KIRCHGASSER WINS!

KRANJSKA AND KITZ, IT SHOULD BE A REGULAR PAIRING

I think it makes for a great weekend. Kranjska Gora is a great and challenging race venue for the women. They might even want to move the GS start up to just under 400 meters, which adds about 5 turns to the current GS but makes the hill much more challenging in many ways. And the slalom, while it is flat for quite a while at the top, has a lot of terrain, large and small and a long steep at the bottom with a hard fall-away right. Add fatigue and it brings in all the elements. I know Maribor is the regular stop, but it gets canceled there a lot and it is a flat hill. Maybe women’s skiing has progressed on the World Cup to the point that all of their tour stops should be re-evaluated based on difficulty. They don’t all need to be nasty, but none should be pancake flat either.

Anyway, I am sitting and watching the women’s race right now and will watch the guys later today. They are far enough apart that I might even publish twice today. So far, I have seen three things. The choice to inject was probably necessary but does not seem to be working very well as it is breaking through on the bottom at number 7. The first course set by Zuzu, for Zuzu took its toll in Riesch and Schild skiing out and Zahrobska killing all of her speed. And there were existing cross-ruts from the GS.

One thing about the first course set. Where Riesch and Schild went out, is set at the bottom of the first main pitch out of the start and the exit is near the compression. That pulls your momentum down toward the flat so the skier needs to be disciplined and demanding of themselves to keep the line high and turn into the hair-pin to come out with more direction and speed. So it is a factor of giving away some line, and risking less to carry speed across the long flat before it breaks again toward the finish. I am not surprised that Maria struggled there as she was carrying her hips too low from the very beginning to make any kind of line adjustment. But Schild really looked to me like she chose to be direct and try to snap the turn off in the hairpin. But that was a bad choice as it ended in a DNF. But even if she made it, she would have gotten jammed up in the double on exit and carried less speed. It is very apparent that after number 5, the snow broke through on the bottom. Not a rare occurrence in Kranjska.

It was a nice run for Lindsey on run 1. Maybe she was a little cautious at the bottom. But again, when things start breaking through, and the report is that it is tough and the light is flat, it is very hard to keep charging. And then when your skis are bouncing in the broken rut below the gate on the first 3 gates when you break-over, it is very hard to pick up the pace again within sight of the finish. Mikaela looked cautious from the very first turn and was never on pace. She never picked up the tempo, never shortened the turn, and never snapped a turn off the whole way down. It’s a long trip to Europe for your first time if you are Shiffy. She has been over there since before Courchevel and she is only 16. It’s a grind for the veterans, let alone a 16 year old on her first tour. Jules had a very nice, solid run and she scored some points.

In the second run, clearly Zettel and Hosp were going hard. It’s nice to see Niki back on her game a little. She was a phenom when she was a teenager; involved in the infamous 3-way tie at Soelden with Flemmen and Maze back in October of 2002. And after a few really good years, she was injured repeatedly and has been battling to get back ever since. This year, she just could not seem to make it to the finish line but she is definitely getting better. Lena Duerr had the lead in the bag, and just could not hold on all the way to the finish. In my experience in Kranjska, which includes setting there 3 times, 14 World Cup starts and a few Europa Cups, where Lena Duerr had problems is the spot where everyone has screwed up on the second run one time or another. Right near the transition to the flat just above the finish, it always catches someone. In the end, it was a great race. In typical Kranjska Gora fashion, only the finish area was left in the sun when the race reached the end. The sun-drenched crowd was also very large in Kranjska, a testimony to their dedication to ski racing.

 Michaela Kirchgasser finally won a World Cup slalom. She was thrown into the World Cup mix as a child and fought the demon of expectations as well as injuries for years. She is a very, very good skier and a person who is worth rooting for. She has had to battle; this is no overnight success story. One of the other exercises worth doing with her is to take a video clip of her from 3 or 4 years ago and then watch her now. Her skiing has changed. She definitely skis more like Schild in slalom, but it is more than that. It seems to me the entire Austria women’s slalom and GS group has gone to school on their skiing and made targeted changes. From upper body and core strength to pole plant skills and timing, they have improved. Along with that, they have definitely improved their inside foot control and transition skills, allowing cleaner initiations and earlier pressure.

Congratulations to Michaela on her first win since Sierra Nevada in GS in 2007. Also to Tanja and Zuzu for the podium appearances. Lindsey skied very well at times and should be good with the place and points toward the overall. She is pretty close in slalom, but it is tough to find the time, energy and organization to train 2 or 3 disciplines while racing 4 (5 with combi) and travelling.

Lindsey’s Overall lead is now 282 points. She lost a little to Tina but that was expected going into the slalom. Honestly, she could have lost more. With Schild out, it was Tina’s race to win and she was out-skied by Kirchgasser. And on the other hand, Lindsey’s lead was increased over all the other potential challengers. Schild’s hold on the slalom title is still strong but Kirchgasser put herself into the mix with 305 points. The next slalom on the schedule is in Andorra in about 3 weeks. They have a Downhill, SG and 2 Super Combis in St. Moritz next week followed by a Downhill and Super G in Garmisch before heading to Soldeu, Andorra for the next tech stop. It’s a very rugged schedule the rest of the way for the all around focused athletes.