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Who’s Again
Mikaela Shiffrin: The most important star in Alpine snowboarding at the moment is full steam forward to her third Olympic Video games, trying to change into essentially the most embellished American ski racer in historical past. Shiffrin is 26 and a menace to win a medal any time she straps on her skis; she took dwelling {hardware} in 4 separate disciplines on the 2021 World Championships, together with gold within the girls’s mixed occasion. She bought her 2021-22 World Cup season off to a quick begin in October, taking the large slalom opener in Soelden, Austria, by 0.14.
SEE MORE: Mikaela Shiffrin takes World Cup opener by just .14
Matthias Mayer: The Austrian heads to his third Olympics with sights on changing into simply the second-ever man to win Alpine snowboarding gold at back-to-back-to-back Video games. At 31, Mayer remains to be very a lot in high kind. In truth, his greatest World Cup finishes – 4th general in 2020 and 2nd within the downhill self-discipline in 2021 – have each come since his PyeongChang super-G gold. Mayer will face longtime rivals Beat Feuz and Vincent Kriechmayr within the pace occasions.
Ester Ledecka: The Czech pace queen shocked two sports activities in 2018 when she doubled up with gold within the Alpine snowboarding girls’s super-G and the snowboarding parallel girls’s big slalom. May she presumably repeat that feat in 2022? She definitely can’t be counted out. Since PyeonChang Ledecka has maintained her standing because the world’s greatest girls’s parallel snowboard racer and, in 2020, loved her greatest World Cup season as an Alpine skier, ending on the general podium in each the downhill and mixed occasions.
SEE MORE: PyeongChang 2018: Ester Ledecka wins shocking super-G gold
Who’s Gone
Lindsey Vonn: The face of Alpine snowboarding for many of the twenty first century raced her remaining competitors on the 2019 World Championship, closing out a legendary profession with downhill bronze at age 34 (the oldest feminine World Championship medalist ever). As spectacular as Vonn’s Olympic accolades are with one gold and two bronze medals, her exceptional consistency on the World Cup circuit from 2008-2012, throughout which she received an almost unprecedented 4 general season titles, makes her with out questions one of many best ski racers ever.
Ted Ligety: Two-time Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety retired from worldwide competitors earlier this 12 months at age 36. He leaves behind a legacy as one of many best People in Alpine snowboarding historical past and top-of-the-line big slalom skiers ever of any nationality. 5 instances the Utah native was topped World Cup season champion in GS, racking up 24 race wins within the course of.
Marcel Hirscher: For eight years between 2012 and 2019, Austria’s Marcel Hirscher held a grip on the game of Alpine snowboarding not seen earlier than or since, successful the general males’s World Cup title for eight consecutive seasons. In PyeonChang, Hirscher ended an Olympic gold medal drought by successful each the large slalom and mixed occasions. He introduced his retirement in September of 2019 on the age of 30.
SEE MORE: PyeongChang 2018: Marcel Hirscher wins giant slalom gold
New Faces
River Radamus: At 23 years outdated, two-time junior world champion River Radamus is heading in the right direction to signify Workforce USA at his first Winter Olympics in 2022. The Colorado native appears to be like primed for a breakout season, having captured his greatest profession World Cup end with sixth place within the big slalom season opener in Austria in October.
Lucas Braathen: In October 2020, Norway’s Lucas Braathen grew to become the primary athlete born within the new millennium to win a World Cup occasion. In a sport which generally requires years on worldwide expertise to persistently struggle for podiums, Braathen will hope to buck the development as a 21-year-old in 2022.
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