The weekend of Oct. 27-28 was a big one for the world of alpine ski racing. Every year the season opener takes the form of a men’s and women’s giant slalom (GS) race in Soelden, Austria.
On Saturday, the women battled fog and snow up on Rettenbach glacier.
The poor conditions made for a particularly interesting race that resulted in nine did not finishes (DNFs) and one disqualification. The casualties included Italy’s Marta Bassino, Sweden’s Sara Hector and Slovakia’s Petra Vlhova.
The race really came down to the efforts of four skiers: Mikaela Shiffrin of the United States, Tessa Worley of France, Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany and Federica Brignone of Italy.
Shiffrin, who was ranked fourth after the first run, had a relatively clean second run and was leading by 0.99 seconds before the last three skiers took their runs.
However, Shiffrin seemed to have the brakes on, especially on the dastardly pitch (the steep section) where she certainly scrubbed some speed. She finished in third.
Worley followed her with a near picture-perfect second run characterized by quick movements on and off her edges.
The 29-year-old, two-time world champion said of her run, “The slope was very bumpy, very difficult, you couldn’t see much. I just wanted to charge and have no regrets at the end.”
Rebensburg, who was the defending champion at Soelden this year, had a less than perfect run.
Jostled by bumps and ruts on the pitch, Rebensburg was forced to ski a comparatively low and slow line which destroyed her lead. Rebensburg finished in fourth, 0.99 seconds off Worley.
Brignone, the leader after run one, skied last. She also struggled with the challenging conditions and deteriorating course, but still managed to hold onto second.
She later said of her run, “It was the toughest run of my life.”
For Worley, this win at the opening race of the season is especially important as her goal for this season is to win back the GS title taken by Rebensburg in 2018. For this, she will have to contend with Shiffrin, who has become a force to be reckoned with in GS over the years.
Shiffrin reflected on past seasons and her hopes for the future saying, “Last year, I was not really consistent enough to be a contender for the globe but this year I hope I can be more consistent.”
Unfortunately, Saturday’s bad weather continued into Sunday and the men’s season opener was canceled.
The next World Cup race will take place in Levi, Finland, Nov. 17 and 18.