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Whether downhill, super-G or giant slalom, Lara Gut-Behrami is currently hard to beat in all three disciplines. In the fight for the great crystal ball, his hands are still a bit tied.
Lara Gut-Behrami is the host of the hour. Whether in super-G and downhill or giant slalom, the Ticino woman is among the fastest in all disciplines. After the recent, without exception, good performances, she also takes the lead in the World Cup in general. With eight races to go to the end of the season, Gut-Behrami’s considerable lead over Petra Vlhova is 187 points. He seems to be on his way to winning the great crystal ball for the second time after 2016.
And yet, after her downhill double in Val di Fassa, the 29-year-old is damping Swiss hopes in the battle for the overall World Cup: “I still have five races, the others have almost double. From that point of view, I think it’s unrealistic, ”he rightly clarifies.
Of the eight remaining races for women, there are no less than four slaloms, the parade discipline of her first pursuer, Vlhova. Also, there are more technical races on the program with two giant slaloms, but only one downhill and one super-G are planned. Therefore, there is a great danger that Gut-Behrami will continue to be intercepted by the Slovakian.
Are speed specialists at a disadvantage?
This is not the first time that the imbalance has sparked a debate. This winter there are 9 slaloms, 8 giant slaloms and 1 parallel race versus 7 Super-G and 8 downhill races: the end result is 18 opportunities for the technicians, while the speed specialists can “only” kiss the hand 15 times . The difference in this respect is even more extreme for men: 22 technical events are compared with just 16 sprints.
“There are a lot of slalom classics that belong to the World Cup. But whether we really need the two slaloms in Chamonix at the end of January is another question, ”says Marco Odermatt, for example, who is just 210 points behind Alexis Pinturault’s leader in the men’s World Cup. The current schedule is not fair for Odermatt: “There are 11 slaloms, but only 7 Super-G, that’s a possible difference of 400 points,” Nidwalden told the “Tagesanzeiger”. Downhill ace Beat Feuz also agrees: “I would be in favor of all disciplines being done with the same frequency.”
For Swiss coach Thomas Stauffer, the current solution is unsatisfactory, but: “The situation is now as it is, even if it is not good. We shouldn’t be complaining about that. ”Stauffer sees a possible adjustment by moving a few slaloms from the weekend to the middle of the week, to make room for another sprint.
Waldner: “Our sport is simply unfair”
Austrian Matthias Mayer chooses clearer words. ‘The layout doesn’t fit at all. There were only three sprints in January and only two in February. It’s impossible to run around the big ball like a speed specialist, ”confirms the continuing criticism. “You should think if you are only going to do a world cup for technology and one for speed. Because a World Cup in general is no longer necessary. “His teammate and double world champion Vincent Kriechmayr blows into the same tube:” I hope we get to that. But from the looks of it, that won’t be the case anytime soon. ” .
Markus Waldner, FIS Men’s Race Director, doesn’t understand the criticism. ‘Everybody says: it’s unfair. I always hear: unfair. I can’t hear that miserable word anymore. Our sport is simply unfair. Point! The initial number 10 has completely different conditions than 1. »In the corona pandemic in particular, you have to” make a thousand commitments and take a thousand things into account “when planning the calendar. It is impossible to have the same number of races in all disciplines. Waldner makes it clear: “Anyone who has the courage to talk about the imbalances in the calendar has not understood anything.”
For the Austrian, the discussion is also unnecessary because it has always been like that. “The winners were always all-rounders,” says Waldner, adding: “Big balls don’t appeal to pure stuntmen anyway. Marcel Hirscher also competed in Super-G, which is what Alexis Pinturault and Loïc Meillard are doing now. “
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