SOLDEN, Austria (AP) — The two glacier giant slaloms in the Austrian Alps that traditionally open the Alpine Ski World Cup season will have different winners this weekend, with Federica Brignone and Alexander Steen Olsen injured.
They are not the only prominent skiers not competing in the women's GS race on Saturday or the men's race the next day, as injuries and how to prevent them remain a major concern ahead of the 60th World Cup season, as evidenced by the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics in February.
A protective airbag that inflates before an accidental skier hits the ground in a speed race and cut-resistant underwear have become de rigueur. The International Ski and Snowboard Federation announced plans to step up ongoing efforts to improve trail safety, both during racing and during training, after Italian skier Matteo Franzoso died in a downhill training accident in Chile in September.
New season
The season consists of 38 men's and 37 women's races. Competition is mostly scheduled throughout Europe, but the men have two series of races in Colorado – at Copper Mountain on November 27-28 and Beaver Creek on December 4-7 – and women's races at Copper Mountain on November 29-30 and Mont-Tremblant, Quebec, a week later.
Brignone won the women's season opener last year after heat one leader Mikaela Shiffrin dropped to fifth, with the Italian standout winning the GS and downhill season titles and her second overall championship in the best season of her career.
However, in April, Brignone broke several bones in her left leg and tore her cruciate ligament during a giant slalom accident at the Italian Championships. With her return to the snow still pending, Brignone could miss her home Olympics.
Stronger Shiffrin
In November, Shiffrin crashed at her home giant slalom in Killington, Vermont, and something punctured the American's side and seriously damaged her obliques.
Shiffrin returned two months later, but reduced her schedule for the remainder of the season to the main slalom and GS events, while scoring career-high 100 and 101 race wins.
“I feel a lot stronger now than I did at the end of (last) season,” said Shiffrin, who has had to deal with lingering post-traumatic stress disorder since the accident.
“It's still a work in progress, but I'm very, very happy with the improvements that my team has made, all of us have made. But you know you can't control everything. We have to go into the season with all the unknowns and go into it with a full heart and strong twists, hopefully.”
In Saturday's race, Shiffrin could lay the foundation for what could be another record-breaking season for the American. If she wins the slalom standings, Shiffrin will become the first skier, woman or man, to win nine titles in one discipline.
And by winning the big crystal globe, Shiffrin will match the women's best record of six overall World Cup titles set by Austrian great Annemarie Moser-Pröhl in the 1970s. Two-time Swiss champion and last season's runner-up Lara Gut-Behrami, who has announced her retirement after the 2025/26 season, may be Shiffrin's closest challenger.
Vonna's hopes
Lindsey Vonn, who returned to the circuit last year after nearly six years away from racing, recently added Norwegian great Axel Lund Svindal to her coaching staff.
The American is hoping to add 82 career wins to her total.
“Balancing” for Odermatt
Steen Olsen topped the Norwegian podium in the inaugural men's GS last year, in which pre-race favorite Marco Odermatt skied out in the first run. Steen Olsen decided not to start Sunday's race to receive further treatment for a chronic knee injury.
Odermatt also didn't finish in the second GS last season, but the Swiss star still won the discipline's season title in convincing fashion, the super-G and downhill globes, and his fourth overall championship in a row.
“I worked a lot on improving the downhill last season, especially in the planning part. And although I felt better there, it was a little to the detriment of the GS,” said Odermatt, leader of the Swiss team, which took 17 race wins last season.
“When I want to get better in one discipline, I have to make compromises in another. It's a balancing act you have to do as an all-rounder.”
Again a strong favorite for the overall title, Odermatt could become the third skier to win at least five overall World Cup titles, after Austria's Marcel Hirscher and Luxembourg's Marc Ghirardelli, and only the second after Hirscher to win five titles in a row.
Absent Celebrities
Hirscher, who won the sport's biggest prize eight times in a row between 2012 and 2019, returned after a five-year absence last season for the Netherlands. He ended his comeback season in December after just three competitions when he injured his knee in practice. He had planned to race again this season, but decided to miss Sunday's start due to illness.
Hirscher joins a long list of notable absences that includes Brignone's teammate Marta Bassino and Olympic slalom champion Petra Vlhova on the women's side, while long-injured riders such as Alexander Amodt Kilde and Cyprien Sarrazin are absent from the men's race.
On the other hand, 2021 overall champion Alexis Pinturault is back in the starting gate after knee injuries interrupted the Frenchman's last two seasons, although he will reduce his schedule to giant slalom only.
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Erik Willemsen on X: https://x.com/eWilmedia
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