World Cup wrap: New champions mean new era is finally here after season where anything was possible

Twenty-eight races. That’s what number of slaloms Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova gained between them earlier than their outstanding streak was snapped.

The American and Slovakian superstars had dominated the slalom for practically 4 years till Switzerland’s Michelle Gisin vanquished the behemoths on December 29. That second was the right instance of a season the place it felt like something was potential.

Within the males’s tour, 5 racers – Lucas Braathen, Mauro Caviezel, Martin Cater, Ryan Cochran-Siegle and Manuel Feller – gained a World Cup race for the very first time. In the meantime Gisin was certainly one of two ladies, together with revelation Katharina Liensberger, to assert a primary win.

For Feller, and team-mate Marco Schwarz, this was about establishing themselves in a post-Hirscher world. Till certainly one of them can win persistently on the highest stage the spectre of Hirscher will loom massive however this was a really cathartic season for Austrian followers.

It was additionally very promising for the Swiss staff, with gifted kids Marco Odermatt and Loic Meillard ending second and fourth respectively within the total standings. The pair have lengthy been tipped for greatness and with Beijing across the nook they could be peaking at the perfect time. It’s additionally arduous to not be warmed by veteran Beat Feuz taking the globe within the Downhill.

However the star of the present was Alexis Pinturault, the Courchevel Child. When Hirscher hung up his skis, Pinturault was a type of who was pegged to select up the mantle. This was his coming of age season, that culminated along with his first General title on his thirtieth birthday. Pinturault gained 5 races in a really spectacular season and he shall be aiming excessive on the Olympics having gained a silver and a bronze in Pyeongchang in 2018. He was a part of a superb season for the French staff with Mathieu Faivre and Clement Noel additionally each shining.

Pinturault’s closest rival coming into the season was imagined to be Henrik Kristoffersen, winner of two small globes and third within the huge globe final season. However the Norwegian actually struggled. Whether or not it’s a confidence, health or a mix of each he has work to do over the summer time after ending exterior the highest 5 in each class, successful simply two races. His bronze at Cortina confirmed what he’s able to however one thing has to click on earlier than the Olympics.

The ladies’s tour had so many outstanding tales. To start out, the champion, Vlhova, who lastly gained having completed second and third within the final two seasons. So usually the Slovakian felt just like the second act to Shiffrin however this was the season any remaining doubt over her expertise was erased. Vlhova now goes into the Olympic season as one of many clear favourites for the slalom gold.

As a snowboarding author you don’t wish to all the time end up coming again to Shiffrin. Like Marcel Hirscher and Lindsey Vonn earlier than, Shiffrin is so dominant, and so transcendent, that she calls for consideration.

Nonetheless, this was certainly one of Shiffrin’s weaker seasons, not less than within the World Cup – she completed fourth within the total and her three race wins is her poorest tally on the circuit.

However this season was a lot extra. It was about her emotional return to racing following the loss of life of her father Jeff. It was about battling a again damage all through the season. It was about discovering her toes in a world the place the American skiers had been away from residence longer than ever earlier than.

That Shiffrin gained 4 World Championship medals, essentially the most of anybody, speaks to her expertise and sheer drive of will. She is now essentially the most profitable American on the worlds, surpassing each Vonn and Ted Ligety. She now has 11 medals, essentially the most of anybody save Anja Parson because the Second World Battle.

Nonetheless though Shiffrin gained extra medals than anybody at Cortina she definitely wasn’t the queen of the worlds. That title was shared equally between Lara Intestine-Behrami and Liensberger.

Velocity specialist Intestine-Behrami had her finest season since her dominant campaigns in 2014 and 2016. Within the latter of these seasons Intestine-Behrami gained the Tremendous-G small globe and the General globe in addition to ending second within the Mixed. Since then she has by no means hit these heights, ending third in two small globes in 2017 and second in a single in 2018. At Cortina she shocked the pack to win Large Slalom gold to go together with a Tremendous-G title, her first World Championship golds.

Liensberger additionally gained two golds at Cortina and she or he ushered in a brand new period of Austrian snowboarding. Whereas Hirscher dominated the lads’s tour for therefore a few years, Austria did not exert affect on the ladies’s tour. Six years glided by with out a slalom win earlier than Liensberger erupted this season. Throughout the house of a month she gained two slalom World Cup races, took the slalom globe and gained the slalom world title. Liensberger turns 24 firstly of April and represents the way forward for Austrian snowboarding.

Talking of subsequent era it was a troublesome season at instances for Alice Robinson however the New Zealand sensation ended the season with a victory for a well timed reminder of her prodigious expertise. Elsewhere there was one other World Cup win for skier/snowboarder Ester Ledecka, this time within the Tremendous-G and spare a thought for Sofia Goggia, who missed the World Championships by way of damage after successful an totally absurd 4 Downhill races in a row.

We finish the ladies’s wrap with one of many outdated guard: France’s Tessa Worley, who shall be 32 when the brand new season rolls round in October. Worley made her debut within the World Cup as a 16-year-old again in 2006. Earlier than this season her final win got here in October 2018, a run of over 800 days that was lastly led to January.

Taking a step again the FIS deserves loads of credit score for getting the season accomplished with out too many incidents. The climate beat them just a few instances however they largely stored a deal with on Covid, no straightforward process in a sport that travelled throughout Europe.

Nonetheless there are nonetheless some points. A few of the discrepancies in programs throughout parallel occasions is ruining a superb strategy to get youthful followers within the sport. Plus the bias in direction of technical races continues, failing to schedule new velocity races after their finales had been cancelled did a disservice to somebody like Intestine-Behrami, who deserved a shot at difficult for the General title.

Subsequent up, the 2021-22 season and the Beijing Olympics…