutting up a lot already; ironically that is to Maria H-R's advantage as her relatively early start in this run and a better performance, especially lower down the course, allows her to claw some places back from her 22nd ranking after run 1. Sadly that rather came to an end after Brignone's run; great run from Brem again, after her joint third yesterday (another one who is on form and wasn't sent to Sochi!!). The current discipline leader, Jess L-V, took over the lead to put pressure on the remaining skiers - she needs a good result to keep her globe ambitions on track. Now, very surprisingly, Tina Maze is out; so is Marmottan who was looking very competitive just seconds before. Brilliant run from Anna Fenninger, building on her advantage to take another win - superb work!! Viktoria Rebensburg was second with Jess L-V third - good news for her and Maria H-R will also be pleased to end up 10th; better than she might have expected! So, overall it's Fenninger on 1151 ahead of Maria H-R on 1144 - roll on the rest of the season.

Some real surprises at the Men's GS at Kranjska Gora - a really tricky looking course for the second run, and testing snow conditions. Benni Raich started 14th in the second run, probably wishing he'd had a better first run, but realising as skier after skier failed to beat his combined time that it might have a silver lining! In the end only Ted Ligety beat him, with his initial advantage of 1.61 being reduced to only 0.18; that is apparently Ted's 6th win in this event at KG! So second to Raich, with Kristoffersen third. Hirscher was 4th, and Svindal in 17th, which keeps the overall points interesting. (ALS 1046; MH 1005)
After the women's slalom (great win for Michaela Schiffrin), Maria H-R is back in front of the overall points with 1180 to Fenninger's 1151; a good end to the season in prospect - let's hope the weather in Lenzerheide is better than it was last year!

Men's slalom at KG was a cracker for the Germans; Felix Neureuther took the win from Fritz Dopfer with Henrik Kristoffersen third. Run 1 leader Mario Matt was DQ'd after a fall/straddle, leaving Marcel Hirscher in 5th, which helps his overall - think it leaves him 4 points ahead of Svindal, although Neureuther's win apparently puts him at the top of the slalom standings.

Lenzerheide again (doesn't seem we should be there already!), for the final races of the season; the World Cup finals - according to the FIS there are 7 globes to be decided, including both overall points series; the news is that Maria H-R is not well and missed one practice for the DH.

First up is the Men's Downhill; Nice day, sunny and 2 degrees; just two racers in to the start list and the race is already interrupted by repairs to the crash nets after Striedinger's crash, with just one gate remaining - luckily he seems to be OK. Sounds like the light is very changeable. Varettoni is shown as DNF, but they seem to show a time for Striedinger, despite the fact he slid outside the finish gate. Sure the microphone didn't mean to catch the "farewell" to Manny O-P as he left the start gate!! That's a good run for Ted Ligety, might get some good points here? Baumann joins the DNFs - again he seems OK; Innerhofer is probably leading the "epic mid course recovery" trophy today - he is briefly joint leader with Ted, but we aren't going to have another winner's tie as Mayer has gone faster. Streitberger looked to be going well but it seemed as though he dug the edges in a bit hard and the skis stopped dead - that looked nasty, didn't hear how he is.
Mayer must be happy - some big names starting well but losing time on the lower section. Bode joins them - massive run until almost at the end when he ran wide and lost all his advantage and more; Ted will be delighted to have gone faster! Aksel Lund Svindal is only 0.2 slower than Mayer, but that drops him to 5th at present (so 45 points if he stays there) - Hirscher will be happy! Erik Guay not in the top 15, which is a surprise - no WC points today for him. Now I need to go out, so I'll miss the final few and probably the women's race, which is on the same course (and it's getting softer). OK - no surprises at the end of the men's race; Matthias Mayer takes the win with Christof Innerhofer and Ted Ligety sharing second place (way to go Ted, great result for someone who isn't supposed to be a downhill specialist!!). Peter Fill took 4th with Aksel Lund Svindal 5th; overall points now 1091 to Svindal and 1050 to Hirscher. However, Svindal today got presented with the downhill globe (which he already had wrapped up) and he also has the Super G one in the bag!.

Women's race - another great win for Lara Gut, with Lizzie Görgl second and Franzi Aufdenblatten third - good day for the Swiss getting first & third (and, 4th for Fabienne Suter). Fischbacher was 5th, but in the overall points context the crucial placings were Fenninger 6th and Maria H-R DNF. No news yet about Maria, who may have a shoulder injury - the good news for her is that she takes the crystal globe for the downhill, but wasn't at the presentation as she was at the hospital! At present Anna F is on 1191 in the overall with Maria on 1180 (hope she is fit for the remaining races; she was already ill!) and Lara Gut third on 956.

Women's overall - FIS are reporting that Maria H-R is out for the rest of the season: "Germany's Maria Höfl-Riesch was airlifted and taken to hospital after crashing in the the final downhill in Lenzerheide. The examinations revealed a slight adductor injury as well as a bruised left elbow and shoulder. The German champion is hence unfortunately ruled out for last races of the season". That must be a real blow, no large crystal globe this year - great pity as it had all the makings of a really exciting end to the season, and I thought she deserved it - hope she gets well soon!

I can't find any update on Georg Streitberger after his crash, hoping that no news is good news.

Lenzerheide - Super G: Men's Race - I see that both Baumann and Streitberger will not be starting today; first down is Manny Osborne Paradis who is a DNF! Not a bad run at all from Hirscher, who will be hoping to grab a few points for the overall! Commentator seems to be wondering if the Austrians are on "team orders" to not finish ahead of Marcel H; certainly Puchner's run seemed very slow for him. And Max Franz is also slower than we might expect, perhaps due to the course warming up, or ... ? Just as I'm reaching for the tin foil hat, Striedinger goes into joint third, despite his fall yesterday - good effort. Come on commentary team - should have noticed the two DNS (on the FIS live timing), so that's Fill not Baumann!! Disappointing run from Erik Guay, perhaps the course doesn't play to his strengths, and (while you could argue that it's technically correct) I doubt he likes to be referred to as "the American"! So much for conspiracy theories - great run from Matthias Mayer to go into current second place (although the commentator now seems to be suggesting that the 2 DNS [both Austrian] are "doing their team mate a favour" - might have something to do with two nasty crashes?). Massive run from Bode - into second just 0.01 behind Blondin!! Oh gloom - Svindal has a really awful run, finishing behind Hirscher - currently 14th so he might not get any points at all today, and I doubt he'll even start the slalom. Nice run from Ted Ligety - missed mentioning yesterday that his podium then means he joins a very select group who have been on the podium in every Alpine discipline - going into 4th. Hell's bells - Alexis Pinturault, the last man on the course, goes into the lead - so much for no practice and a slowing piste!! Brilliant run to take the win from a very disappointed Mermillod Blondin! Bode Miller in third; crucially Hirscher in 12th (22 points), but that final run drops Svindal into 16th which means no points at all! Gap between ALS and MH now only 19 points. From his quite gracious interview Svindal seems to think that's his overall gone; when asked what didn't work today he said "I didn't go fast enough"; he confirms he won't be in the slalom, but it's not over yet and he did collect his Super G globe which might be some consolation?

Lenzerheide - Super G: Women's Race - quite a bit warmer than for the men's race, so this should be interesting. Start seems to be delayed for repairs to some of the crash netting? Seems Mowinckel will not start, and of course Maria H-R isn't here today either. Should imagine Anna Fenninger is a bit sorry about that, she is on form and must have been the favourite, but now might get the overall handed to her without a late fight - not the way you want it to end? And the commentators still aren't watching properly - bib 3 is Smith, not Mowinckel!! Nice run from Hütter, quite a respectable time; nasty hit on a gate low on the course for Lotte SS and she goes over the line on her back - think she's OK, but she was outside one gate so DQ. Lovely recovery from Rebensburg, but that cost her the chance of taking the lead; Gagnon has a similar problem on the same gate, and she's out. No Eurosport - Stuhec is not leading, she's currently third (sounds like just one person in the commentary box, so may be difficult to watch the video, look outside and keep an eye on the live data feed too while still speaking; they're normally better than this)! Big mistake from Nadia Fanchini but she recovers and still manages to take the lead from Hütter. Mancuso very slow through the speed gun, but still respectable; Schmidhofer also isn't perfect, but she takes over the lead; love to see how she skied the lower section but that seems to be in something of a TV blind spot. Great run from Anna Fenninger; can Lara Gut match her? Oh yes - great run and that is the Super G title for Lara - can she hang on to her lead today to make it two successive wins here? Both Hosp and Görgl are DNF, can the last starter cause an upset as Pinturault did? Short answer - no! So, two wins in 2 days for Lara Gut, and she also picks up the Super G crystal globe; Anna Fenninger gets second and Tina Maze third. Good race!

Lenzerheide update: quite an exciting day; Ted Ligety started the day 50 points behind Marcel Hirscher in the GS standings, but won the race to end up with the same points total as the Austrian, who was 4th. As Ligety has 5 wins, he takes the globe for this discipline! Alexis Pinturault was second in today's race, with Felix Neureuther third - very close racing with Felix only 0.01 ahead of Marcel! Sadly Aksel Lund Svindal didn't finish the first run, so Hirscher will take the large crystal globe for the overall points.

Meanwhile Mikaela Schiffrin won the slalom, by a massive 1.44 seconds, which also gave her the season title in the discipline. Should be a good GS tomorrow, with the small globe still to be decided.

That's the first run of the women's GS complete; I didn't see any video coverage, just followed on the FIS live timing, so I might have reached an erroneous conclusion, but judging from the correlation of start numbers with current position, going early was a real advantage!  At present Anemone Marmotan leads, just ahead of Anna Fenninger, with discipline leader Jess Lindell-Vikarby in third. If conditions are deteriorating as the day continues then run 2 should be exciting - back to the biathlon!

Run 2: This time with video - very cloudy/foggy there and warm/slushy at the bottom, not at all nice! Nice work by MPH; she made up a lot of time on the lower section of the course to go int second behind Nadia Fanchini - 8 to go! Mist has suddenly lifted a bit, and Eva-Maria Brem takes over the lead. Jess L-V had a good advantage, but seemed to lose time on the lower section - into 2nd. Fenninger is unlucky as the mist is back, but she skis it beautifully to take the lead and the discipline crystal globe! Marmotan loses time all the way down to end 7th; so Fenninger wins from Brem (Austria 1 & 2) and Lindell-Vikarby. All seems very amicable and sporting - the commentary team are saying the men's slalom was rather more lively with lots of arguments; don't know what that story is but hopefully it will be on the FIS site?

OK - it seems that the outcome of the small crystal globe for the men's slalom (don't really follow slalom, so I missed the importance of today's event) was going to this final event; Neureuther v Hirscher! The first run was the one that caused all the hassle; set by an Austrian (one of Hirscher's coaches, apparently) it was branded as "unfair and ugly" by the German coach/director and "ridiculous" by Ted Ligety! Run 2, on a less controversial course set by the Swedes, saw Hirscher win convincingly to take the slalom globe from Neureuther, who was second in today's race! Hirscher has now won the overall crystal globe for three years running.

Well, that's the FIS Alpine races over for another season; the list of who won what globe is on the FIS site at Globe status

Cross country update: At the World Cup finals "mini Tour" in Falun, the contest for the overall win went down to the final race, for the women. Therese Johaug started the 10 Km pursuit with a 15 second lead over Marit Bjørgen, but the points were very tight and whoever crossed the line first would win the overall crystal globe. Johaug, who also won the Tour de Ski earlier in the year, not only kept the lead intact but managed to pretty much double her lead to win the mini tour and take the overall win; Bjørgen was second in the mini tour and Heidi Weng third - a clean sweep for Norway! They also took the top 3 places overall - Johaug, Bjørgen and Astrid Jacobsen (who had to withdraw from the mini tour after getting concussion), in that order.

In the men's mini tour Martin Johnsrud Sundby, who earlier this year was also the first Norwegian man to win the Tour de Ski, and Alex Legkov trailed Alex Harvey by 26 seconds going into the final 15 Km pursuit. Sundby and Legkov closed the gap on the Canadian by about the 5 Km stage, when it became a tactical battle, which Sundby won, also winning the overall title. Harvey was second in the tour, which raised him to third in the overall series, and Legkov, who finished third, maintained his second place in the overall standings. If that all sounds a little complex, it's much better explained on the FIS web site! Men's tour or Women's tour

Late news: A couple "late season" results - firstly Katie Summerhayes won ski slopestyle gold at the junior World Championships in Italy; great result! BBC report at BBC Sport

And, even better for me given my sport preferences, Andrew Musgrave has won the Norwegian national championships (cross country skiing); his 5th place in the 50Km was enough to give him the overall title - BBC again!