Ski Season 2014/15

Much to my surprise I seem to have already missed a weekend, at Sölden, where the men raced GS (Marcel Hirscher making a great start to the new season with a win from Fritz Dopfer and Alexis Pinturault). The women also completed a GS, with Mikaela Shiffrin in joint first with Anna Fenninger;  Eva-Maria Brem in third. This coming weekend (15/16 Nov) there is a slalom scheduled in Levi; time to check the Eurosport coverage and get the comfy chair ready!!

How have I posted this at 22;35 when it's only 12:35 I wonder?

Quite a gloomy Saturday at times with some snow, but the conditions must have suited Tina Maze, who after a disappointing start at Sölden was back in form, taking an impressive win (and doing a very neat cartwheel to celebrate!   ) in the women's slalom - 0.34 seconds ahead of Frida Hansdotter with Kathrin Zettel in third. Surprisingly Mikaela Shiffrin was down in 11th.

Now for the men's race - apparently a bit warmer than yesterday so the commentary suggests the snow will probably cut up; it's also very foggy! As the first run progresses, Marcel Hirscher is looking good, having just pipped Kristoffersen's time but there are some surprises including Ted Ligety who seems to be having a slow start to the new season and who was well off the pace; Mario Matt DNF and Pinturault not qualifying for the second run. As the first run continues, it seems the course isn't cutting up as badly as some commentators expected - certainly seems possible to challenge the leaders, as a great run from Solevaag shows;currently 2 Norwegians in the top 3! Some close racing to come in the second run.

Well, what a competition - I'm not really a slalom fan, but that was exciting! Looked like a very difficult course and with the fog still present it was quite a challenge - still not quite sure how Ted Ligety avoided a straddle on his second run! Some good performances here; I quite liked Schmid, Lahdenperä, Hargin and Yule among the mid field skiers.  Delighted to see Felix Neureuther put in such a good second run to "overtake" Myhrer, Khoroshilov, Dopfer and Thaler. I thought Solevaag would dislodge Felix from the temporary lead but he missed out by .01 of a second after an amazing display of recovery skills! All not quite lost for the Norwegians however, as Henrik Kristoffersen put in the most amazing second run to take the lead and set the standard for Hirscher. All very close, but in the end Hirscher couldn't quite match the Norwegian's pace - win for Kristoffersen from Hirscher and a very impressive climb to third for Felix Neureuther. Great race.

Women in Aspen; men in Lake Louise (lovely place!). Women away earlier with the first run of their GS; missed most of it live, but seemed like there wasn't a great deal of change in the early positions? Eva Maria Brem was the one to beat - her first run was over a second clear of the opposition! Federica Brignone was second and Kathrin Zettel third with Tina Maze in 4th, 1.65 off the pace. Again, quite surprised to see Schiffren 2.23 seconds slower than Brem here. Now the wait to see how it plays out in run 2; however, to fill in the time, ...

Meanwhile, the men were contesting the first downhill of the season in what seemed very sunny conditions! For a while this also looked like the early starters would have it all to themselves with Marco Sullivan leading Beat Feuz, until Dominik Paris took over the top place. With Svindal out this year Mrs Bleau has lost interest, but a great run from Kjetil Jansrud might have been some consolation, and he took over the lead? Good runs from Fayed and Manuel O-P, although they couldn't topple the Norwegian! That seems to be it - Jansrud first with Guilleromo Fayed and Manny Osborne-Paradis sharing second and Dominik Paris 4th! Back to the ladies ..

That second run looked impressive and hard, and sounded even trickier but Shiffren seemed more at home here and I thought her run was better (although what do I know?). Didn't allow her to keep the lead however as both Kirchgasser and then Maze beat her time; then a great run from Zettel to go well into the lead. Brignone couldn't quite catch Zettel - just Eva-Maria Brem to go, with a comfortable lead, but she hasn't been here before; what a fantastic run to take her first GS win from Zettel, Brignone and Maze. Good day for the Austrians!

Day 2 - Slalom for the Ladies & Super G for the men: Missed run 1 of the women's slalom, but Shiffren is back with the fastest time, from Tina Maze and Kathrin Zettel. Over to Lake Louise (another very sunny day) where the start has been delayed for about 10 mins for safety work on course; now we're away and Beat Feuz is the first of the 69 competitors - a time comfortably beaten by Baumann and then Clarey! (Oh, I've missed Nick Fellows' tortured pronunciation!) The rapid turnover of leaders pauses when Dominik Paris takes over and stays there for a while! The course seems to be getting a bit cut up; not a help for the later runners (having said which Max Franz was within 0.04 of Paris!). Good run from Otmar Striedinger, who missed Paris's time by only 0.01!! Now it's Kjetil Jansrud, trying to get the double - lovely run and he takes the lead by 0.31 (I'm missing Svindal, but his "apprentice" is doing well!) I thought Matthias Mayer might take the lead away, but it's not to be. So it stays as Jansrud, Mayer and Paris - is there anyone left who can change the podium - especially as we are now through the "top 30" - it's looking more and more as though the short answer is "no", especially as the course seems to be degrading and the DNFs are rising! All over - great double for Jansrud from Mayer and Paris - rather a better day for the Austrian men with Striedinger, Franz and Reichelt all joining Mayer in the top 6.

Sadly the women's second run isn't live on Eurosport (snooker!!) so it's back to the various live timing feeds, and maybe watch a little, later tonight, to see what it actually looked like! OK - SPOILERS coming! Quite a surprise here as Schiffren and Maze couldn't build on their first run positions; Nicole Hosp (7th after run 1?) must have skied a real blinder to win, from Hansdotter and Zettel with Schiffren 5th and Maze 9th - might have to see how that happened!

This weekend the men are at Beaver Creek, while the women's events are at Lake Louise. Friday's events were a downhill at both venues - men first on the Birds of Prey course in what seemed good conditions. The local supporters must have been cheered by an early fast run from Steve Nyman, which looked to be the time to beat; Dominik Paris came close and looked as though he might stay on the podium, until Kjetil Jansrud (Nor) arrived. Fresh from his win last week Jansrud seems on excellent form and although he was behind at the first 2 split times he eventually took the lead away from Nyman by over half a second. Nice to see Beat Feuz (Swi) back after injury and illness, and obviously back to form as he pushed Nyman back to third place. Final result Jansrud from Feuz, Nyman with Dominik Paris in 4th. Good runs also from Travis Ganong in 5th and Guillermo Fayed in 6th. Meanwhile in Lake Louise it was snowing!! The early leader was Laurenne Ross, and once again it was a hard time to beat; Cornelia Hütter being the closest in the early stages, beating both Julia Mancuso and Lindsey Vonn (making her comeback here after last year's injury); Mancuso probably delighted to be just ahead of her compatriot and rival! Finally Anna Fenninger displaced Ross; despite being slower on the upper part of the course she skied the lower section really well to take the lead. However, Tina Maze showed how it should be done - well into the green at split 3 and never looked back to take a well deserved win, with Fenninger in second and a resurgent Tina Weirather nicking 3rd place from Ross. Good races!

Saturday: Men's Super G - missed a bit of this but joined the live video just in time to see Otmar Striedinger's entry for the "recovery of the day" award! Hannes Reichelt in the lead from Peter Fill and Dominik Paris at that stage. Looks a very impressive and hard course, so several scares including a real epic from Kjetil Jansrud on the Abyss, despite which he managed to get into second place! Brave attempt at getting some points from a speed event by Hirscher, although sadly it ended as a DNF. Alex Pinturault joined the epic in the Abyss team, but again survived and went into third, and that's how the positions stayed - Reichelt, Jansrud and Pinturault. In the women's second downhill from Lake Louise there was a clean sweep for the USA with Lindsey Vonn winning from Stacey Cook and Julia Mancuso. Larisa Yurkiw (Can) was the first "real local" ahead of Viki Rebensburg (Ger) in 5th.

Sunday: Men's GS & Women's Super G - First off we had the 1st run of the men's GS; good start from Hirscher, but his time was beaten by Benni Raich and then Alex Pinturault came within 0.01 of taking the lead. At that stage Ted Ligety's time looked disappointing but left him in 4th place - looked all set for an exciting second run. That's how the positions stayed but meanwhile we had the women's race in Canada - once again it was close but in the end Lara Gut stopped Lindsey Vonn from getting a second win, with Tina Maze taking the final place on the podium ahead of Rebensburg, Hütter and Julia Mancuso. Back to Beaver Creek - not sure what happened to Benni but he slipped to 4th on the second run; Alex Pinturault stayed 2nd and Marcel Hirscher third, which possibly leads you to the conclusion that Ted Ligety performed a miracle and put in such a stunning 2nd run that he won the event yet again - very impressive!!

Noticed during the biathlon commentary yesterday that Andrew Musgrave had done well in the XC! Not a win, but apparently the best ever by a Brit and against a very high level of competition! Story at BBC comment

In the excitement of a good weekend of biathlon coverage, I didn't see any of the ski events, which due to a lack of snow in the French Alps were moved to Äre. Both the men and the women raced one GS and one slalom each; women's GS the first off and a win for Tina Maze. Second place went to Sara Hector of Sweden with Eva-Maria Brem (Aut) taking the final podium place. The men's event featured a massive win for Marcel Hirscher, who was 1.22 ahead of second placed Ted Ligety; Stefan Luitz of Germany was third just ahead of compatriot Fritz Dopfer. The women's slalom was won by Sweden's Maria Pietilä-Holmner, who was only 0.06 ahead of Tina Maze. Frida Hansdotter must have delighted the Swedes by taking third - good day for them! The men's slalom underlined Hirscher's form as he took a second win, ahead of Felix Neureuther and Russia's Alexandr Khoroshilov. Looking at the overall standings Tina Maze leads the women with 560 points ahead of Anna Fenninger (303) and Kathrin Zettel (290) (Mikaela Schiffrin however is very close on 285!); men's standings a bit closer - Hirscher leads on 440 from Kjetil Jansrud (412) and Ted Ligety (246) - Pinturault and Dopfer chasing.

So enthralled by the coverage of the biathlon events at Pokljuka that I missed most of the alpine and cross country events; I suppose you can only see so much! The men began at Val Gardena/Gröden and the women at Val d'Isere - downhills first and on the 19th Steve Nyman put in a fantastic run to take the win from Kjetil Jansrud and Dominik Paris. Fayed and Clarey took 4/5. Next day it was the turn of the women and Lindsey Vonn continued her comeback with another speed event win. All credit to joint second placed Lizzie Görgl and Viktoria Rebensburg for being only 0.19 behind Vonn! Gut, Suter and Gisin took the next 3 places with Tina Maze in 7th. On the same day the men were back in action with a Super G; this time Jansrud made no mistakes and took the win from Paris (him again!) and Hannes Reichelt. On the 21st the women had their Super G, which from the long list of DNFs must have been a bit tricky to put it mildly, especially as it included Vonn. Lizzie Görgl took the win (more useful points) with Anna Fenninger in 2nd and and Tina Maze taking the last podium place - Lara Gut in 4th. Meanwhile the men were at Alta Badia for a GS; Marcel Hirscher took that one from Ted Ligety, who must have had a great second run to recover from a slightly less good first effort! Thomas Fanara was 3rd then Pinturault and Neureuther. Finally, on Monday the men went to Madonna di Compiglio for a slalom. Great runs from Felix Neureuther who held on to his first run lead to win from fellow German Fritz Dopfer; Sweden's Jens Byggmark was 3rd.

All that means that in the men's overall Kjetil Jansrud is now on 610 points with Marcel Hirscher relatively close behind on 576; Alexis Pinturault 3rd with 349. That could be quite a contest between Jansrud and Hirscher!! The women's standings are a bit less competitive at present with Tina Maze building a nice lead on 656, ahead of Anna Fenninger on 407 with Lindsey Vonn 3rd on 312 - not sure how many non "speed events" she might try, if any? That's about it for the moment, but the Tour de Ski is coming!

Men’s Downhill – Santa Caterina: Only 1 training day as the second was cancelled due to bad weather; luckily somewhat better today (28th), although it seems to be a hard course and they did lower the start due to high winds earlier on. Otmar Striedinger (AUT) is the early leader from Defago (SWI) and Viletta (SWI) – epics from Beat Feuz (who I understand is OK after his fall) and Manny Osborne-Paradis, a fantastic escape by the Canadian! Fayed looked in touch, but missed a gate and joined the short list of DNFs. Sounds as though the wind might be getting up again, and the light conditions are very testing.  Lovely run by Travis Ganong (USA) to take over the lead, gaining time on the lower section to end up 0.45 faster than Striedinger. Matthias Mayer (AUT) gets the green light high up on the course, but he’s not as clean on the lower section and goes 2nd by 0.09! Reichelt was also good at the top but lost time lower down to go 4th; seems the Austrians have the best line higher up but can’t keep their advantage lower down. Same goes for Kjetil Jansrud, and his pace lower is disappointing leaving him in 10th, not as many points as he would have hoped to earn! Dominik Paris also well in touch, but again the lower section spoils his day and he goes into 3rd. Top 3 positions now are Ganong, Mayer and Paris.  At present there are 4 Austrians in the top 6 although I understand their press are demanding a win, not a podium! Looking down the list of those still to start, I’m not sure there will be much change now; wonder where Jansrud will end up? Nasty looking crash by Tyler Werry (CAN), but again I think he’s OK. Ralph Weber was looking in touch, but he’s yellow flagged as they are still recovering Werry! I thought Marc Berthod might cause a slight upset, but between split 3 & 4 he lost time and is also listed as a DNF – hope he’s fine. Of the later starters Bostjan Kline (SLO) did rather well and got into 13th, pushing Jansrud down yet another place; he ends up 16th. For once the curse of saying that it looks over didn’t throw up any surprises – Travis Ganong wind his first downhill from Mayer and Paris with Austrians taking the next 3 places (Striedinger, Baumann & Reichelt).

Women’s GS: Kühtai – missed the live coverage but at the end of run 1 Mikaela Schiffrin is leading from Sara Hector and Anna Fenninger; red bib Eva-Maria Brem is 4th and yellow bib Tina Maze 13th, but only a second or so back. Live for run 2, and also caught the highlights of run 1 – looked misty and a bit tricky! Looks like run 2 will have worse visibility, certainly on the upper sections; I believe this is also a shortened course? Certainly seems to be a testing course; several people are losing a fair bit of time against that set by fourth starting Adeline Baud (Fra) – for example Rebensburg had a 0.40 advantage from run 1 but ended 0.18 behind in 2nd and she’s good! Couldn’t last though and Ragnhild Mowinckel (Nor) takes the lead; good run! Tina Maze slots into 2nd at this stage and she looks set to pull back a few places. Into the last 10 and a good run from Marie-Pier Prefontaine (Can) as she goes 2nd; visibility did improve a little but now it’s closed in again. Dominique Gisin (Sui) isn’t too good at the top but recovers well to go 3rd, knocking Maze off the podium. Big mistake near the top by Brem (Aut) but what a recovery on the lower section to take the lead!! Anna Fenninger (Aut) is flawless at the top; she loses a little lower down but it’s enough to take the lead, which she promptly loses to Sara Hector! Schiffrin loses time on the lower section, so Sara Hector gets her first win at a senior level from Anna Fenninger and Mikaela Schiffrin with Brem 4th – exciting race! Tina Maze did well to pull up from 13th to joint 7th.

Women’s Slalom: Kühtai – missed the live coverage again (must have misread the schedule); in the first run, while Mikaela Shiffrin wasn't the fastest in the top sections of the course, a very strong finish put her in the lead with a best time of 50.27 seconds to edge out her nearest rivals Slovenia's Tina Maze and Czech Republic's Sarka Strachová, respectively 0.15 and 0.25 seconds off the best time. Tried to catch the highlights on Eurosport later – Schiffrin away with bib 2 in the first run; very fast and clean, no wonder she couldn’t be caught! Strachová was actually quicker at the top, but couldn’t match Schiffrin on the lower section; Holdener also looking useful. Zuzulova was rather unlucky; what looked a good run that might have got her into the lead all went wrong and she fell near the finish! On to run 2, in less attractive conditions, and Mikaela Schiffrin was obviously in superb form – another brilliant run to take the win by 0.80, which I understand is her first time on a slalom podium this year? Useful points for her, especially after her GS 3rd. Sarka Strachová built on her first run form, again stronger on the lower section, to take second from Wendy Holdener (Swi), who also produced a superb run despite a late epic. Frida Hansdotter was 4th and Tina Maze might well be disappointed to have slipped to 6th. The FIS site shows Maze leading the overall points on 732 ahead of Fenninger on 487 with Schiffrin 3rd on 445. Men’s series has Jansrud still leading on 624, ahead of Hirscher (576) and Paris (405) – hope they’ve updated it with all the weekend’s events!

Over in Zagreb and in the women’s slalom Mikaela Schiffrin set the pace in run 1 ahead of Kathrin Zettel and Sárka Strachová. The second run is on a course set by one of the Americans and the snow conditions remain quite tricky– a bit of a thaw followed by a good freeze; very smooth and slick! About half way through the second run and Canada are 1 and 2; they are holding on at present, however … Thought Chiara Costazza might have taken it, but she had a couple minor epics lower down and lost masses of time to go third. Now only 8 more to go, and Frida Hansdotter takes the temporary lead after a much better second run. A couple surprising DNFs follow (Kirchgasser & MPH). Tina Maze goes 2nd – maybe skiing to keep her points coming rather than risking it for the win? Great run from Nina Løseth (Nor) to take over the lead; sadly Strachová also skis out at about the same place as Kirchgasser. Massive effort from Zettel to take over the lead, building on her advantage, and putting pressure on Shiffrin .. fat chance though, Mikaela is now on awesome form and she also builds on her advantage to take her second win of the season (11th in total, and she’s not 20 yet)! Kathrin Zettel takes second from Løseth with Hansdotter 4th and Maze 5th; Mielzynski and Gagnon get 6/7 for Canada – great effort. Men's slalom here on the 6th.

Missed almost all of the men’s race, but the second run looked tricky to put it mildly! Another win for Marcel Hirscher, which has him in the overall lead for the world cup (by 52 points) although he seems to be 4 points behind Felix Neureuther, who finished 2nd today in Zagreb, in the slalom discipline. Third was Sebastian-Foss Solevaag, just ahead of Matthias Hargin.

Some very sad news on the FIS site this morning - two of the US Ski team (development group) have been killed in an avalanche in Sölden; quote (fm FIS site) "The U.S. Ski Team is mourning the loss of two promising development level ski racers killed Tuesday in an avalanche in Soelden. The two were among a group of six athletes freeskiing at the Austrian resort. The other four skied out of the slide. Killed in the avalanche were Ronnie Berlack, 20 (Franconia, NH and Burke Mountain, VT) and Bryce Astle, 19 (Sandy, UT)"

Not the best of starts; the women's downhill from Bad Kleinkirchheim has been cancelled because of strong winds and high temperatures; looking at the photo on the FIS website link here you can see that safety nets and banners have been blown away and apparently even some commentators' huts have been affected! Conditions seem to have stabilised and a decision on tomorrow's Super G will be made later today. Due to the biathlon being delayed, I saw a bit more of run 1 of the men's GS from Adelboden than I expected! After run 1 Marcel Hirscher has a lead of 0.55 over Felix Neureuther with Alex Pinturault third; Ted Ligety is 5th, 1.25 back - all the top 3 started in the first 5.

OK – men’s GS run 2: I joined this as the course seemed to be cutting up, but that didn’t seem to worry Florian Eisath (Ita) who put in a superb run to take the lead; can’t help seeing lots of green ground on the surrounding hills! Lief Kristian Haugen goes into second, and we are half way through this second run. Change time as Fritz Dopfer has a clean, fast run to take over the lead; Jansrud is a DNF which will cut his lead in the world cup. Now just another 7 to come – first few don’t bother the top 3 places and here comes Ted Ligety – unusually by split 2 he’s lost almost all of his advantage, and despite a good lower section he can only manage 3rd. Henrik Kristoffersen also loses a huge amount of his advantage, but he just hangs on to take the lead by 0.10! Pinturault wasn’t too fast at the top but he has a great middle section, and skis the final steep really well to take over the lead by over half a second. Felix Neureuther can’t match him and goes 4th, just behind Dopfer! Just Hirscher to go, on a rather cut up, bumpy course; even with his generous advantage he isn’t taking it at all easy – very brave stuff and he actually builds on his lead to win again!! Pinturault 2nd, Kristoffersen third and Fritz Dopfer holds on to 4th – exciting stuff and a great run by Hirscher!

What a busy day (Sunday) – men’s slalom from Adelboden, women’s Super G from Bad Kleinkirchheim, men’s & women’s final freestyle up the Alpe Cermis to end the tour de ski and two mass starts from Oberhof in the biathlon programme! What to watch?? What might the weather affect?

Men's Slalom – again starting early seemed to be a good ploy for run 1; poor visibility and deteriorating snow conditions not exactly helping. After 25 skiers had completed the course (or not – some DNFs already including discipline points leader Felix Neureuther!) it’s Fritz Dopfer leading from Patrick Thaler and Marcel Hirscher – all of whom started in the first 5. That’s the way it stays, with J-B Grange 4th, Stefano Gross 5th and Matthias Hargin 6th; let’s see how run 2 plays out as the fastest go last! Run 2: Nice to see David Ryding (GB) getting into the top 30 on run 1, and so having a second run – good effort and his combined time is only 0.27 behind Benni Raich! That lower section does look steep! OK – half way through and Markus Larsson (Swe) is currently in the lead, ahead of Lizeroux (Fra) and Chodounsky (USA). Nice run from Myhrer, but one small error keeps Larsson safe; Pinturault out. On to the top 5, with Razzoli leading from Kristoffersen and Larsson. Great run from Stefano Gross to take over the lead; Grange doesn’t get on the podium. The piste is looking rutted – Hirscher goes 2nd by 0.03!! Thaler looking to join his countrymen on the podium, but skis out late on the course; only Fritz Dopfer to go – green all the way, only to lose it by 0.02! So Stefano Gross (Ita) (bib number 13, lucky he’s not superstitious!) wins, from Fritz Dopfer (Ger) and Marcel Hirscher (Aut).

Women's Super G at BKK: Gates moved to avoid the worst of the slush, apparently - doesn’t sound attractive and looks green/brown in places, and now we hear that the start is postponed for half an hour. This time the race does start; but gets interrupted by poor weather (as a new front has come in) after just 11 starters, with Merighetti leading from Fanchini and Hronek. Conditions look awful, banners blowing away, even some gates being damaged etc – not sure this will re-start; jury meeting at 1130 (UK time)? Morale seems high at the top though! Very full programme this year so may be difficult to reschedule, but rumour has it that the downhill might run in Cortina? Not sure why the decision is taking so long (pressure due to the full programme??) – the staff are holding down just about anything that can move to stop it blowing away – it’s going to be announced at 1145 apparently. The gates are almost being blown flat at times, snow being driven across the piste in the strong, gusty wind and … that’s it, the race is cancelled!

Quite a few things going on over the next week or so, weather permitting. I see there is now an "extra" women's downhill at Cortina this weekend (hopefully!) in lieu of the cancelled event at BKK. And, for the men's Wengen downhill (Lauberhorn), Bode Miller is back, hopefully recovered after back surgery last year.

Women's Night Slalom - Flachau: Didn't see the video (don't think run 2 was covered due to overkill on the snooker?) but followed the progress on the FIS live feed. First run had a fair share of DNFs but ended with Frida Hansdotter leading from Tina Maze and Sarka Strachová; Mikaela Schiffrin down in 8th, but with less than a second separating the top 10. Second run got off to a shaky start; 3 starters = 2 DNF; 6 starters = 4 DNF but then it settled down a bit although by half way (15 starters) there were 7 DNFs! At that stage Charlotta Säfvenberg (Swe) was leading from Wikström (Swe) and Mougel (Fra), but with the top 15 from the first run to come it was about to change. Kirchgasser got up into second, but MPH (who was going well at split 1) seemed to have snags and dropped to 7th and it was a similar tale for Eklund. Eventually Veronika Velez Zuzulova (Svk) took over the lead only to lose it to Schiffrin by 0.08! Wendy Holdener somehow managed to get between their times - only 3 to go. Strachová missed the podium but Tina Maze managed to beat Schiffrin's time by 0.02 - all very close until Frida Hansdotter actually managed to build on her run 1 advantage and took the win by a fairly massive 0.61. Result - Hansdotter, Maze, Schiffrin with Holdener 4th and VVZ 5th.

Women’s downhill – Cortina d’Ampezzo (ersatz BKK): Well, the weather continues to give problems with this rescheduled race – the course was in thick cloud/mist on the upper parts so the race committee had to lower the start – “sprint downhill” time! Only 46 runners today; Vonn the fastest in the only practice, just a shade better than Mancuso, but that was on the full length course. Even at the lower start it’s misty and the snow (what there is of it – plenty of green around!) is apparently bumpy and hard. Laurenne Ross (USA) is first down; looked quite good. Nice run too from Larisa Yurkiw (Can) to go a bit faster; Viki Rebensburg can’t quite match her and goes 2nd – with 12 racers down they are still the 2 to beat. Julia Mancuso was fast through the gun, but a slower lower section didn’t get her on the interim podium. Now there is a change – Elena Fanchini (Ita) takes the lead. Here comes Vonn – red lights all the way, which is odd, and she’s slower than Mancuso; no record today! Fenninger was very fast through the gun, but again not on the podium. Some good skiers coming down the hill, but no one seems to be threatening Fanchini’s time; Maze started well but also faded lower down, I think the visibility is marginally worse now.  30 down, and I can’t see much indication that Fanchini will be beaten – Fenninger will be happy to take some points off Maze though! Well, that’s it – Elena Fanchini takes the win from Yurkiw and Rebensburg; Laurenne Ross the best of the Americans in 4th.

Men’s Super Combi – Wengen: Downhill part of this alpine combination first; one slalom run later (and it’s apparently a technical course, no allowance for the speed boys) – this event stays as planned (although also with a lowered start) but with the threat of a massive snow storm later today/tonight the slalom and downhill proper have swapped days so the downhill will be on Sunday (hopefully)! Even with a lowered start this looks a bit mean; only 2 combined events in the programme this season and no individual trophy although obviously the races do count for World Cup points. Early leader was Vincent Kriechmayr (Aut) who was first on the course; he stayed in the lead until bib 11, Kjetil Jansrud, took over. He, in turn, was displaced by Carlo Janka but neither are exactly famed as slalom experts!! Good run by Matthias Mayer to go 2nd at present; these guys are doing nearly 150 Km/h through the 4th speed gun! Disappointing runs by their standards from Pinturault and Ligety, who were arguably the favourites! Ivica Kostelic slightly more in touch, quite impressive given the state of his knees; his slalom form is perhaps not as good as it used to be at present – currently he’s 25th in the discipline points – but the commentators seem to think it’s coming back. No change to the top 4 for ages, and it ends with Janka leading from Mayer, Jansrud and Kriechmayr. Slalom part of the event this afternoon, weather permitting!
I missed the second part - one slalom run with Janka leading from Mayer, Jansrud and Kriechmayr as they came to the start. I seem to need to make several apologies, as Ted Ligety overcame a (for him) disappointing downhill to end up 5th; Kostelic did indeed go well enough on the slalom course to end up third and Carlo Janka must have done a reasonable job on the short skis as he held on to his lead to take the win!! Mind you, Jansrud didn’t finish the slalom so I got something close to right! Final results – Carlo Janka (Sui) wins from Victor Muffat-Jeandet (Fra) and Ivica Kostelic (Cro); Mayer 4th, Ligety 5th and Natko Zrncic-Dim 6th.

The planned women's downhill at Cortina has been cancelled today (Saturday) due to adverse weather; plan is to run it tomorrow (Sunday 18th) with the planned Super G postponed to Monday.

Men’s Slalom– Wengen: First run in snow on a very twisty and tricky course. Patrick Thaler was first down and seemed to have difficulty finding his rhythm. Second starter was Marcel Hirscher;  -0.53 at the first split, -1.24 at the second split and … error and skied out for the first time this season! There’s a surprise! Quite a few good skiers are having problems on this course – Bäck, Kostelic and Byggmark join the DNFs, and what on earth happened to Ted Ligety – almost 3 seconds off the pace and for a while I thought he might possibly be out of the second run? No, looks like there are enough even slower to keep Ted’s hopes alive (he’s in 24th), and he’ll be going earlier in the second run, so a recovery is still possible. Looks like David Ryding will get a second run as well. So, as it stands, Matthias Hargin (Swe) leads from Stefano Gross (Ita) and Henrik Kristoffersen (Nor) with Dopfer and Neureuther in 4/5. Let’s see how the second run changes things!
Run 2 and Ted hasn’t had any luck with this run either – not his day. Not sure quite what happened but at the TV break there was apparently an accident to one of the spectators and the race was halted while a helicopter rescue took place. Shortly after that Jean-Baptiste Grange confounded talk of a chopped, rutted course being a problem with a great run to take the lead. I thought Markus Larsson might take it away but he just lost it on the lower section to go second by 0.03! However, J-B’s compatriot, Pinturault risked it all to take the lead away! Khoroshilov manages to split the two Frenchmen on the current podium; apparently Felix Neureuther had a migraine in run 1 due to a vertebrae problem (whiplash injury?) – they obviously fixed it in the break because that was some run to take the lead! Perhaps they should have done the same to Dopfer who lost time here and is off the podium; Kristoffersen better and goes 2nd, only to lose that place to Stefano Gross. Can Hargin hold on to his lead – no, is the answer; too many errors and he goes 6th! So, Felix Neureuther takes the win (and no points for Hirscher today either) from Stefano Gross and Henrik Kristoffersen.

Women’s downhill – Cortina d’Ampezzo (their own!): After yesterday’s cancellation, we are now up and running in what was originally a Super G slot (that will hopefully be run tomorrow, but maybe at a different time than originally planned)! Looks a nice day too, despite some low cloud/fog in patches. Good early run from Johanna Schnarf, and the fog seems to be thickening! Doesn’t seem to worry Daniela Merighetti (start number 4) though; into the lead, where she stays comfortably until the first TV break after bib 15. First down after that break is Tina Maze – very close but even she can’t dislodge the Italian and goes second after losing time on the lower sections, only to be pushed down to third as Fanchini goes 2nd. Then comes Vonn, fast and green light all the way - into the lead by 0.54; will this be a record equalling 62nd WC win? Lizzie Görgl is faster at the top, but the green light goes red at Inter 3 and she’s into second by 0.34. Several skiers seem able to match Vonn’s time early on, but all lose time on the lower sections, and now we are into the less well known names and reduced start intervals; more DNFs now. So, Lindsey Vonn wins her 62nd World Cup event, equalling the record set by Austrian Annemarie Moser-Pröll, from Lizzie Görgl and Daniela Merighetti; Tina Maze 5th.

Men’s Downhill – Wengen: For some reason Eurosport are repeating the women’s race rather than covering this live; there is a video feed but no commentary – to my amazement it’s on the BBC red button though! I thought Bode was going to race here, but I can’t see him listed? Early leader is Carlo Janka, well clear of second placed Tobias Stechert; Fayed gets a little closer. Nasty fall for Manuel Osborne-Paradis, bits of kit flying in all directions, but he seems to be up and about; that means that Adrien Theaux is yellow flagged. Longish break to repair the nets etc and Steve Nyman is away - in touch at the top but loses it lower down. Great run from Beat Feuz to take over the lead; there has been another fall; not sure if it was Peter Fill or Johan Clarey? Jansrud doesn’t manage to break the Swiss stranglehold on the top 2 places; he’s third at this stage. Here comes Hannes Reichelt; just in the red light all the way, and then green at the finish by 0.12 – Austria take the lead! I thought Küng might have taken it back, but he ended up 4th. Another interruption – this time a jury radio issue; this one is interminable – loads of wittering and knob twiddling but not a great deal of urgency! This is taking forever; the skiers must be getting bored! At last – we seem to have movement, and it looks as though Adrien Theaux will be first down after his earlier run was yellow flagged. No upsets from him, in to 13th at present, and a lot of the later starting skiers are having problems getting within 2 seconds of Reichelt’s time. Hans Olsson is out, and there’s another interruption – TV coverage has stopped so not sure how he is; hopefully not too serious as it’s only a short break. Now, this is a bit more interesting; Marc Gisin quite nicely in touch and he goes into the top 10, but I think that might be the last threat? Reichelt takes the win, from Beat Feuz and the in form Carlo Janka.

Women's Super G. Cortina: Missed pretty much all of this, but if anyone doubted that Lindsey Vonn was on form - she won this race by 0.85 from Anna Fenninger with Tina Weirather in 3rd. Tina Maze and Cornelia Hütter were joint 4th with Lara Gut in 6th. That win means that Vonn has now overtaken Annemarie Moser-Pröll's record of 62 World Cup wins - more details at FIS site

Men's Super G & Super Combination - Kitzbühel: Missed run 1 live (the Super G part, which counts as a Super G in its own right), but a win for Dominik Paris ahead of Matthias Mayer and Georg Streitberger; just 0.34 between them; useful points for Paris and Mayer here in the Super G. Théaux, Weibrecht and Striedinger take the next 3 places just ahead of Jansrud and Küng; Ted Ligety joined the ranks of the DNFs. Given the debacle of my last predictions for run 2, I think I'll just wait and see this time!  Just as well I didn’t make any predictions; Marcel Hirscher seemed to be miles back after the Super G, in 23rd position, but with only 10 starters left to go on the slalom section he’s still in second, behind Alexis Pinturault, and ahead of Ivica Kostelic, who has also made up a lot of time! Janka can’t catch them, and Beat Feuz isn’t starting – 5 to go and Ondrej Bank makes a good start and just gets on the podium, displacing Kostelic; Innerhofer isn’t starting and Jansrud isn’t a shorter ski specialist, he’s 9th. Andrew Weibrecht has an advantage of 0.90 but by inter 2 he’s +.80 and ends 18th. Can Paris get on the podium with his -1.47 advantage? He doesn’t start, so that’s a good win for Pinturault (third time running on the podium for this event?) and great points for Hirscher in 2nd; Bank third. Carlo Janka was 6th.

Women's downhill - St Moritz: And what's more, it was on the BBC red button, so I got to sit in the comfy chair! Looked a lovely day, although perhaps a little windy on the upper sections at times? I joined the coverage with 10 racers down and Edit Miklós (Hun) leading from Vikki Rebensburg; bib 12 was Fabienne Suter and she went third. We had a "TV break" and the first down after that was Lara Gut; looking at the split times then and later she seems to have been OK at the top but then really made up time on the middle and lower sections to take the lead by 0.58. Anna Fenninger was faster on the top section, but lost time lower down to go into 2nd place. Despite being fastest in training run 2, Tina Weirather wasn't able to repeat the form. Then came Lindsey Vonn - good at the top and in the green light until a really massive mistake lower down - not entirely sure how she kept on her feet; what a recovery! Speed lost however and that was her challenge over. After that there were several skiers who were well inside Gut's time at the top but all lost time lower down. Johanna Schnarf had a nasty fall earl;y on but luckily seemed OK and continued down on her own. That was pretty much it - red button coverage ended! A win for Lara Gut, with Anna Fenninger 2nd and Edit Miklós third - good result for her as I think her previous best was a fifth? Vikki Rebensburg was 4th, so useful points for her; Tina Maze was 18th and Vonn 23rd. Meanwhile at Kitzbühl the weather isn't as good and the start of the men's downhill has been delayed, initially to 1215 local and now 1245. And now - 1315 local; jury will be sitting again before then. Latest update: because of thick cloud/mist higher up the piste, the start will be lowered - latest planned start time 1345 CET.

Kitzbühl – Men’s Downhill: So the delayed race is on, albeit with a lowered start. Early leader is Streitberger from Baumann and Bank; Bode not racing today although I understand he did a camera run for US TV yesterday on the Super G course – saving his back for the World Championship! Bib 10 is Guillermo Fayed ; red light early but a better lower section gets him into the lead, where he stays for a while, but it’s all very tight; just 0.26 separating the top 6! All change – Kjetil Jansrud is back and he takes the lead. Dominik Paris also has a good run, which gets him into 2nd ahead of Fayed. With the top 30 down, that is how it remains – Jansrud, Paris Fayed with Streitberger 4th and Steve Nyman 5th - no late surprises, so that was the finishing order. Pity that what is arguably the “downhill of downhills” had to be run over such a reduced course (less than a minute from top to bottom!), but at least we got a race!

Men’s Slalom – Kitzbühl: First run very much as expected as far as the leader went; no mistakes from Marcel Hirscher this time and he leads by 0.19 from Alex Khoroshilov, with Matthias Hargin 3rd. The Gemans, Dopfer and Neureuther are 4/5 (respectively) separated by only 0.01 with Stefano Gross 6th. OK – second run and Kostelic is the early leader; he stayed there quite a while, eventually being displaced by Sebastian-Foss Solevaag, who was in turn overtaken by Mario Matt. I see Dave Ryding again got a second run, but was a DNF. Interesting – Pinturault was green, red, red on the way down but made up 0.27 on the final section to take the lead! By contrast Lizeroux was green all the way until he lost time on the final section and went second. Good run from Henrik Kristoffersen to take the lead – I was surprised he didn’t do better in run 1, but this was better. Some interesting variations in where people gain and lose time – Markus Larsson started with 0.47 advantage, lost almost all by inter 1, was well back in the green at inter 2 then went red again and ended up 3rd. No such see-sawing for Giuliano Razzoli – green all the way, and into the lead! Felix Neureuther was another one who lost time after a good start but he pulled it back lower down and takes the lead. Fritz Dopfer seemed to pull back a little time between inter 2 & 3, but not enough and he goes third. Final 3 to go – Hargin builds up his lead all the way and ends up 0.63 faster than Felix N. Khoroshilov lost a massive amount between inter 1 & 2 and ends 5th at present; just Hirscher to go – building at inter 1, but the light is red by 2 – “only” second for him! So, a win for Matthias Hargin from Hirscher and Neureuther.

Women’s Super G – St Moritz: I joined the live timings with Kajsa Kling (Swe) leading from Cornelia Hütter (Aut) and Nicole Schmidhofer (Aut). Maze not fast and might be DQd – seems to be a tricky course and it’s catching people out? Change coming however as Lindsey Vonn made no errors today and took over the lead; Nicole Hosp down next and into 2nd but over a second behind. Görgl off the pace and also may join the DQs – there do seem to be a lot of them!? Lara Gut is a DNF, but she seems to be OK. Could well be that Vonn leads both Downhill and Super G standings by the end of today? Anna Fenninger started well but a tiny error cost her about half a second – in to second though! Tina Weirather also started well; not sure where it went but then a big error and she also missed a gate low down. So – Vonn, Fenninger and Hosp with, realistically, all the main players down. Ruiz Castillo has also missed “that” gate and she is another DQ! No late surprises, so that's yet another win for Vonn.

Men's Night Slalom - Schladming, 27Jan:  Forgot all about this one, and missed it, but a great win for Alex Khoroshilov who seems to be coming on form nicely for the World Championships (hope he's going!).  The FIS site reports that this is the first win for a Russian in a World Cup event since Alex Zhirov won his last race (a GS) in Laax in 1981! Stefano Gross was second ahead of Felix Neureuther, who leads the slalom standings! Fritz Dopfer was fourth and Linus Strasse fifth, so a good day for the Germans. Marcel Hirscher was 14th but retains his lead in the overall World Cup standings with1014 points ahead of Jansrud on 834 and Neureuther on 662. Dave Ryding again got a second run, finishing 28th.

3 Feb: The first race; Women's Super G on the Raptor Course (supposedly a 590 metre drop, but not sure if that was for the full course). As so often with outdoor sports the weather decided to take a hand; it wasn't the slight snowfall that caused problems but the strong winds - the race referee and the jury duly considered this and the race was postponed so that the start could be lowered. First on the start list was Marie Jay Marchand-Arvier; she was just about to go when the wind gusted again and she was called back! Quick conference and the wind eased, and the race was on. Elena Curtoni put in a good run to be the early leader; the next few down all seemed to be faster at the first intermediate, but then lose time further down; some got caught out by a particularly nasty gate arrangement and skied out. Merighetti had a fall, but seemed to be OK, and then Rebensburg came to the start; massive gust and she too was called back for a minute - that obviously didn't unsettle her as she went into the lead, making up a lot of time between inter 3 and the finish! Julia Mancuso was next, and seemed unlucky with the wind during her run, but still managed to get into second. A slight pause while the team repair various gates and then it was Kajsa Kling's turn - into second ahead of Mancuso. The next major change was the result of a great run from Cornelia Hütter, who deservedly took over the lead. Lara Gut was another skier who seemed to lose time between inter 2/3, but managed third place - currently Hütter, Rebensburg & Gut. Hosp skied out, and then a roar from the crowd announced that Lindsey Vonn was on course - an odd run by her, red at inter 1, even redder at inter 2, better but still red at inter 3 and into the lead! By contrast Tina Maze went green early, stayed there and took away the lead from Vonn despite a slightly tricky line near the finish. Lizzie Görgl joined the DNF team and we were almost at the end of the favourites - Anna Fenninger was arguably one of the last with a real chance and she took it, to lead by only 0.03; great run! Gagnon (whose boyfriend is, I understand, Travis Ganong, the well known anagram) also fell and that was effectively the end of the race - great win by Anna Fenninger from Tina Maze and Vonn; Hütter 4th and Rebensburg 5th. Nice to have coverage on the BBC too (red button).

4 Feb: Well, yesterday the forecast was for heavy snow, clearing pre race (hopefully!), but it arrived later than expected with more strong winds, leaving the jury no choice but to postpone the Men's Super G.  Full report on the FIS site here. I understand the aim is to try again tomorrow!

5 Feb: Second time lucky for the Men's Super G; weather much better with sunshine, although there is still the chance of a nasty gust of wind! Some "old names" reappearing today - Bode Miller goes 9th on the start list with Aksel Lund Svindal at 14, back from the Achilles injury he got playing soccer last summer (what was he thinking?) This is the Birds of Prey/Golden Eagle course - 607 metres drop, and a very steep start to what looks a tricky course; first down is Brice Roger (Fra) who holds on to that position for a while as Ganong skies out and Brandner discovers what strong gusts of wind do to your time! Eventually Georg Streitberger (start no 8) took over the lead just as a roar from the crowd announced that it's Miller time. Typical Bode - green all the way and very fine skiing but he hooked his arm on a gate and crashed out; managed to ski down but that looked a very nasty gash on his calf; a few stitches needed there, so not sure how that will affect the rest of his championships. (Note from the FIS site later on: quote "Bode Miller suffered a torn hamstring tendon from a lower leg laceration as a result of crashing 59 seconds into the men’s super G in Beaver Creek. According to U.S. Ski Team Medical Director Kyle Wilkens, Miller underwent successful surgery at Vail Valley Medical Center with Dr. Randy Viola and Dr. Tom Hackett. He was released following surgery. The injury will keep him out of the Championships" unquote). Janka managed to get into joint second with Roger but both were pushed down by Pinturault. Time for Svindal to make his comeback run - he seemed to struggle with the top of the course but was green by Inter 3 and took the lead - great effort! That didn't last too long though as Adrien Theaux took over first; Defago into 3rd. Next was Matthias Mayer who was green all the way, but (like Defago) he seemed to lose time from Inter 3 to the finish and ended up 2nd - Theaux/Mayer/Svindal at that stage. Hannes Reichelt was also green at all 3 intermediate points, and had a slight wobble on the final jump but it wasn't enough to stop him taking the lead. Kjetil Jansrud "did a Bode" by also catching his arm on a gate - he went into joint 3rd with Mayer but looked in serious pain at the finish - I understand he's been to hospital but the team hope he will be OK for the downhill? Ted Ligety was start no 26 and green at Inter 1, but lost time later and was into 8th; at that stage the best North American. Just as we came near the end of the "top 30" Dustin Cook (Canada) pulled out a real blinder of a run to go 2nd; fantastic stuff. So, final results - Hannes Reichelt wins from Dustin Cook and Adrien Théaux, with Jansrud and Mayer sharing 4th and Svindal 6th - exciting race!

6 Feb - Women's Downhill: The Raptor course - total drop of 710 metres. Amazing how easy it looks in the camera run - looks fairly flat all the way when in fact it steepens quite alarmingly after a flattish, gliding start section! Some of the higher cameras really show the tricky nature of this course, and with the altitude too this is going to be a real leg burner! Nadia Fanchini was first down, and it looked a good run but was soon overtaken by Nicole Schmidhofer's time. All credit to Daniela Merighetti who put in a good run despite the injuries from her last crash, which included losing two teeth and breaking her jaw; she eventually finished 8th - tough lady! Among the slightly later starters we had a series of skiers who got the green light early on, held it to inter 3, and then lost time lower down. With 15 racers down it was Schmidhofer from Jnglin-Kamer and Merighetti. Then, however, came Super G winner Anna Fenninger - red at the first 2 inters but then green all the way to take the lead by a massive 1.01! More greens at the top/red later rusn, whcih at one stage left Austria on all steps of the podium. Lara Gut had a pretty good run, red light at the last 3 inters but well in touch and into 2nd place. Tina Maze was next to challenge the Austrian dream, green all the way down but by varying degrees so that the final result remained in doubt until the line - into the lead by just 0.02 to reverse the positions of the Super G. Huge roar as Lindsey Vonn set off; green at the first 2 inters but I thought she looked less flowing and impressive than usual as she moved on to the steeper sections - pressure to do well at her home venue making her try too hard? Whatever, she lost time and finished 5th behind Schmidhofer. No late surprises and it ended Maze, Fenninger and Gut with Vonn 5th; Julia Mancuso the next best "local" in 16th.

7 Feb - Men's Downhill: Arguably the blue riband event of the championships, and the BBC have decided not to put it on the red button live, because they are showing some (expletive deleted) about Eastenders 30th, which could have been on any time! What utter (another expletive deleted) they are! Luckily it's on Eurosport and the BBC web pages, and should be on the red button at 1930, but why do that? I checked a bit of the race live, and then watched the whole thing later from the comfy chair! No Bode of course as he’s injured; another name missing from the start list though was Brice Roger who, despite being fastest in one practice, didn’t get picked to be in the French contingent – odd but perhaps they have their reasons? So, the Birds of Prey course, with a 750 metre vertical drop – fairly flat start again but serious stuff later on with some awe inspiring jumps, despite the fact that it (once again) looked relatively benign on the camera run! Early lead by Carlo Janka, with David Poisson second. Next change saw Adrien Theaux take the lead and he stayed there for a while until Steve Nyman delighted the home crowd by going about 0.5 faster at the first split and managing not to lose all his advantage on the rest of the course, to take the lead. Svindal probably isn't 100% at present, but despite being a bit slower early on the course he gained lower down and went into 2nd. Beat Feuz was in touch all the way, but looking at the intermediate times I was a little surprised when he took the lead! Nice attempt at the Didier Cuche windmill too! With 15 down the top 3 were Feuz, Nyman and Svindal. Quite windy at times, but Fayed managed to get into 3rd, only 0.08 off the pace. I think Jansrud is still suffering from his Super G injury; good start but he could only manage 8th at that stage. Patrick Küng looked a bit wild at times, and certainly took risks but it paid off and he took the lead - Swiss 1/2! A few favourites didn't bother the podium, and then came Travis Ganong - maybe a little lucky with the conditions, but great skiing to split the Swiss on the podium. I thought Ondrej Bank might have sprung a late surprise but he ended up 7th! At the finish, great win for Küng from Ganong and Feuz (must have been a good party in the Swiss team area!). Nyman was 4th ahead of Fayed and Svindal. Good day for the USA with 3 in the top 10, and another podium.

Bit off topic, but well done to Lizzie Yarnold for winning another skeleton event - I think that's her 3rd this season?

8 Feb: Men's Combination (Downhill & Slalom): A quite tricky first half of the competition, which might well account for the absence  of some of the pure slalom specialists; all credit to the ones who are giving it a try! Probably the most spectacular of the early leaders was Jared Goldberg (USA) who is obviously a graduate of the Bode Miller school of exciting skiing! He managed a remarkable recovery at one stage, and deservedly took the lead by over a second. Matthias Mayer went into second, knocking Andrew Weibrecht down to third. Marcel Hirscher got down the course in one piece, but ended up 31st and 3.16 seconds back on the eventual leader. I thought Romed Baumann might have taken the lead, but an error at the Harrier jump cost him time and he went into 2nd place. Great run from Kjetil Jansrud, with another good recovery, to take the lead - seems he's found the form he really wanted for the Super G and Downhill! There were several people living dangerously on the course but just getting away with it (Adam Zampa for one); Kostelic also got down, and a little faster than Hirscher. The came Ondrej Bank, who looked to be well in touch all the way, until a ski seemed to come off just before the final jump - massive crash which looked awful; there was a long pause while the medics attended to him - I understand from the news I've seen that he has concussion, facial abrasions and a leg contusion; hope we will hear more soon and that he'll be alright. I suspect that must have affected some of the other competitors, no matter how professional they are; certainly Ted Ligety who was next down seemed less quick than the home crowd might have hoped; a similar time to Kostelic. Another good run a little later from Beat Feuz, obviously on form, to go into 2nd just 0.09 behind Jansrud. At the finish of this part of the competition it was Jansrud from Feuz, Goldberg and Baumann; Kostelic 3.02 behind, Ligety 3.03 and Hirscher 3.16. Luckily for Hirscher, Bank's absence from the slalom meant he was 30th, not 31st, and therefore got to go first on the course rather than after the top 30 (going in reverse order) on a course that looked like it would cut up later! He duly produced a superb run down what looked a technical test; even with a deficit of over 3 seconds it was going to be hard to beat. Ted Ligety went next , gaining time at the top but losing it again lower down, and Kostelic lost time all the way. A lot of the more out and out speed specialists had a hard time on the slalom and a number of people skied out including Streidinger, Zrncic-Dim and Pridy. With 15 racers down the course was starting to rut up; the leaders were Hirscher, Ligety and Alex Pinturault after a pretty good slalom run. Carlo Janka did well, and went into 4th while Baumann did even better to get into third. Getting near the end of the downhill leaders now, and several are keeping the green light a bit further down the course, but no one is that close to Hirscher.  Jared Goldberg had a nasty error to start his run, which lost him masses of time, and Feuz also lost time ending his run rotating over the line. Just Jansrud to go, and he came very close - all his lead went but he managed to complete the slalom fast enough to get into silver medal position. End result - Marcel Hirscher wins from Jansrud and Ligety (glad he got a medal too); Baumann 4th from Pinturault and Janka. Hope we see Ondrej Bank back soon.

Women's Alpine Combination: The downhill part is the full length of the Raptor course, a drop of 710 metres. Looks a nice day although from the noise that the forerunners are making it's an icy course. After 5 racers we have 1 DNF and Margot Bailet of France is in the lead. Hronek managed to go from red light at inter 3 to green at 4 gaining almost a second, and so into the lead. Kathrin Zettel lost quite a bit of her advantage over Hronek over the section where Hronek made her gains, but had enough in hand to take first at that stage, only to lose it almost at once to Marsaglia. Lara Gut looked great to Inter 4, but then improved even more - lead by over a second. With 15 down (or not, as the case may be) it's Gut, Marsaglia and Ross in the podium places. Great run from Michaela Kirchgasser to get into second, and then came Tina Maze, who took the lead by 0.02 (that margin again! Remember the Super G and the Downhill?). Lindsey Vonn was next; not sure if the pressure of expectation got to her but she looked as though she was trying too hard - into 3rd, 1.31 off the pace. As we headed towards the final seeds Maze led from Gut; Anna Fenninger went third, Hosp 4th - good runs from Mowinkel and Stuhec pushed Vonn down to 7th. Perhaps it was lucky that I couldn't understand what 17 year old Leona Popovic said after she skied out; obviously very disappointed but I suspect most of it would have been bleeped if it had been in English? Anyway, on to the slalom section.
Just 27 starters for this second half, dropping to 26 when Edit Miklos was confirmed as a DNS. The course has a vertical drop of 185 metres, with the gate pattern set by a Slovenian coach; not quite as likely to cut up as the men's course apparently, although it's warm at the bottom of the run. An early good run from Ana Bucik, who was 3.51 seconds faster than the previous best. We are now down to 25 starters as Schnarf is also a DNS. Julia Mancuso started with over two seconds in hand, but lost it all to go third; maybe the course is warming up? The commentator reckons Margot Bailet, an early leader of the downhill section, has no slalom form - she was 1.34 slower than Bucik on the slalom leg, but even so she managed to go into the lead. Kathrin Zettel gained on Bailet to take over the lead, although she also wasn't as fast as Bucik on the slalom itself. Marsaglia went into second, and then Michaela Kirchgasser, who does have slalom form, set the fastest slalom time and took the overall lead by 1.29. Next to go was Lindsey Vonn, who also has slalom form although she hasn't trained recently - again, trying hard and she straddled a gate - DNF. Ilka Stuhec went into third place, but 2.08 slower than Kirchgasser, so plenty of space available there! Nicola Hosp lost time at the top of the course but recovered to take the lead; Fenningr went 3rd and Gut 4th; just Tina Maze to go. She started with a 0.90 advantage which was down to 0.31 by inter 1 - hold your breath time - -0.26 at next inter and took the win at the line by 0.22! So, Maze gets another gold medal (1st in the downhill section, 5th fastest in slalom); Hosp gets silver (4 DH, 2 slalom) and Kirchgasser bronze (8th in DH part, best slalom). Exciting race!

Sadly I missed this, and for some reason it wasn't on the BBC! By all accounts it was a very close competition,with the gold medal eventually going to Austria (Eva-Maria Brem, Michaela Kirchgasser, Marcel Hirscher, Christophe Nösig & Philipp Schörghofer) who beat Canada in the big final. Sweden won bronze in the small final against Switzerland. Not a good evening for Gemany who were knocked out by Canada; to add to their woes Hronek is apparently out with a cruciate ligament injury.

Women's GS: For some strange reason the BBC only covered run 2, possibly because there were 116 starters for run 1 with a good smattering of fairly new names? Anyway, the FIS live data site was fairly useful although it didn't explain some of the more surprising results! Tina Maze was second down the hill in what seemed a fair time; slightly surprised that Mikaela Schiffrin wasn't more in touch! Jess Lindell-Vikarby beat Maze's time, but Anna Fenninger was even faster, taking the lead by a massive 0.90. There was obviously a particularly tricky bit of the course near Screech Owl, which caught a few unawares including Lara Gut and Eva-Maria Brem who both joined the DNF team; hopefully OK as the live feed doesn't say! After 15 starters Fenninger was in the lead from Jess L-V and Tina Maze; as more skiers came down not a lot changed except that Michaela Kirchgasser went into 2nd and Tina Weirather moved into 5th. Not at all sure what happened to Lindsey Vonn who again seemed off the pace finishing run 1 2.76 behind Anna F in what became 27th place. Run 2 was on the red button; good coverage of the 353 metre vertical drop down the Birds of Prey, with this gate pattern set by the Swedes. The first few down seemed to build a little to inter 1, then lose to inter 2; Vonn was 4th down and that run looked much more what we all expected - lovely skiing to set the fastest time for run 2 and get her into the lead at that stage by over a second. Mowinkel had a good run to move into second, and a few of the lesser known names discovered how hard it is to match a time set by Vonn when she's on better form. Tessa Worley had a good run, with a particularly good final section to take over the lead. Her compatriot, Adeline Baud, looked set to take over the lead but a massive error cost her time - not sure how she stayed upright, but a great recovery to go into 3rd place. Mikaela Schiffrin also seemed happier on run 2, and lost only a minute amount of her advantage from run 1 to take the lead, although Zettel soon took it away, with the fastest time for run 2 at that stage. Then came Viktoria Rebensburg, who also hasn't seemed quite on form so far here; brilliant run, starting with an advantage of only -0.2 on Zettel and building (0.26; 0.40 at the inters) to go into the lead by 0.75 - best time for run 2 as well! We had a couple more DNFs, and then Tina Weirather moved into 2nd place. Tina Maze faded a little and went third; Jess L-V also lost her advantage over VR and went 2nd. Kirchgasser threatened but a relatively small error at Red Tail cost her time and she could only manage 5th. Just Fenninger to go, and what a run - she started with an advantage of -1.70, which went to -1.49 at inter 1 but built back to -1.80 at inter 2; that seemed to be it, but a massive error and huge recovery at Harrier cost her time - amazingly not as much as it might have and she took a very well deserved win by 1.40! Viki Rebensburg held on for a well deserved silver medal and Jess L-V got bronze; Weirather, Maze and Kirchgasser took the next 3 places. More on the FIS website I suspect.

Men’s GS: Run 1: Yet again the BBC have chosen to abandon scheduled live coverage (still listed on their own website) of these World Championships on the red button in favour of yet more drivel about “Eastenders 30th”; over to online coverage, on the not so comfy chair – Benni Raich was first down the course, set by a German coach, but skied out. Alexis Pinturault was next and almost left at the same point –epic recovery and quite a respectable time! Marcel Hirscher had a good run to take the lead; thought Thomas Fanara would take it away, but he’s also skied out, within sight of the finish. Fritz Dopfer was unusually slow; Ted Ligety was in the green at inter 1, and building his advantage by inter 2, but he skidded at the same point as Benni – into third, but this is the first run! Felix Neureuther had a varied run – red/green/red, and into joint second. Tim Jitloff has also got a reasonable first run, just a bit slower than Ted L. Couple more DNFs, then a good run by Roberto Nani to get into 2nd, just ahead of Felix N and Alexis P in joint 3rd, which is how it stands after 15 starters (4 DNFs already). Bottom part of the course is cutting up a bit; be interesting to see how it holds up for the 2nd run, later in the day? Matts Olsson looked good at inter 2, but possibly that was a little misleading – 6th at the finish. More skiers looking good at inter 2, but losing time later as they apparently went through that timing gun on a less than ideal line?? Nösig has joined the DNFs and so has Myhrer. With 30 having started, Hirscher leads by 0.18 from Nani; Neureuther and Pinturault tied in 3rd (+0.23) just fractionally ahead of Ligety (+0.24); then Olsson (+0.48), Jitloff (+0.61), and Schörghofer (+0.67). No surprises from the later starters!

I missed run 2 live as I was out; pity as it must have been a real cracker, with Ted Ligety producing a superb second run to take the USA's first gold medal here, ahead of Marcel Hirscher and Alexis Pinturault; there is a very good report on the FIS site, link here

Sadly I missed most of the second runs on video; good reports on both races on the FIS website, but in summary:

Women's Slalom: After 15 starters on run 1, the situation was that defending champion Mikaela Schiffrin was in the lead, from Frida Hansdotter (+0.4), Sarka Strachová (+0.44), Michaela Kirchgasser (+0.77) and Tina Maze (+0.85). There seemed very little change so perhaps the track was cutting up a little, or the later starters just weren't quite on it? Anyway, with 50 starters away the highest start number that had made it into the top 10 was number 18, and there was no change to the top 5. Run 2 - must have been exciting, and might be worth watching on catch up? Schiffrin was obviously the last of the top 30 to go, and she had lost all of her advantage by inter 1; she clawed back 0.01 by inter 2 and then must have really sorted the lower section as she took the lead by 0.34! She is apparently only the third woman to win back to back slalom World titles. Frida Hansdotter was 2nd, and Strachová 3rd. Veronika Velez-Zuzulova finished 4th, on a course set by her father (to be fair she was OK on run 1 too!); Maze was 8th. The FIS report is here

Men's Slalom: After 20 starters in run 1 things looked much as you might have expected - Marcel Hirscher was leading from Alexander Khoroshilov (+0.38?), Andre Myhrer (+0.66) with Hargin, Grange, Dopfer and Neureuther making up the top 7. Ted Ligety was down in 15th 1.93 off the pace, which seemed a bit much, even given his ability to really pull out a good second run! Sadly for us, Dave Ryding was among the DNFs, so no second run. I watched the live data feed for run 2, really paying attention as Ted Ligety started his run (just in case it was another recovery); he gained time by inter 1 but then faded out (not sure what happened) and eventually ended up 17th. Markus Larsson had a great run, starting with an advantage of -0.46 he built well to inter 2, then slowed a little to the finish but still ended up taking the lead by 1.3 seconds! There were several DNFs and then Henrik Kristoffersen took over the lead; Felix Neureuther was very close all the way, eventually beating the Norwegian by just 0.02 (that number again!) to take the lead. However, Fritz Dopfer went even better and led by 0.20, until Jean-Baptiste Grange set a new best time for run 2 and went 0.35 ahead. Hargin, Myhrer and Khoroshilov all failed to disturb the top 3, and then there was only Marcel Hirscher to go. Hirscher started with 0.88 advantage, down to 0.70 at inter 1, to 0.45 at inter 2, then just 0.06 just after which point he straddled a gate and joined the DNFs - what a surprising finish to the final race of these championships!! So, J-B Grange takes the title from Dopfer and Neureuther - some medal for the Germans! Full report on the FIS site here

Men's Downhill; Saalbach, Saturday: I joined this with 15 down (or started, anyway) at which point Max Franz was leading from Carlo Janka and David Poisson. Austrians, who I think had been getting a bit of stick in their press, seem to be on form today as Hannes Reichelt goes into 2nd place. Kjetil Jansrud seemed a little off the pace today, he went into 8th, and eventually ended up 14th - unusually low for him, and that will cost him points. Matthias Mayer continued the Austrian surge by beating Franz into 2nd by only 0.02 (there it is again!). That was pretty much the way it ended - Mayer took the win from Franz and Reichelt (so a totally Austrian podium!), ahead of Janka and Poisson with Kriechmayr making a late run for 6th; another Austrian! Full report on the FIS site here

Women's GS, Maribor, Saturday: Good conditions here for run 1, and first down was Anna Fenninger - into the lead and there she stayed! Viktoria Rebensburg took second place, only 0.03 behind, while Mikaela Shiffrin and Federica Brignone tied for third. Crucially, overall points leader Tina Maze, the home favourite, misjudged the last wave and skied out; no second run for her. Another big name out early was Lindsey Vonn, who slid out after a mid course error; luckily no damage! The second run seemed a bit trickier; the first 3 starts resulted in 2 DNFs, but it seemed to steady after that! At half way, Eva-Maria Brem was leading from Sara Hector and Marie-Pier Prefontaine. Frida Hansdotter had the green light all the way to the last inter, but lost time on the final section and went 5th; similar story for Marsaglia. Irene Curtoni had a 0.42 advantage starting her run, and built on it to take the lead by 0.78, only to see Ragnhild Mowinckel do the same and take over! Tina Weirather produced what turned out to be the best time for run 2, which gave her the lead; Zettel was briefly second, losing that place to Nadia Fanchini. By now the wind had got up, and the gusts forced a pause in proceedings. Mikaela Shiffrin had only 0.01 of her advantage left by inter 1, was the same amount in the red at inter 2, and went third; Brignone looked a little ragged at times and slipped to 6th. Rebensburg was next; she lost a little all the way down but retained enough of her advantage to take the lead. That just left Fenninger, who seems on imperious form at present; with a lead of just 0.03 at the start she built up to 0.31 then 0.47 before losing a bit again and winning by 0.04! Epic race; another win for Fenninger who is closing the gap to Maze in the overall points series from Rebensburg and Weirather; Fanchini 4th and Shiffrin 5th. Full FIS report at this link

Men’s Super G – Saalbach / Hinterglemm, Sunday: Not such a good day – visibility not particularly good, especially lower down! With 5 starters away Matteo Marsaglia is leading; Clarey looked set to replace him, but he lost time on the closing section; same story for Brice Roger! As the visibility gets worse, the “lose time lower down” story becomes more regular, but Alexis Pinturault manages to hold on to enough of his early advantage to take the lead. Great run from Carlo Janka; red light early on but green by inter 3 and into the lead – only briefly though as the next man down, Adrien Theaux, takes the lead back for the French! Jansrud is red all the way, but makes up time low down to go 2nd; he’s not a happy bunny! Interesting to see that Marcel Hirscher is racing today – aiming to boost his points total, but this is a tough race to try it! Matthias Mayer is on fire after yesterday; great recovery from a small error and into the lead again! Wild run at times from Ted Ligety, but a good recovery on the rough bit of the course – rumour has it that he might do more Super G and even Downhill next year. Nice run from Baumann, possibly a bit unlucky with the light/vis, and he also lost time after inter 2, just missing the top 10. Beat Feuz was looking very competitive, but the visibility was awful for him and he skied out; 2 more DNFs follow – Manny O-P complaining to the organisers that he can’t see the gates! Given the conditions (although it’s actually getting better at the top!), and the start numbers of those to come, the podium looks pretty certain – Matthias Mayer takes the double this weekend from Adrien Theaux and Kjetil Jansrud (so, despite his disappointment with his run, he’s taken some useful points). Hirscher had a hairy ride, but he did get down and into 17th at present – useful points perhaps? Surprise – the mist is clearing, but too late to affect the podium! Marcel Hirscher has held his 17th place too.

Women’s Slalom – Maribor, Sunday: After run 1 Mikaela Schiffrin leads from Sarká Strachová (Cze) and Erin Mielzynski (Can); Tina Maze in 6th; bit surprised to see Eva-Maria Brem barely qualify for run 2 (only 28th)! On to run 2, and after 10 racers Irene Curtoni is in the lead. Good run from Charlotta Säfvenburg (Swe) to take over the lead, which she, in turn, lost to Kathrin Zettel; next to take over is Wendy Holdener (Sui). With just 10 to go, Nina Løseth goes into the lead, from Holdener and Zettel. Lena Duerr (Ger) moved into 2nd; bumped down a place when Velez-Zuzulova (Svk) takes the lead. Tina Maze joins the DNFs, not a good day for her but at least Fenninger (who won yesterday when Maze also went out) hasn’t taken any points today either. Meanwhile Veronika V-Z is looking more like a podium person; she’s still leading as Strachová comes down – she lost time all the way down and goes 2nd. Mikaela Shiffrin has a massive 1.32 advantage as she starts and there is still just over a second left as she finishes – another win for her, with Veronika V-Z second and Strachová third; that should move Schiffrin up in the slalom points, as Hansdotter was only 9th, possibly into the lead? She has also gained on Tina Maze in the overall, although there is still a healthy gap at present. Looks like Zettel had the fastest time on the 2nd run. Once the FIS have confirmed all the results and updated the points I will post the new version!

Women’s Super G – Bansko: Not such a good day on Saturday either (the first Super G scheduled [think this was the BKK one that was cancelled there?] was cancelled yesterday after several delays, due to fog – now hoping to run that on Monday) – visibility not particularly good at the start, and the team have been clearing a lot of new snow overnight! Slight delay to the start today, but Piot is allowed to go, and the race is on. No surprise that Dominique Gisin is faster; lead by 0.68 – Elena Curtoni even better, that was a nice run! That fog is thick at the top; it’s worse now and Suter is out and very unhappy with the conditions; the race is interrupted. I think that was unfair to Suter; no wonder she isn’t happy. Seems to be clearing again, and Marsaglia is poised to go, but then it fogs over again – jacket back on, must be very frustrating! Eh up – jacket off and Marsaglia is off and into 2nd place; we seem to be back in business, at least for a while. A couple errors for Mancuso, but into 3rd. Rebensburg is caught out by the traverse lower down and skies out; Hosp looking fast but caught an edge; brilliant recovery but she’s out too. We were heading to a TV break, but the fog is back and the race is once more interrupted after 13 starters (of 56 listed), and it’s a long pause. So long that it’s almost time for the men’s downhill at Garmisch, except that they seem to have fog there too and the start has been delayed an hour!! Looks like we might be seeing the juries in action again – very disappointing. The Bansko team have just announced a new start time of 1300 local (1200 CET), which is when the next Garmisch decision will also be made – back to the comfy chair. Now it’s 1230 CET for the Bansko re-start and 1315 for GAP start; this isn’t looking good. And another half hour on Bansko; I’ve finished the Kakuro and am now well into the Sudoku – “Geduld ist eine Tugend” as the ZDF live ticker has it! At last, a decision – the Bansko race is cancelled; very bad luck for Curtoni, as she had a good run (in none too good visibility!). GAP still perhaps a runner but the start has been postponed another 45 minutes to 1400 CET, and if it does happen the start will be lowered. So ….

Men’s Downhill – Garmisch: Looks like we might be in business here, although it still looks a bit misty – going to start from the lower, Super G, position on the Kandahar course. Gorgeous view of the Zugspitze and the GAP area – happy memories! Now that we have someone on the course, it looks a bit marginal – still poor visibility, overcast and very flat light; looks like it’s trying to snow! That’s very close – Striedinger is just 0.01 off Ferstl’s time! What a run from Romed Baumann to take the lead; Steve Nyman currently 2nd. Lucky escape by Beat Feuz; with 10 started Baumann leads from Max Franz with Nyman down to 3rd; now Théaux goes into 3rd, but he drops a place as Defago goes into 2nd. Course seems to be breaking a little – the cloud cover is letting the temperature creep up a bit. Next down after the TV break is Kjetil Jansrud – quite good at inter 3, but he lost time in the lower third and he’s just 8th – not the points he wanted today. Matthias Mayer goes into 2nd; Austria now 1 & 2 (and Jansrud down to 10th); all change again as Hannes Reichelt goes 0.01 faster than Baumann – Austria have locked out the podium! Dominik Paris, who is 2nd in the downhill standings, starts well and is green at inter 1/2 but fades a little – into 4th, and that’s more bad news for Jansrud! Nice run from Sullivan; into 5th, and now, as the light improves (a quick burst of sunshine and blue sky), Varettoni goes into 4th; with 30 started it’s still Reichelt, Baumann and Mayer but these “sprint downhills” can yield some unusual results, so it might not be over although the track is a little “less optimal” by now! Apparently only 86 points between Jansrud and Reichelt in the downhill standings, if the positions stay as they are, and Jansrud’s position in the overall has also taken a hit today – good news for Hirscher; let’s see what tomorrow’s GS brings!

Women’s Alpine Combined - Super G & Slalom – Bansko: Well, after 2 races cancelled, let’s hope it will be third time lucky, especially as it’s such an early start today!! Let’s see how the overall points series looks before this race (ie after the Maribor slalom) – Tina Maze leads on 985, from Anna Fenninger (901) with Mikaela Shiffrin up in third (750). Vonn is 4th (646) and Rebensburg 5th (533). [Vonn leads the downhill and Super G standings, Fenninger the GS  and Shiffrin the Slalom]. This isn’t looking good – the FIS data page says “Start time – To be defined” and it already seems to have been delayed! ZDF reckons 0900 CET; looking at some of the comments from the skiers yesterday, they haven’t been impressed by the standard of the piste in Bansko and weren’t sure the aborted race yesterday should have been started in the prevailing conditions! This is a little bit more promising, the live data feed is up, forerunners are there and Eurosport have video BUT it is foggy still at times (Lindsey Vonn apparently posted a photo of it earlier today on Twitter) and now it’s snowing too; the FIS feed is now saying “race interrupted” which seems a bit odd as it hasn’t actually started! Lizzie Görgl is supposed to be first down and was at the start, but she has just undone her helmet and put a jacket on; a huge bank of cloud/fog has rolled in half way down the course! Déjà vu all over again, as the man said. They have just announced a new start time of 1000 CET, with a decision at 0945; not ideal for the skiers, the very patient spectators or, indeed, the organisers themselves – however, that’s outdoor sports for you! Another 30 minutes delay, we are going to run out of time at this rate (as we need to fit in the slalom section too)! Race is now confirmed as 1030 start (CET), so it will be on with the men’s GS run 1! Eurosport are covering both, so it’s a choice which video I follow – have to say GAP looks more likely to run, so I’ll stick with that! Yep, 6 down and the women’s race is interrupted yet again – Lizzie G leading from Tina Weirather. It sounds as though the start and finish are both OK but the middle section is too foggy; very frustrating. ZDF are making the same point about the time and needing to fit in the slalom (Die Zeit läuft davon. Das ist eine Super Kombination, da hängt noch ein Slalom dran, der heute ebenfalls über die Bühne gebracht werden muß.), but the forerunners seem to be back on course and Zettel is at the start. She’s down, and into 4th; now for Lindsey Vonn – slow at the first 2 intermediates as conditions deteriorate a lot and it’s going the wrong way; surprised she can see – only 7th, 1.77 off the pace – don’t think she’ll be sorry if this doesn’t finish, obviously unhappy she was asked to go in those conditions (like Suter yesterday) and sure enough there is another interruption! It starts up again, and Dominique Gisin has a good run to take over the lead; conditions actually look quite good now which might suit the slalom specialists who are starting later on? Here comes Fenninger – good run and she’s 0.59 ahead at the finish. Nicole Hosp has almost perfect conditions; into 2nd place; at present it’s Fenninger, Hosp and Gisin. Now, what can Maze do – red at inter 1, going the wrong way at 2, better at 3/4 and into 2nd place, 0.45 back. Lara Gut looking good at the top and just green by inter 3, but she’s skied out; pity! End of Super G: Fenninger, Maze, Hosp, Gisin, Görgl and Weirather in the top 6 places, separated by 0.88! Let’s see what the slalom brings.
Slalom: OK – Vonn and Elena Fanchini seem to be DNS, but after 15 skiers (inc DNS) Marie-Michele Gagnon leads from Holdener and Kirchgasser. Almost at once Margot Bailet changes that by taking the lead. Looks like Rebensburg is also not starting, but Kathrin Zettel is and she takes over the lead. No Weirather either, which seems a little surprising. Lovely run from Maze, to go into the lead – good points too! Fenninger is even better though so, with the top 30 down, it’s a win for Anna Fenninger, from Tina Maze and Kathrin Zettel. That means that Fenninger has again closed the gap to Maze in the overall. Let’s hope that tomorrow’s Super G is subject to less input from the weather!

Men’s GS – Garmisch: After yesterday’s DH, the men’s overall standings are – Marcel Hirscher leads (1028) from Kjetil Jansrud (924) and Alexis Pinturault (699), although third place is quite tight as Mayer has 687, Paris 666 (unfortunate!) and Neureuther 662. Hirscher leads the GS (and could wrap it up today, but Ted is still in with a chance if he falters?); Neureuther just leads him in slalom; Jansrud is holding on to downhill (469) ahead of Reichelt (385) and Paris (357) and also leads Super G (376) ahead of Paris (303) and Mayer (274). Good news; the weather looks better in Garmisch than Bansko, although even here it’s not ideal – drizzle at the bottom and a bit of snow at the top and may get warmer by run 2! The favourites seem to be going early on in run 1; I see Jansrud is going too to get any points he can. Felix Neureuther is first away, on a technical course set by Benni Raich’s brother; commentators think he’s a bit off form? Fritz Dopfer is next down; early green, then red but a better lower section gets him the lead by 0.02. Benni Raich is slower at the top but picks up time between inter 2/3 and he’s into the lead. Now it’s Marcel Hirscher and he’s pushing hard, almost 1 second up at inter 2 and just a fraction off 2 seconds ahead by the finish!! What a run – really amazing and very risky! Pinturault and Ted can’t match that – Alexis goes into 3rd but Ted is off the rhythm and down in 6th at present. Currently it’s Hirscher, Raich and Pinturault with Dopfer and Neureuther in 4/5; on Eurosport Nick Fellowes reckons that some of the later starters might upset that as the optimum line smoothes out, but we’ll see! Jansrud is down, and currently in 11th. Top 5 remain the same as we leave Gap and go over to Bansko on video; 2nd run at 1330 CET. Oops – no action in Bulgaria so we are back to GAP; the piste looks as though it’s breaking up; now we are going to Bansko! At the end of run 1, the top 5 remain the same.
Run 2: Possibly a better course, and less likely to cut up? Nice run from Andrea Ballerin (Ita) who started run 1 as number 53; leading run 2 at present! A few epics, but then Tim Jitloff takes over the lead; Pleisch goes 2nd, until he’s displaced by Philipp Schörghofer. Currently the top 3 are Jitloff, Schörghofer and Pleisch, and they stay there a while! Now it’s time for the bigger names though and Henrik Kristoffersen goes 2nd (thought he might have gone 1st). Victor Muffat-Jeandet almost follows suit but good final turns and he just takes the lead. Here’s Jansrud, important for him to gain points if he can – almost out early on, but a good recovery and he’s 5th at present; 10 to go. His compatriot, Haugen, has a better run and takes the lead, but only until Carlo Janka, coming next, takes it away. Next to go is Ted Ligety, with only 0.01 advantage; by inter 1 that’s 0.30, drops a bit by inter 2, bit better again at inter 3 – much more like Ted and he’s into the lead by 0.73! Jitloff still fastest on run 2, so the USA seem to have it sorted? Roberto Nani goes into 3rd; close to Janka’s time. Ted looks good for a podium here, which will keep some pressure on Hirscher – 5 to go. Felix Neureuther has lost a lot of his advantage by inter 1, but gains to 2/3 and that’s him into the  lead. A disappointing run from Dopfer and he won’t be on the podium. Pinturault also needs to be in the top 3 today; he gains to inter 1, but then loses time and he can only manage 3rd; Felix N will get a medal and the crowd like it! Benni Raich builds up to inter 1, but then he also fades a bit – into 2nd. Here comes Hirscher, with over 2 seconds in hand – no easing off as he is building on that all the way – he wins by a massive 3.28 seconds! What a day for him – fastest on both runs! Felix Neureuther is second and Benni Raich third. Ted Ligety is 4th which means that Marcel Hirscher hasn’t quite won the GS globe today – 188 points ahead of Ted Ligety though, and that is the same points margin in the overall over Jansrud (tbc when the FIS site updates)! Incidentally Kjetil Jansrud was 15th today, which I think means he got more points in this event than the downhill yesterday!

Overall points - women: Maze (1065), Fenninger (1001), Shiffrin (750). Men: Hirscher (1128), Jansrud (940), Pinturault (744) - but note Neureuther (742)! In Men's GS - Hirscher (560), Ligety (372) and Pinturault (355)

Women’s Super G – Bansko (vice BKK?): Well, it’s happening, and the weather looks OK; about time too! The course has been set by an Italian coach; first down is Elena Fanchini (Ita) and she’s a DNF; next is Daniela Merighetti (Ita) and she’s also DNF – what has the coach done?! Tessa Worley has a major moment, somehow stays on course, but she has at least got down! This is a really technical course, more GS than Super G at the top (?) – Elena Curtoni has got down with no epics, so we now have a realistic time for the course. Nadia Fanchini goes into 2nd but only briefly, as Rebensburg takes the place away from her. Verena Stuffer, another Italian, is barely getting the turns in in the middle section and losing time; joint 5th. Mancuso also loses significant time between inter 1 and 2, better lower down but only 5th; Curtoni has set a good target which currently only Rebensburg has really threatened. Nicole Hosp lost time in the middle of the run, but pulled it back on the lower section and goes into the lead by 0.01! Tina Maze is on course; she has the green light all the way and is into the lead; now, what can Fenninger do to stay in touch in the overall? Görgl has one error just before inter 4; no podium today. Now it’s Anna Fenninger – good start and she’s building on her lead at inter 2; steady to 3, lost a tiny bit at inter 4 – but, into the lead by 0.16, despite losing her grip on one pole for a while; more points in the overall and Maze’s lead has been cut again, whatever happens. Vonn didn’t ski the top section that neatly, but pulled back at 2/3, lost a bit at 4, almost missed the penultimate gate and she’s into 3rd; what will that do to the Super G standings? As we go into the next TV break it’s Fenninger, Maze and Vonn on the provisional podium; looking at the start list, I’m not sure that will change! That’s bib 30 down, and no change to the top 6 yet. OK – that’s it, a brilliant win for Fenninger which gets her into the lead in the Super G standings and cuts Maze’s advantage in the overall to 44 points. Good second place for Tina Maze and Lindsey Vonn takes the final podium place.

Overall - Tina Maze 1145, Anna Fenninger 1101; Super G - Anna F 372, Lindsey Vonn 340, Tina Maze 250

Women’s Downhill; Garmisch: A lovely day, it seems; sunny, little or no wind and a good firm surface. Rebensburg is out for the remainder of the season after an injury last week (ligament tear in GS training), Mowinckel is out with an ankle injury from Bansko and Daniela Merighetti is also injured after an accident on the training run yesterday (broken leg, so sadly she too is out for the rest of the season). Sounds a tricky course today and with an awkward mix of sun and shade. Ilka Stuhec the first down, and not a bad time for the rest to aim for. I thought Nadia Fanchini would take over the lead, but the final section turned the light red again – into 2nd. Brilliant start by Laurenne Ross; green at inter 1 and building that lead through 2 and 3; still good at 4 and then a fall near the finish ruins a superb effort! After 15 starters Stuhec is still holding on to her lead from Fanchini and Dominique Gisin, but the big names are lining up! First away after the TV break is Tina Maze; green, red, green, green and she takes the lead, but only by 0.15; Slovenia now 1 & 2! Tina Weirather was best in training yesterday, and certainly has a good lead at inter 2; up to almost a second by inter 3 – she goes into the lead by 0.91; what a superb run! Slow start by Lindsey Vonn and going further into the red through 3 and 4; she goes into 5th at present. This could benefit Anna Fenninger, who is next out of the start, but she is also in the red at inter 2 (+0.42) – holding that difference for the rest of the course to go 2nd, ahead of Maze. Not sure that potential podium will change too much. Interesting to see what the points gap will be between Maze and Fenninger in the overall after today? (and where will Vonn end up relative to Fenninger for the downhill points?). Some disappointing times from a few of the later starters, but Edit Miklos is well in touch at inter 2; dropped some time by 3 and she’s fallen; straight up and she seems OK. Sterz had a good run yesterday, but she hasn’t translated that into a good race result today. It looks increasingly as though the podium will be Weirather, Fenninger and Maze, although Nicole Hosp came very close to Maze’s time as she went into 4th – nice effort! Eurosport coverage moves to Kvitfjell; the FIS data feed shows that since Hosp no one has got into the top 20; a run of 4 DNFs too. That’s it – great win for Tina W with Anna F 2nd and Tina M 3rd; Lindsey Vonn 7th today. Unofficial results give Maze a 24 point lead in the overall over Anna Fenninger (1205 v 1181); Vonn retains her downhill points lead by 35 points from Fenninger (402 v 367) with Maze third on 306

Men’s Downhill, Kvitfjell: Another great looking day and venue, although perhaps a little warm; not quite sure why the start has been lowered? Apparently due to high winds and fog, according to the commentators, although it looks OK now. First down was Werner Heel, and like in GAP, that first time is holding as the mark to beat, although early on the track seems to be getting faster – however, it’s an easy course to lose time on! Ninth starter is Steve Nyman, fastest in the last training run, over the full course, but out of the top 5 despite his speed through the gun. Snow may be “going off” now as the warm conditions and relatively low altitude start to affect things. There seem to be several skiers well in touch at the top but losing significant time lower down, but Romed Baumann is more competitive and goes briefly into 2nd only to lose it to Travis Ganong; with 15 down it’s Heel, Ganong and Baumann. First after the TV break is Kjetil Jansrud; he’s 3rd at present, so he can’t wrap up the downhill globe today! Patrick Küng makes things worse for the Norwegian by going 2nd, pushing Jansrud off the potential podium and reducing the points he can claim today. Some good news for him though is that Mayer can only go 10th, however Hannes Reichelt, his closest competitor, has had a good run to stay in touch all the way through the intermediate timing points – great lower section and he takes the lead!! If that holds it puts Reichelt only 29 points behind in the downhill standings. Paris has a good run, finishing just behind Jansrud; Fayed is faster and now he’s 3rd, pushing Jansrud down another place (gap now 24 points). Still some good names to come too; should be a great final downhill in Meribel! Thought Kriechmayer might have got onto the podium, but his final section cost him a top 10 place. It’s Reichelt from Heel and Fayed as coverage shifts to biathlon. The FIS live feed shows an almost instant upset as Manny Osborne-Paradis goes into 2nd; Jansrud’s lead is now just 20 points! That seems to be the final surprise as, of the remaining starters, only Weibrecht and Goldberg get into the top 15. So, Reichelt wins from Manny O-P and Werner Heel; Jansrud in 7th!

Men’s Super G, Kvitfjell: Quite warm again; looks like another nice day – FIS are saying 5 degrees (not sure where on the course) – no wind but a bit of cloud; it’s going to be fast today! Jansrud goes at number 19 today; he is leading the Super G standings by 73 points from Dominik Paris as we start today’s event; Johan Clarey first away but caught out by a gate lower down (on a course set by a French coach too!) and skies out! Next away is Morgan Pridy; he’s down but seems unhurt – another DNF. Well done Brice Roger – safely down. Pause to repair a gate and then Werner Heel, on the podium yesterday, is away and falls only about 3 gates in; this snow is catching people out! Beautiful run from Vincent Kriechmayr to take the lead by a good margin. Exciting stuff from Dustin Cook; after a massive error and superb recovery he somehow took second! Matteo Marsaglia joins the DNFs – 9 starts, only 5 down! Weibrecht goes into third with 10 having started; 11 is Striedinger; nasty fall  but he’s up and seems he’s suffered nothing too serious. Another pause, while the netting is repaired. No real change to number 15 and the TV break – Kriechmayr’s time is holding up well and he leads from Cook and Weibrecht. Break over – bigger names coming and it’s upset time again; both Theaux and Reichelt ski out; Nick helpfully tells us that Hannes Reichelt will get no points for this DNF! Now Mayer is out too; into the turn too fast and ending up with no chance of making the next gate; 8 DNFs from 18 starts. Next to go is Kjetil Jansrud – massive pressure as he can gain points while the skiers who are 3rd and 4th in the discipline are both DNF today (yes, I can state the obvious with the best of them!). Good run by the Norwegian, and he takes the lead; much more like it! OK, now it’s Dominik Paris who is 2nd in the tour standings – he needs good points; he’s into 4th (as things stand that gives Jansrud a lead of 123 points with only 1 Super G left; still some names to come that could change the maths though. In the overall, again assuming no change for Jansrud, the gap to Hirscher is now only 52 points). Meanwhile another Austrian joins the DNFs – Streitberger has missed a gate too. No upset from Manny O-P today, only 15th. Still a few possible upsets possible but Dominik Paris seems to think it’s all over as he’s congratulating Kjetil Jansrud; Romed Baumann is going well most of the way, only +0.01 at inter 4 but he ends up 6th. Fill and Ferstl are DNFs and the race is interrupted again; hope Ferstl is OK as video coverage has moved to GAP. That seems to be pretty much it – Kjetil Jansrud wins to wrap up the Super G crystal globe (and close in on Hirscher in the overall) from Vincent Kriechmayr and Dustin Cook.

Women’s Super G; Garmisch: Another lovely sunny day but a bit warm for ski racing – 3 degrees at the finish, but at least this course has some shade! Tricky for the set up, as the bits in the sun are warm while under the trees it’s very firm and cold. This is another very close situation in the standings; course set by a Slovenian coach today which might help Stuhec and Maze (although, remember Clarey in Kvitfjell!). Francesca Marsaglia is first away, and she does better than her brother today – safely down. Good run from Ruiz Castillo, but an error low down on the course cost her a possible spell in the lead; Laurenne Ross also good and into 2nd by 0.03. Federica Brignone was red at the first inter but then green the rest of the way to go first; Italy 1 & 2 very briefly – Margot Bailet goes 2nd by 0.04. Miniscule margins today – Lizzie Görgl goes 2nd by 0.02; only 0.04 between the top 3! Mancuso is a DNS; Stacey Cook looking good  but she’s missed a gate on the tricky middle section. Dominique Gisin goes joint 3rd, tied with Bailet. Well – Cornelia Hütter is well in the green at inter 2 and she holds it all the way to go into the lead by 0.41, lovely skiing. Next is Tina Maze; green at inter 1 and building through 2 and 3 – at the finish she is 0.90 faster – superb run! OK – beat that everyone! At present it’s Maze, Hütter and Gut; here comes Vonn – green at inter 1, same at 2 and 3 and she takes the lead from Maze. Now what can Fenninger do – just red at inter 1, just green at 2 but quite red at 3 and slightly slower through the gun – only 3rd. So, a win for Lindsey Vonn after her disappointment yesterday with Maze 2nd and Fenninger 3rd; poor Hütter gets another 4th place! That puts Vonn back into the lead in the Super G standings by 8 points! Maze has pulled out a little on Fenninger in the overall (1285 v 1241).

Late note - I think the women's course was in fact set by an Italian (Valerio Ghirardi), but he's Tina Maze's coach!

Women’s GS – Äre (Friday): At present in this discipline Anna Fenninger leads Eva-Maria Brem 342 to 296 with Mikaela Shiffrin 3rd on 271, so all to play for today. Run 1 – Eva-Maria Brem down first (of 59 starters) but her lead is soon overtaken by Kathrin Zettel; other big names are also going early. Fenninger makes a slow start, but is green by inter 2 and builds on her advantage all the way to the line! Next down is Tina Maze; she also starts slowly but in her case it goes the wrong way and she goes 5th of 7 (+1.12 on AF’s time); interesting for the overall but this is early days of run 1. With 15 starters away Fenninger still leads from Zettel and Brem; Maze joint 6th with Shiffrin. Of course, an earlier start in run 2 might be a help? Certainly seems that the later runs in this session are producing slower times! We are into the less well known names now, and there is no change to the top 6, although all credit to Marta Bassino for getting into the top 10 from start number 28! No change at all to the top 6 and run 1 is over.
Run 2: Exciting stuff! At the first TV break Taina Barioz leads from Lara Gut and Ana Drev. Federica Brignone took over the lead, and Bassino did well to get into 2nd; good effort from her. Mikaela Shiffrin had a great run to take over the lead, and then it was Tina Maze’s turn – very disappointing by her standards and she only managed 15th, at that stage. Final few to go, and Nadia Fanchini produced a very impressive run to take over the lead – a good target which proved too much for some of the remaining skiers; Eva-Maria Brem started a little slowly but improved to get 2nd while Zettel went backwards and dropped out of the top 10. Just Anna Fenninger to come, and although she lost a little time she held on for the win and another 100 points; Tina Maze ended up 20th! In the GS standings Fenninger leads by 442 to Brem’s 356 with Shiffrin third on 321. Overall Fenninger has gone into the lead by 45 points with 1341 to Maze’s 1296; wonder if Shiffrin can take 3rd from Vonn?

Men’s GS – Kranjska Gora (Saturday): Missed the live coverage of most of the first run, but with the majority of the 72 starters down Alexis Pinturault leads with Marcel Hirscher and Felix Neureuther tied in 2nd, 0.61 behind the Frenchman. Ted Ligety in 6th, 1.49 behind, and that’s where it ended – let’s see if run 2 is as exciting as yesterday’s event from Äre! Second run set by a French coach; might help Pinturault? Now, in this discipline, Marcel Hirscher can finish out of the top 10 and still win the small crystal globe! Eurosport joined this event with 12 starters away; as we approach halfway Henrik Kristoffersen leads from Gino Caviezel. Here comes Jansrud, also chasing points for the overall – into 11th at present. Kristoffersen’s time is holding up well; just 10 to go now. I thought Muffat-Jeandet might have finished better but he lost time on the lower sections and ended 6th. Now for Ted; he’s losing a little time on the upper sections; began with a healthy advantage but holds on to just 0.13 of it to take the lead, some lovely turns! Roberto Nani building on the top sections, 0.34 to 0.57, but a mistake on the roller turns the light red – into 3rd. Great upper section from Thomas Fanara, but risky; 0.68 up to 1.02, 1.17 – more mistakes but he survives them well and goes into the lead by a massive 0.95 – what a run! Marcel Hirscher lost a bit between inter 1/2, had a couple moments lower down but takes the lead – that’s the small globe wrapped up! Very risky stuff! Felix Neureuther isn’t so fast – quite unlike him and he ends up 4th. Last man to go is Alexis Pinturault; he’s building on his lead – very nice and he takes the win; happy for him after so many near misses. So, Pinturault wins, Hirscher is second and Thomas Fanara third; Hirscher now has 640 points in the GS standings so he wins from Pinturault (455) and Ted Ligety (422). Hirscher leads the overall standings, with 5 races to go, with 1208 to Jansrud’s 1084 and he will race tomorrow while Kjetil doesn’t.

Women’s Slalom – Äre (Saturday): Quite a tight competition for the overall title, so this one is really important to Fenninger (not starting this slalom) and Maze (who is, and needs as many points as possible to claw back the 45 point gap to Anna); with 15 down Shiffrin leads run 1 from Strachová and Zuzulova; Maze currently in 8th, 1.43 back; race interrupted for course maintenance! Course repaired and the action resumes, with the live timing now showing Strachová, who had been omitted before! Not sure we are going to see a great deal of change! In fact the only slight change is that Maze has slipped to 9th; maybe starting earlier in the second run will suit her? It’s run 2, set by an Austrian and Chemmy’s mike seems to be duff; better now! Poor Zeller was looking good but falls almost at the finish gate. After 15 starters Anna Swenn-Larsson leads from Lena Dürr, but after the TV break Gagnon takes the lead. Carmen Thalmann has a good run into 2nd, but Tina Maze has another off day (by her standards) and goes into provisional 9th (for which she would get 29 points); how many places will she lose, I wonder? That’s 1 for a start – Frida Hansdotter into 2nd. Holdener losing time on the way; might have done better except for a late stumble – into 3rd. Six to go – Zettel in touch until another very late error – that gate has caught a few out! Crucially she is still one place better than Maze. Nice run from Nastasia Noens to just beat Gagnon’s time; she leads by 0.06. Now Veronika VZ; real charge at the top and she builds on her advantage – lovely skiing and into the lead by 0.83! Strachová can’t quite match that; a good run but into 2nd. Just Mikaela Shiffrin to go – she has 0.92 in hand. She’s down to 0.50 at inter 1, but gets it all back by inter 2 – builds still further to win by 1.41 – superb stuff! So, Shiffrin wins from Velez Zuzulova and Strachová; Mikaela now has a 90 point lead in the discipline standings! Tina Maze ended up 16th; that leaves her 30 points behind Fenninger in the overall; Shiffrin has passed Vonn at the moment for third place.

Men’s Slalom – Kranjska Gora (Sunday): Neureuther leads the standings from Hirscher as they start. Well there’s a surprise – Marcel Hirscher first down on run 1, a massive error and lucky to complete the course; wonder if he’ll get a second run?! Neureuther and Dopfer also uncharacteristically slow but no obvious reason for them – snow conditions and kit? With 10 starters away Mattias Hargin leads from Razzoli and Kristoffersen, and that’s the way it stays – Hirscher slowly slipping down the list; joint 19th after the run completes, tied with Benni Raich, so he gets a second run! Looks a trickier course this time, and the snow looks as though it’s a bit nasty. Good early run from Haugen; surprised to see Andre Myhrer so far down the results from run 1, but he’s now leading the second run for a while! Adam Zampa takes over, almost immediately replaced by Lizeroux. Here comes Marcel Hirscher, risky work but he builds well and into the lead by 0.62, that should pull him up a few places? The snow is rutting up now; Hirscher’s lead holds – the next 8 racers can’t match him – Pinturault comes close as he goes into 2nd. Maybe Marcel had the best of the track? He has now seen off 10 skiers; Dopfer is in to 3rd and not happy! Here comes Neureuther; 0.72 advantage drops to 0.32 at inter 1, by inter 2 the light is just red; he loses a bit more time and goes into third – the discipline globe won’t be decided today! Sebastian-Foss Solevaag is first down after the TV break, again red light at inter 2 and he’s 3rd which costs Neureuther points! Markus Larsson is looking good, green all the way and he takes the lead away from Hirscher – good news for Felix! Massive error from Stefano Gross and he’s out of the top 20. Same gate as Gross, same error for Patrick Thaler who loses even more time. Better news for Felix as Khoroshilov goes into 2nd, dropping Hirscher one place. Henrik Kristoffersen builds on his advantage to inter 1, and even more to inter 2; great skiing and he takes the lead by just over a second; Razzoli goes into 2nd. Just Hargin to go; red light at inter 1 – he can’t get it back and ends up third. So, great win by Henrik Kristoffersen from Giuliano Razzoli and Mattias Hargin. Hirscher is 6th, so a great recovery after such a poor first run – fastest man on the second run! Felix Neureuther ends up 9th, so he keeps the lead in the slalom standings by 55 points from Marcel Hirscher – all to be decided in the last race of the season at Meribel!

Men’s Downhill, Meribel: This week we see the world cup finals; open to only the top 25 in the world rankings plus world junior champion. For some reason the downhill is first – I wonder why this event doesn’t close the season? At the start, Kjetil Jansrud (start number 18 today) leads the downhill standings by just 20 points from Hannes Reichelt (start 16); Dominik Paris is third, 119 behind so he could just catch Reichelt but not Jansrud. In the overall Marcel Hirscher (not racing today) has a 164 point lead over Jansrud, with Pinturault (also not racing today) 350 points behind, so with just 4 races left he can’t catch Hirscher. Lovely run from Didier Defago who opens proceedings today. Temperatures rising even early on, so the snow will soften as the day goes on – might be tricky for later starters and certainly for the women? Defago’s time is holding up well; Manny O-P is looking good though until an error sees him ski out, missing a gate. Patrick Küng also well in touch and goes 2nd. Romed Baumann very close until inter 4, then losing time and misses the provisional podium; Georg Streitberger is even closer and goes into 2nd; snow still OK apparently? After the TV break, it’s Hannes Reichelt – working hard and taking risks but red light all the way and into 6th; that means good news for Jansrud, IF he can produce a good run himself. Nice middle section for Beat Feuz but slowing a little later and he’s into 6th, pushing Reichelt down a place. Now, Jansrud needs to be in the top 15 – he’s tied with Defago at inter 2; green light at inter 3 and it stays there all the way; he goes into the lead and that’s the downhill title wrapped up, to add to the Super G globe! It would be useful for him to take that 100 points; Steve Nyman looks for a while as though he could change that but he’s 4th. So, at present Jansrud from Defago and Streitberger and only a few left to go. Nice to see Ted Ligety here, he has collected points in every discipline this season – not fastest by a long way but respectable! Henri Battilani, the junior champion (Junior? He’s enormous!!) finishes one place below Ted! And that’s it – no change to the podium; Nyman 4th, Fayed 5th and Franz 6th; the downhill globe returns to Norway!

Women’s Downhill: I was going to watch this live, but it was such a nice day that I felt guilty about spending it in front of the computer, and went for a walk instead! In summary – at the start of the race Vonn had a 35 point lead over Fenninger in the downhill standings; Fenninger could only manage 4th after her run, while Vonn took the lead which she held until the end of the race; Fenninger ended up 8th. That gave Vonn the downhill title – the 7th time she has won it, and her 18th crystal globe – two more records to add to her total! So, Vonn won this race; Görgl was 2nd, Hosp 3rd, while Tina Maze was 4th, closing in on Fenninger in the overall points! Full report is on the FIS website here

Men’s Super G – Meribel: Now, Jansrud has already sewn up the small globe but he is now only 64 points behind Hirscher in the overall! Once again it’s a lovely day in Meribel, but even warmer than yesterday – more soft snow and tricky conditions! Sixth man down is Marcel Hirscher, racing today to try and gain some points – looks to have been worth it as he skis the lower section really well to go into the lead, ahead of Caviezel and Feuz. That’s interesting as he started relatively early, while Jansrud and the other higher ranked Super G skiers will go later on softer snow! Brice Roger is the next down, and he beats Hirscher’s time by just 0.01! Theaux is green at the top, but a big error scrubs off a lot of speed and he’s only 4th. Baumann does something similar! Great run from Dustin Cook to go into the lead – risky stuff but it paid off. That jump is proving something of a game changer! At the TV break it’s Cook, from Roger and Hirscher. Mayer is almost at the finish, but he falls – up and OK but the gate is damaged. That pauses the race for a while, and Jansrud has to wait at the start – not a help! Jansrud is away, just red at inter 1, also red at inter 2 but a good lower section gets him into 2nd, knocking Marcel Hirscher off the podium! If it stays like that then Hirscher will be 34 points ahead in the overall – Kjetil will be hoping that more skiers go between them, but it’s a small time gap!! Reichelt doesn’t do it, and Janka is a DNF; another casualty of the big jump – one ski off but he also seems to be OK; more repairs. The soft snow is creeping up the hill! Dominik Paris will be disappointed with his run, but that should keep him as the Super G runner up this season. All very close at the top – only 0.09 between the first 4. That might be Didier Defago’s last ever race; apparently his wife reckons he’ll race as a divorced man if he returns next season! Big party planned for him later. Only a few to go; Küng has a moment on the big jump and loses speed; Clarey has the top speed through the gun but not the line to use it – 19th. Last man is Ted Ligety – out at the big jump! So, big surprise of the day must be Marcel Hirscher’s 4th place; a real help in his quest for a fourth overall title! Very close though, roll on the GS! Great win for Dustin Cook, from Jansrud and Brice Roger.

Women’s Super G: At the start, Fenninger leads Maze in the overall by only 12 points; Vonn back up to third but over 400 points behind, 42 points ahead of Shiffrin (who isn’t racing today). In the Super G standings Vonn leads Fenninger by 8 points, and no one can catch those two. Race under way and it’s warmer still; nice run from Elena Fanchini, the first racer away. For some reason the FIS live timing has frozen! Federica Brignone takes over the lead, only to lose it to Marsaglia. With 11 racers down, Marsaglia leads from Brignone, Elena F and Nadia F – Italians in the top 4 places! Lovely run from Tina Weirather to take over the lead, the FIS feed is really odd – missing a group of skiers, so that it showed Sterz third when she’s 9th. At the TV break it’s Tina W, Marsaglia and Brignone; now on the course is Anna Fenninger – well green at inter 1, still Ok at inter 2 but a bit wide at the big jump; error 3 from the finish but she’s into the lead by a massive 0.71 – very risky but it worked! FIS feed is now working again. Lara Gut skies out; so does Lizzie Görgl Here comes Vonn; almost identical at inter 1 but well green by inter 2, bit slow through the gun but she takes the lead – I can’t say I’m a fan but she’s certainly a great skier and you have to admire that comeback – that run pips Fenninger and with it Vonn takes the Super G globe (by just 28 points); that’s 19 globes in total, improving her own record. Tina Maze is next down and goes 3rd, crucially behind Fenninger! If those positions stay, that gives Fenninger a 32 point lead over Maze in the overall – yes, Hosp can only manage 5th so Vonn wins from Fenninger and Maze.

Mix today - slalom for the women and GS for the men!

Saturday 21 Mar – Women’s Slalom, Meribel: Bit cloudy so the light looks flat; bit warm too – lots of green around beside the piste! Run 1 – with 10 skiers started Frida Hansdotter leads by just 0.07 from Mikaela Shiffrin and Veronika VZ. Tina Maze 4th, Anna Fenninger still to come – remember that in the overall points standings it’s very close (1453 to 1421 in Fenninger’s favour)! Later starters don’t seem to be making much impression, as the weather gets damper – we are expecting proper rain later (which might affect the Men’s GS and the second run of this slalom). Here goes Fenninger – she hasn’t raced slalom for a while! Not bad either, but only 22nd and she needs to be in the top 15 after run 2 to get some points today! On the plus side, she will go early in run 2, which might be a help?
Run 2:  Right, here’s Anna Fenninger for her second run; losing her advantage all the way down and into 2nd of 4 behind Schild; not promising! OK, at about half way Nastasia Noens leads from Laurie Mougel; Fenninger down to 11th, no it’s 12th now – brave effort today but I can’t really see her getting any points from it. Sadly she is now down to 16th, so no points for her; now what can Tina Maze do a little later? No change to the top 2 in this race yet, but as I write that Strachová goes fastest. Maze is next and builds on her run 1 advantage; she goes into the lead – very confident stuff! Here comes VVZ, building at the top, losing a bit lower down but enough to go first (Anna F, you owe her a drink!) Two to go; Mikaela Shiffrin needs to go 14th or better to take the small globe – into red at inter 2, but a great lower section to go into the lead and that’s 3 back to back slalom crystal globes for her! Frida Hansdotter is also building at the top, but she isn’t quite a good lower down ending up in 2nd by only 0.05 – close racing! So, this race – Shiffrin from Hansdotter and Veronika VZ. In the slalom crystal globe Shiffrin wins by 110 points from Hansdotter with Maze third. In the overall Maze leads Fenninger by 18 points after getting 50 points today; Vonn stays 3rd now just 42 ahead of Shiffrin.

Men’s GS: Run 1 is on Eurosport, but without commentary (ski jumping has the “proper” slot, but at least we have video and with the FIS data too that’s good enough) and the first upset is Felix Neureuther skiing out on run 1! Fritz Dopfer doesn’t make the same mistake, so he’s the early leader! Third man away is Marcel Hirscher; nicely green at inter 1 but losing time the rest of the way; safely down but 0.89 off Dopfer’s pace. Ted Ligety seems to be doing the same; he takes over 2nd but 0.81 off Dopfer’s time; good run from Fritz! Fanara, the first of the French, gets huge support from the crowd, but he too loses time on the lower sections – he’s now into the 2nd place slot! After that things settle down a little; it’s obviously the lower section that is causing all the trouble, and it looks like it’s cutting up too – now 3 degrees warmer than the women’s slalom according to the FIS site. With 10 away Dopfer still leads from Fanara and Ligety with Hirscher holding on to 4th. Jansrud is skiing today; he goes number 16 which should let him get a good course report from Haugen, who has a good run into 2nd! Now, it’s Kristoffersen’s turn – again nicely green at inter 1, but he’s managed to keep it at inter 2 and it’s still just there at 3; he takes over the lead by 0.08! OK, Jansrud safely down but 2.10 off the pace. No major changes – after run 1 it’s Kristoffersen leading by 0.08 from Dopfer with Haugen 3rd and Hirscher now 6th. Run 2: Full coverage now. Only very slight changes to the course as they try to make best use of the chemically hardened part of the piste! Jansrud will be third down – he’s building well this time and ends in the lead by over a second! That’s pretty much all he can do today; brilliant effort. Victor M-J takes over the lead, but Jansrud is holding 2nd quite well, eventually losing it to Simoncelli. Ten to go – Pinturault and Nani go ahead of Jansrud; Hirscher takes over the lead from Victor M-J! This could wrap up the overall, but Ted Ligety is building on his advantage through inter 1 & 2; loses it a bit on the lower section though and he’s third – good for Hirscher, bad for Jansrud! Thomas Fanara has lost a little by inter 1, but has it back by 2 and builds a little by 3 – he takes over the top place; the home crowd love that! Haugen is losing time lower down; only 5th. Fritz Dopfer has a useful advantage, but he’s lost half by inter 1, better through 2/3 and he goes into the lead. One to go, and Kristoffersen has 0.08 in hand at the start; he builds massively to inter 1 and keeps the lights green all the way – he takes the win by a margin of 0.79; poor Fritz is the runner up (again!). Thomas Fanara is third, Hirscher 4th and Jansrud is 11th. That leaves Marcel Hirscher 60 points ahead of Kjetil Jansrud in the overall, with just a slalom to go, so surely he will take the large crystal globe for the fourth time! Will Jansrud try to dig out a pair of slalom skis, or will he let Marcel have it?

Sunday – Men’s Slalom (Meribel): Not a nice day! It’s a little warm but cloudy/foggy too. First point is that Kjetil Jansrud isn’t doing the slalom, so Marcel Hirscher takes the large crystal globe for the overall points. He could also take the slalom globe too, depending on what happens today! On which topic, Felix Neureuther isn’t having a good weekend, a disastrous first run has left him in 12th place at the first TV break point, and his lead over Hirscher in the slalom points is vulnerable (569 to 514 at the start). Stefano Gross leads from Henrik Kristoffersen and Marcel Hirscher. This weather isn’t looking good for the women’s GS either. No change at the top yet but Felix N is down to 14th on this first run, at present. Just 2 to go; Herbst hasn’t made things worse for Felix and Ted Ligety is unusually slow! Run 2 to decide the small globe. On to run 2, from the FIS data centre plus commentary less video! Ted Ligety will not be starting the second run, I understand he’s soon off to have the pins taken out of his hand following the injury earlier in the season! Looks a bit less claggy than it was earlier. Quite nice run from Benni Raich, I wonder what he will be doing next year – rumours abound! Felix Neureuther will be 10th starter (or 9th if you’re pedantic about Ted not starting) in this run, and the track already seems to be cutting up. Nice run from Victor Muffat-Jeandet; he leads from Byggmark and Thaler. Herbst takes over the lead, and is deposed by Grange – massive lead too! Now it’s Felix – red at inter 1, green at 2 but he loses time lower down – into 2nd, he’s really not on his best form at present! Doesn’t look happy! Pause while the course workers try to find some snow that’s hard enough to put the gate into. Calle and Baeck are both slower than Felix, which is good for him, but Larsson pushes him down a place; then Sebastian-Foss Solevaag takes the lead, briefly. At the TV break it’s Pinturault, from Seb F-S and Grange. Myhrer goes into 2nd and Hargin makes a spectacular exit; Felix is down to 9th as Razzoli takes the lead; here comes Hirscher – into the lead by 0.83; just 2 to go. Big error by Kristoffersen drops him to 6th; I think Hirscher has got the slalom globe? Gross is in the red at inter 1, and losing time – he goes 6th! So, Marcel Hirscher wins the last race of the season, taking 100 points to Felix N’s 22 – that gives Hirscher the slalom globe by 23 points! Razzoli 2nd and Khoroshilov 3rd.

Women’s GS: Run 1 set by a Swedish coach. I see Vonn’s name on the start list; last to go! This clashes with the men’s Mass Start biathlon, so I’ll have to see if I can follow both! In this discipline Fenninger leads Brem by 86 points, but overall Maze has a slim 18 point lead over Fenninger; it’s good when the globe isn’t decided until the final race (at least for the spectators!). Doesn’t look so foggy at the start but it seems to be thicker lower down; hard to tell on TV! OK, Fenninger is away number 3; green all the way and she’s into the lead on run 1. Maze goes number 5, ands she’s well in touch going 2nd by 0.27. Eva-Maria Brem is also in touch – she goes into third, and that’s how things remain until the finish – not a bad run from Vonn to go 6th, 0.99 back. On to run 2, and Eurosport join with Frida Hansdotter leading from Mölgg and Prefontaine; 12 to go. Great run from Nadia Fanchini to take the lead by over a second from Tessa Worley. Sara Hector takes over the lead and Vonn goes 2nd. Course is looking bumpy; 3 to go. Eva-Maria Brem has a great run building on her advantage to go into the lead by 1.17. Now it’s Tina Maze; starting with 0.16 advantage building, losing a little, then building again – she goes into 2nd! This is all going to be very tight, not just for the overall but for the small GS globe. Just Anna Fenninger to go – starts with 0.43 advantage and she’s building; a spectacular run and she goes first; lovely stuff. So, in this race Fenninger wins from Brem and Maze; that gives Fenninger the overall crystal globe by 22 points from Tina Maze, with Vonn third. Anna also takes the GS globe, by 106 from Brem with Shiffrin 3rd. What an end to the season!