Tomorrow, Monday 6 February, the Alpine Skiing World Championshipswhich are held at Meribel e Courchevel, in France, until Sunday 19 February. On the program there are 12 days of competitions for 13 titles to assign. Whoever wins the gold remains champion/champion in charge for two years, until the edition (number 48) of Saalbach Hinterglemm, in Austria, in 2025 (Italy, with Val Gardena, has applied for 2029 after hosting the World Cup two years ago, in Cortina). There are many reasons of interest for enthusiasts: from what it will be able to do Mikaela Shiffrinwho at the age of 28 is starting to surpass the successes in the World Cup of Ingemar Stenmark; give her expectations on the Italian female contingentwhich between giant and downhill has collected, so far, the beauty of 19 podiums; allo show who will be able to give it men’s slalom, where the average level of athletes is – sportingly and in a positive sense – fearful; until, to close, at challenges to the last breath in the fast men’s disciplines, which between superg and downhill, up to now, have seen the overwhelming power of the Norwegian Aleksander Aamodt Sourcefollowed by the Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr and from the Swiss (practically unbeatable in giant slalom, but that’s a separate matter) Marco Odermatt.
Below are our predictions for each match from an Italian point of view. For predictions, which act as a “guide” for alpine skiing enthusiasts, we have adopted the so-called “Ambesi scale”. We “stole” it – asking him – from our colleague Maximilian Ambesi and it works like this:
***** (five stars) = Any achievement other than gold is a disappointment
**** = If you don’t win a medal, it’s a disappointment
*** = You can get a medal but if you don’t get it, it’s not a disappointment
** = The goal is to finish in the top ten, but “if the planets align…”
* = The important thing is to participate = No chance of a medal
MEN’S COMPETITIONS – Let’s start with the men’s team, but only for simplicity (translated: the chances of going to the medal are lower than for women). This season the Azzurri have brought home five podiums (very few, compared to past years). The satisfactions have arrived only from fast disciplines thanks to the “second youth” of Mattia Casse, born in 1990, who conquered his first podium in the World Cup last December (third in downhill in Val Gardena), to then repeat himself in Wengen in downhill and in Cortina in superg; in the surprising second place of Florian Schieder (born in 1995) second in the downhill on the very difficult Streif of Kitzbühel (arrived when everyone was disembarking and the first three were already partying); and in second place in superg, in Cortina, of a rediscovered (?) Dominik Paris, the 33-year-old already winner of a gold medal at the Are World Championships (superg) and a specialty cup (always in superg). As regards the technical disciplines – slalom and special – le hopes of medal are reduced at a flicker. Ours are giant, except for the good things shown by the young man Philip DellaVite, are far from the top three positions (often even from the top ten). In slalom we can certainly count on a placement that is always constant Thomas Sala and, equally certainly, on hospitalization (ours) for heart fatigue when he drops on the track Alex Vinatzer (one from the top five, potentially, which, however… we’ll see). To conclude, combined e parallel: big question mark. In the World Cup (fortunately?) There are more. In combination, ours seem quite far from the former (said that the unknown factor applies to every country); in parallel anything can happen, but traditionally we have never been phenomena. So here are our predictions:
Combined **
Sneaker ***
Downhill ***
male parallel **
Gigante *
Slalom **
FEMALE COMPETITIONS – As mentioned at the beginning, the Azzurre have so far collected 19 podiums. At one point in the season, we even had three leading athletes of three different specialties (giant slalom, superg and downhill). Eyes are, of course, on Sofia Goggia (1992), practically unbeatable in downhill skiing (except for mistakes by the Bergamo native, who always throws herself down skiing to the limit). This year he won the beauty of four races (to which he added a second place). Fingers crossed, we hope he’s okay and that he’ll make us jump on the chair just to cheer. The 32-year-old is in great shape Federico Brignone, who also loves Meribel: so far it has gone very well in superg (one victory and one second place) and, of course, in giant (one second place, one third and two fourth places). Beware of her even in a combined key. You are having an extraordinary season Martha Bassino, born in 1996 (five podiums in giant slalom, with one victory; and two podiums in superg). The same can be said for the 32-year-old Elena Curtoni (a win and a third place in downhill and a second place in superg). The younger ones are a little more in difficulty than in previous years Nicol Delago e Laura Pirovano (but who knows that at the World Cup…). The Blues are badinstead, in special slalom, where they often struggled to qualify for the second heat this year. For the parallel holds, beyond the big question mark, we can count on our giants. Here are our predictions (here, for obvious reasons, more ambitious):
Combined ****
Sneakers ****
Downhill *****
female parallel ***
Gigante ****
Slalom *
Finally, the mixed team parallel **