WOMEN’S World Cup 2021-2022

[James]

I'm rooting so hard for Holdener to finally win a slalom. She's like all those good tennis players who came of age during the reign of Federer/Nadal/Djokovic and had no chance of winning a major.

Plus Murray for a little.
Unfortunately for Holdener, Shiffrin and Vhlova are going to have to pretty much fall down for Holdener to win. They both almost did today, but not quite. Vhlova’s recovery to get back on track and have the fastest final section was impressive.

Do we think the gate hit Vhlova’s inside ski preventing it from crossing under and locking her up for a second?

Vhlova in a bit of a pickle. 11 secs

Sector ranking.

Shiffrin gets crossed up, about 14 secs.

 

[no edge]

Petra VLHOVA, Her technique is so fine. She works from knees and feet. Consider the amount of time she made up to get so close. I really enjoy her skiing.

Saw some pretty amazing skiing today. Fierce competitors.

So proud of Mikaela.

 

[Pete in Idaho]

How rare a race day, the 2 top skiers make mistakes. Mikaela really minimized her mistake and lost almost no time and recovered so quickly. Petra made a bigger mistake, almost went of course and still recovered to come in 2nd. Some really great racing, determination and talent from all 3 on the Podium. How it turned out above all "thats ski racing". I am a big MS fan so am happy but did enjoy the battle,

 

[Pete in Idaho]

Just have to add my 2 cents on Peefee... post. Ski Talk may have a minimum of ski racing experts but the quality of our people is very high on anyones scale. Muleski, Swede, Rudi, James, 4ster etc. really know what they are talking about and I for one always appreciate the Race discussion here. I think that there are quite a few non-participating members. For one I rarely post here, mainly because I don't want to say anything stupid in front of this group.

Even though I raced for 20yrs, it was still low level stuff and yes I do know racing but almost always defer to these SKI TALK guys who really know their stuff. Respect sometimes is very quiet.

 

[Tricia]

I'm rooting so hard for Holdener to finally win a slalom. She's like all those good tennis players who came of age during the reign of Federer/Nadal/Djokovic and had no chance of winning a major.

QFT
That is an amazing story line.

 

[Tricia]

Just have to add my 2 cents on Peefee... post. Ski Talk may have a minimum of ski racing experts but the quality of our people is very high on anyones scale. Muleski, Swede, Rudi, James, 4ster etc. really know what they are talking about and I for one always appreciate the Race discussion here. I think that there are quite a few non-participating members. For one I rarely post here, mainly because I don't want to say anything stupid in front of this group.

Even though I raced for 20yrs, it was still low level stuff and yes I do know racing but almost always defer to these SKI TALK guys who really know their stuff. Respect sometimes is very quiet.

As someone who has skied with you and hopes to ski with again soon... I agree.
The quality here outweighs the quantity.

 

[Swede]

I'm rooting so hard for Holdener to finally win a slalom. She's like all those good tennis players who came of age during the reign of Federer/Nadal/Djokovic and had no chance of winning a major.

Yeah Wendy has been so good for many seasons now. Constant podium threat. Hopefully she’ll get a win in. Gisin beat her to break the Swiss ladies SL spell when she won last season. I think they had not won in 16 or 17 years.

 

[Swede]

Do we think the gate hit Vhlova’s inside ski preventing it from crossing under and locking her up for a second?


View attachment 149649
Vhlova in a bit of a pickle. 11 secs

View attachment 149650
Sector ranking.

Shiffrin gets crossed up, about 14 secs.
View attachment 149654

To my eye, it just looks like her edge caught when she rolled over.

 

[Average Joe]

To my eye, it just looks like her edge caught when she rolled over.

Agreed.
Running 30th there's going to be grooves in the track and that's what might have got her.
Re: the surface, while it looked slick I'm not sure how well the prep held up. During both runs , very early in the order,I saw course workers with shovels working hard in a couple locations on the pitch to keep the surface intact. That made me wonder if there were a few spots where the injection didn't go deep enough.

 

[Marker]

QFT
That is an amazing story line.

I had forgotten this fact about Holdener until catching up on this thread. I wish I had recalled it, it would have made the races even more exciting.

Even more than @Pete in Idaho I have no business commenting in this thread and usually just read the reports. I did because I was fortunate to be at Killington for the races. I can't believe I was the only SkiTalker there!

 

[Marker]

Agreed.
Running 30th there's going to be grooves in the track and that's what might have got her.
Re: the surface, while it looked slick I'm not sure how well the prep held up. During both runs , very early in the order,I saw course workers with shovels working hard in a couple locations on the pitch to keep the surface intact. That made me wonder if there were a few spots where the injection didn't go deep enough.

At the venue, they said no injection was used, just the natural VT/NE weather with rain and wet heavy snow that freezed up the man-made. Hyperbole?

 

[Average Joe]

At the venue, they said no injection was used, just the natural VT/NE weather with rain and wet heavy snow that freezed up the man-made. Hyperbole?

The weather leading up to the event was challenging to say the least. It's possible that the surface got wet and froze before they could properly inject. If so then that would result in an inconstant surface.
If that's the case we were lucky the GS was cancelled.

 

[Swede]

I had forgotten this fact about Holdener until catching up on this thread. I wish I had recalled it, it would have made the races even more exciting.

Even more than @Pete in Idaho I have no business commenting in this thread and usually just read the reports. I did because I was fortunate to be at Killington for the races. I can't believe I was the only SkiTalker there!

She's also broke both her hand wrists in practice earlier this year. Missed Sölden.

 

[Swede]

At the venue, they said no injection was used, just the natural VT/NE weather with rain and wet heavy snow that freezed up the man-made. Hyperbole?

Find that even harder than an injected SL course to believe

 

[Tricia]

I had forgotten this fact about Holdener until catching up on this thread. I wish I had recalled it, it would have made the races even more exciting.

Even more than @Pete in Idaho I have no business commenting in this thread and usually just read the reports. I did because I was fortunate to be at Killington for the races. I can't believe I was the only SkiTalker there!

Well, not the ONLY SkiTalker there. @Dan Egan was there.
We usually have a team on the slopes reporting with @Rudi Riet and @AaronFM, but the media pool was extremely limited this year or we'd have had resports from them again.

 

[hbear]

Vhlova’s recovery to get back on track and have the fastest final section was impressive.

100%, the splits don't tell the entire story as we all know sectors are not completely independent from another and speed through a sector is highly dependent upon the entry speed into that sector.
For her to lose so much momentum so early, and then end up making time back by the end is very impressive. Very much enjoyed seeing Miki win, looks like Petra isn't going away anytime soon.

 

[Muleski]

100% is right. Completely agree, @hbear.

Petra is simply skiing faster and “better” right now. She does not appear to have any injury issues. She is evidently stronger and more fit than ever before. Her recovery from her last season’s long, draining, schedule in pursuit of the overall has ben great….”like it never was…” And to top it off, reports are that she is happy and confident…..and really likes her team, lead by HC Mauro Pini. The guy is VERY experienced.

Ideally, I would love to see a season long back and forth in SL and GS. We’ll see. I think that MS’s back will be a day to day and ongoing issue. Impacting training and so much to do with her racing. I would LOVE to be wrong.

MS appears to be having the most issues on the steeps, BTW. And she will likely have more problems with more back and forth swing in GS. We’ll see what unfolds for sets.

Season now fully underway!!!

 

[Swede]

100% is right. Completely agree, @hbear.

Petra is simply skiing faster and “better” right now. She does not appear to have any injury issues. She is evidently stronger and more fit than ever before. Her recovery from her last season’s long, draining, schedule in pursuit of the overall has ben great….”like it never was…” And to top it off, reports are that she is happy and confident…..and really likes her team, lead by HC Mauro Pini. The guy is VERY experienced.

Ideally, I would love to see a season long back and forth in SL and GS. We’ll see. I think that MS’s back will be a day to day and ongoing issue. Impacting training and so much to do with her racing. I would LOVE to be wrong.

MS appears to be having the most issues on the steeps, BTW. And she will likely have more problems with more back and forth swing in GS. We’ll see what unfolds for sets.

Season now fully underway!!!

Yes, talking to Matts Olsson who’s had more than his share — GS much tougher on the back and in particular the steeps that ”shoves” you.

 

[James]

Deb talks briefly with Karen Harjo, speed coach.

 

[Swede]

Is Harjo still on the US team? I thought she left.