Men’s World Cup 2021

[Rudi Riet]

Hey is Noel von Grunigen, SUI, Michael’s son?
So far he’s getting a second run from bib 62.
Meanwhile, Alex Leever, USA, was fired up for hetting a likely second run from 66bib.

Noel is Michael's son, yup.

Three USST in the second run: Jett Seymour will kick it off, with Alex Leever starting 5th and Ben Ritchie starting 14th.

Erik Read will start 2nd in the second run.

 

[Moose32]

HK may pull down the arch/bridge if he is not green when he crosses finish for Run 2.

 

[Rudi Riet]

Welp... quite the second run charge from HK. It wasn't enough but he certainly moved up quite a bit (up 13 places, finished 11th).

1. Schwarz
2. Noel
3. Pintaurault

Tough break for Foss-Solevaag losing his goggle lens 1/3 of the way through the second run. Those flakes were falling quite hard.

Feller was going for it and got out of sorts quickly. Sad to see but he has the speed.

Great finish for Leever even though he was sliding on his posterior through the beam. First SL World Cup points have to feel good. The other U.S. racers were... not great. Jett Seymour finished but won't get WC points being too far outside the top time. Ritchie had troubles, got twisted up, and out.

Read moved up 7 places with a solid second run.

Also, a fitting retirement for Lizeroux in run one. Nice of his girlfriend, Worley, to deliver the present of a win this morning.

 

[James]

Feller was going for it and got out of sorts quickly.

I’m shocked! I figured he was at least good for half a run. Hah, knew it was too good to be true when he led after the 1st.

 

[Muleski]

Just a touch of intel. Heard that HK is in a rage, or wasThe team of one is not likely doing too well.

Easier to send it with abandon in the second when you have a first run that puts you one ahead of Alex Leever. Tied at 24th, 2.60 back.
Nothing to “preserve” there.

He was third in run two. Pintu and Schwarz beat him. He started 5-6th on a clean course. And was skiing like he was furious....Pintu was skiing to pile up WC points, started 19th, and beat HK by almost a half second in that run. Pretty revealing to me.

Yeah, probably NOT a good night in their camp.

Two GS left before WCF’s, not counting FISWC’s in Cortina {which are not World Cup races} and then WC Finals. Bansko, and KG. Three SL. Two coming up in Chamonix, one in March in KG, then WCF’s.

Not thinking that HK will be fixed by Saturday and Sunday in France. All in on Pintu and Noel! I’m sure that HK will be on yet another all new set up on Saturday, and perhaps another one on Sunday.

HK might as well write this season off, IMO.
not going to well, other than the win at Madonna. I think the fact that his GF and dog are not on the road with him is of no help to him.

And rumor is he is blaming everybody else for this season.

Cruel sport at times. Not a fa

Nice to see Team Leever score. Third WC start, first points. He’s an independent, not making USST criteria.

My favorite US SL skier, AJ Ginnis, skiing for Greece was one of 25 to go out first run. AJ is one to watch. He is strong and has jets. Idiotic of the team not to make him a discretionary pick. He’ll make them look like fools before too long, particulary if Greece funds his former USST WC SL coach to join him.

The USST nearly ruined him when he was on the WC, so young. Idiots.

USST has some SL talent. Of course they have wasted and alienated so many over the past 10 years. Hopefully things will improve. Not a bright spot right now. Good young guys who need some more help, IMO.

So happy for Alex!

 

[James]

My favorite US SL skier, AJ Ginnis, skiing for Greece was one of 25 to go out first run. AJ is one to watch. He is strong and has jets. Idiotic of the team not to make him a discretionary pick. He’ll make them look like fools before too long, particulary if Greece funds his former USST WC SL coach to join him.

I was wondering about him in the last race when I saw Greece and clearly he was American. Just a travesty

 

[S.H.]

My favorite US SL skier, AJ Ginnis, skiing for Greece was one of 25 to go out first run. AJ is one to watch. He is strong and has jets. Idiotic of the team not to make him a discretionary pick. He’ll make them look like fools before too long, particulary if Greece funds his former USST WC SL coach to join him.

I think I saw he's being "coached" by Sandy Vietze? I imagine that pricetag is [much] lower ...

 

[dbostedo]

2. Noel

D'oh... almost called the winner (though he was pretty far from first). I was feeling like he's got to put it all together at some point.

Next season, Fantasy FIS Skiing!

 

[James]

D'oh... almost called the winner (though he was pretty far from first). I was feeling like he's got to put it all together at some point.

Next season, Fantasy FIS Skiing!

Well he’s getting there. Hey, my guy won the first run, so he’s a winner...

 

[Average Joe]

Just a touch of intel. Heard that HK is in a rage, or wasThe team of one is not likely doing too well.

Easier to send it with abandon in the second when you have a first run that puts you one ahead of Alex Leever. Tied at 24th, 2.60 back.
Nothing to “preserve” there.

He was third in run two. Pintu and Schwarz beat him. He started 5-6th on a clean course. And was skiing like he was furious....Pintu was skiing to pile up WC points, started 19th, and beat HK by almost a half second in that run. Pretty revealing to me.

Yeah, probably NOT a good night in their camp.

Two GS left before WCF’s, not counting FISWC’s in Cortina {which are not World Cup races} and then WC Finals. Bansko, and KG. Three SL. Two coming up in Chamonix, one in March in KG, then WCF’s.

Not thinking that HK will be fixed by Saturday and Sunday in France. All in on Pintu and Noel! I’m sure that HK will be on yet another all new set up on Saturday, and perhaps another one on Sunday.

HK might as well write this season off, IMO.
not going to well, other than the win at Madonna. I think the fact that his GF and dog are not on the road with him is of no help to him.

And rumor is he is blaming everybody else for this season.

Cruel sport at times. Not a fa

Nice to see Team Leever score. Third WC start, first points. He’s an independent, not making USST criteria.

My favorite US SL skier, AJ Ginnis, skiing for Greece was one of 25 to go out first run. AJ is one to watch. He is strong and has jets. Idiotic of the team not to make him a discretionary pick. He’ll make them look like fools before too long, particulary if Greece funds his former USST WC SL coach to join him.

The USST nearly ruined him when he was on the WC, so young. Idiots.

USST has some SL talent. Of course they have wasted and alienated so many over the past 10 years. Hopefully things will improve. Not a bright spot right now. Good young guys who need some more help, IMO.

So happy for Alex!

I was wondering, if we look at the 20-21 men's SL's to date, what is the count of funded USST 'ers making the flip versus independents / Defunded and dropped former USST'ers).
Ginnis, Leever, Seymour...vs Radamus, Winters,Ritchie, ....am I missing anyone?

 

[Rudi Riet]

Just a touch of intel. Heard that HK is in a rage, or wasThe team of one is not likely doing too well.
...
Not thinking that HK will be fixed by Saturday and Sunday in France. All in on Pintu and Noel! I’m sure that HK will be on yet another all new set up on Saturday, and perhaps another one on Sunday.

HK might as well write this season off, IMO... And rumor is he is blaming everybody else for this season.

Of course HK is blaming everyone and everything other than himself.

What do you think the odds are that he's not on Rossignol next season? I've got to think his management is looking at other suitors. One thing is certain: he's going to be high maintenance for whatever manufacturer (or manufacturers) he ends up using.

HK is well known as a person who has a short fuse and is self-centered to a fault. He does show some signs of empathy and being a nice guy to some of his fellow racers. He did appear to radio a course report up to later Norwegian starters.

But Pintu definitely shellacked him in run 2, and on a course that was fairly beat up. And if not for losing his goggle lens, Foss-Solevaag would've likely beaten HK in the run.

Agreed that HK should file the season as a loss and work on 2021-22 as the target. But I think his ego won't let him do that.

 

[Ivan]

D'oh... almost called the winner (though he was pretty far from first). I was feeling like he's got to put it all together at some point.

Next season, Fantasy FIS Skiing!

Noel was actually the fastest in the second run (and ahead of Schwarz in terms of the total time) at the second split before he almost lost his outside ski. Not sure if it was his mistake or if he caught a rut (or a pile of fresh snow), or perhaps both.

Anyway, I felt like he was a bit conservative in the first run, but then went for it in the second. Hopefully the good result today will help his confidence. Noel can certainly be very fast, I hope he gets a win soon.

 

[Primoz]

What do you think the odds are that he's not on Rossignol next season? I've got to think his management is looking at other suitors

I think chances for this are pretty much zero. Head is the only one with money who could actually afford him, but for single skier, no matter how much Rossi cuts others, they can easily match. So personally I think there's almost no chance to change. Not to mention, he has contract with Rossi till 2022.
Another thing is that he actually gets everything he wants with Rossi, no questions asked. He most likely wouldn't be in same position with Head, and even less with anyone else including Atomic, or better to say especially Atomic. For Atomic, only thing that matters is being Austrian. If anyone thinks Shiffrin can do 5% of things and demands Hirscher was doing with Atomic, he's completely wrong. And for Kristoffersen, or anyone else out of Austria, would be same. And third, Rossi is still not doing that bad Out of top 10 in SL, there's 5 on Rossi (2 Atomic, 1 Head, 1 Voelkl, 1 Fischer), and in GS there are 3 on Rossi in top 10 (3 Head, 3 Atomic (2 out for season), 1 Stoeckli).

 

[Swede]

HK is totally lost in the set-up jungle. Went in pretty much exactly a year ago and has not come out yet. It happens every now and then. Hopefully he will be back on track soon.

 

[4ster]

An injury update from Tommy Ford:

"Just over two weeks ago, I crashed in Adelboden. I was knocked unconscious, tore some ligaments in my knee and my hand. You all reached out in many forms to share your healing and kind thoughts. You have been missed this entire year, but regardless of you being at home, your presence is still felt. Thank you all so much. I have been recovering well at home in Bend. My knee was mostly repaired just over a week ago by the good folks at the Steadman Philippon Research Institute. My hand a couple days ago at the same place. There is some more work that needs to be done to fix my knee but needs to wait until my body is ready. My head and neck have no significant structural damage even though I am still dealing with some neck pain and a concussion. It will be a tough road of recovery and I'll keep you updated. Until then, take care, and let's keep moving."

Heal well, Tommy.

More

https://usskiandsnowboard.org/news/ford-sidelined-remainder-seaso

 

[Teppaz]

Returning to skiing after a bad injury is so psychologically tough. You can see skiers who never make it back to their former level and others who pull it off, sometimes after years. I doubt Ilka Stuhec will ever go back to her pre-injury form but Lara Gut-Behrami seems to finally be matching her pre-injury form — and she busted her knee in Feb. 2017, almost 4 years ago. Alice McKennis had interesting things to say about how she fights fear on Steve Porino's podcast.

 

[hbear]

I’m shocked! I figured he was at least good for half a run. Hah, knew it was too good to be true when he led after the 1st.

Don’t think he has the head for it (he was so amped up in the start...guy needed to calm down a bit)...we knew he was going to go out....didn’t think it would be so few gates in.

 

[Lilledonmarco]

Aksel Lund Svindal wins first race in nearly 2 years (video)

The Norwegian showed his mettle after a second harrowing crash.

olympics.nbcsports.com

Its definately possible to come back from injuries...as Aksel has done MANY times

 

[SkiSpeed]

Aksel Lund Svindal wins first race in nearly 2 years (video)

The Norwegian showed his mettle after a second harrowing crash.

olympics.nbcsports.com

Its definately possible to come back from injuries...as Aksel has done MANY times

The Big Norwegian

 

[4ster]

French sweep ...
Pintu
Noel
Muffet-Jeandet