[ad_1]
A yr in the past this week, American snowboarding famous person Mikaela Shiffrin had dropped her second slalom in a row to Slovakian Petra Vlhová in what can be one in every of her final races of the season.
After a 10-month break from the snow, Shiffrin returned in mid-December to top the podium in Courchevel, France.
However gradual restoration from an harm and the stresses of snowboarding by a pandemic prompted the 25-year-old Colorado native to withdraw from pursuing this season’s crystal globe, rewarded to the general World Cup factors winner.
Shiffrin announced New Year’s day her focus instead will probably be on getting wholesome mentally and bodily, presumably within the run-up to the 2022 Beijing Video games, only a yr away. Although she hinted at specializing in technical occasions for the rest of this season during a rangy interview to start 2021, her standing remains to be race-to-race.
Vlhová the Skier to Beat Tuesday
So it got here as one thing of a shock to see her identify on the beginning checklist for Tuesday evening’s World Cup slalom occasion in Flachau, Austria, a race that—as soon as once more—often brings out the revelers by the tens of hundreds to the tiny Salzburg village however will occur underneath comparatively subdued circumstances as a consequence of COVID-19 protocol.
On Tuesday night, all eyes will be on Petra Vlhová. Now the clear favourite in technical occasions on the circuit. Vlhová (+130 on Bwin) has gained 11 World Cup slalom races placing her in ninth place on the all-time checklist.
Extra importantly, the speedy Slovakian has gained six of the final seven slalom occasions within the World Cup, with the one exception a fourth place in Semmering on Dec. 29. She has completed on the rostrum in 16 of her final 19 World Cup Slaloms.
Shiffrin Makes an attempt to Cross Podium Century Mark
Tuesday evening, Vlhová will goal for her fourth slalom victory in a single World Cup season, which might be a primary for the adorned skier, a feat that Shiffrin herself achieved in seven of the final eight seasons.
In the meantime, at 99, Shiffrin (+200) is just one podium shy of changing into the eighth alpine skier ever to say 100 World Cup podiums throughout all disciplines.
She’s going to be part of the ranks of the all-time greats Ingemar Stenmark (155), Marcel Hirscher (138), Lindsey Vonn (137), Annemarie Moser-Pröll (114), Renate Götschl (110), Vreni Schneider (101), and Marc Girardelli (100) Tuesday ought to she break triple digits.
At 67, Shiffrin solely trails Stenmark (86) and Vonn (82) in all-time World Cup wins. She’s additionally gained 43 World Cup slalom occasions, which is the all-time document within the sport.
Shiffrin Might Be Searching for a Little Flachau Mojo
However the true cause she’s coming again? Shiffrin skis properly in Flachau, ending on the rostrum in every of the final seven World Cup slalom occasions. Tuesday evening, she may turn into the primary girl in World Cup historical past to gather eight podiums at a single venue.
Swiss technical specialist Michelle Gisin won the slalom in Semmering final month, her first World Cup win in any self-discipline. Gisin joined the elite firm of Shiffrin (43), Vlhová (11), and Erin Mielzynski (1) as the one energetic skiers to have gained a girls’s slalom occasion within the World Cup.
With a win Tuesday, Gisin (+400) can turn into the primary Swiss girl to win a number of slalom occasions in a World Cup season since Vreni Schneider in 1994-‘95.
Holdener and Liensberger Able to Break Via
These searching for an extended shot would possibly test in on Gisin’s Swiss teammate Wendy Holdener (+2500) who has 24 World Cup podium finishes within the slalom however has but to high the rostrum for the primary time. She at the moment holds the document for probably the most podiums in a self-discipline with out profitable.
Austrian Katharina Liensberger (+300) is quietly putting together a great season. The 23-year-old five-season World Cup veteran has completed within the high seven in every of the final 11 girls’s World Cup slalom occasions, together with a 3rd place in each occasions in Levi this season and second places in the two most recent slaloms in Semmering and Zagreb. She’s the one skier to complete on the rostrum in all 4 girls’s slalom occasions this World Cup season and is primed to step as much as the highest.
Ladies’s World Cup Slalom Flachau, Austria Jan. 12, 2021 Odds
Skier | Odds |
P. Vlhová | +130 |
M. Shiffrin | +200 |
Ok. Liensberger | +300 |
M. Gisin | +400 |
W. Holdener | +2500 |
E. Mielzynski | +5000 |
Ok. Thruppe | +6600 |
Ok. Lysdahl | +6600 |
C. Mair | +8000 |
[ad_2]
Source link