When racing in the FIS Alpine World Ski Championships begins Tuesday at Vail/Beaver Creek, most eyes will be on a pair of hometown racers, competing in different but equally exciting disciplines.
And with that, those eyes will have plenty of time to refocus from one racer to the other.
Just don’t blink.
Lindsey Vonn of Vail has bounced back from a pair of major knee injuries to set the record for most women’s World Cup victories (64), winning three of four women’s World Cup downhill and super-G races leading up to the World Championships. And teenager Mikaela Shiffrin, the darling of World Cup racing who calls Eagle-Vail home, is a favorite in slalom and giant slalom.
Vonn will help kick off racing action – the women’s super-G is the opening race in the World Championships, which runs from Tuesday through Sunday, Feb. 15 – and could be done on Day 4 (the women’s downhill is Friday, Feb. 6; it’s unknown if Vonn will race in the giant slalom or Alpine combined – she hasn’t raced anything but downhill and super-G in more than two years). But we won’t see Shiffrin until well into that second week – the women’s giant slalom is scheduled Thursday, Feb. 12 and the women’s slalom is on the second-to-last day – Saturday, Feb. 14.
Valentine’s Day. She’s already won the hearts of most ski fans.
And between Vonn and Shiffrin is arguably the heart of the schedule – from the men’s downhill Saturday, Feb. 7 to the men’s giant slalom on the final day of the championships.
And don’t forget the Nations Team Event.
Huh?
The little-known event – at least outside of World Cup skiing circles – is regarded by the World Championships folks as their signature event. It is the only team race of the 11 medal events in the World Championships, with 16 teams of two men and two women competing “on a fast-paced, parallel giant slalom course with two jumps in head-to-head match-ups,” according to those World Championships types. The teams with the most wins advance to the next round and so on.
And the Nations Team Event will have the World Championships stage all to itself: It will be the only medal event held outside of Beaver Creek’s Red Tail Stadium and at historic Golden Peak in downtown Vail on Tuesday, Feb. 10 (several qualifying events are scheduled at Golden Peak), and it’s the only competition of the day and comes a day before the championships’ lone off day. Skiers from the top 16 nations in the FIS overall Nations Cup standings are eligible to compete.
Skiers from all 69 competing nations will be a part of Monday night’s opening ceremonies. After that, it’s all about the racing. Most Coloradans and Durangoans are likely familiar with the disciplines that will be on display for the next two weeks. But just in case, a guide to the individual World Championships events:
DOWNHILL: Regarded as the most exciting event in Alpine ski racing, downhill racers attempt to be the fastest down the mountain through a minimum number of control gates. Speeds in downhill often exceed 80 mph on major courses and require a hill with at least a 750-meter vertical drop – or about 2,500 feet. Downhill racers must have two training runs on a course before each race, although the second training run may be waived.
SUPER-G: Added to the World Cup calendar in 1983, super-G was initially created in order to provide downhill specialists with an additional opportunity to score World Cup points, essentially giving the “speed” skiers two events, while the “technical” racers had giant slalom and slalom. A cross between downhill and giant slalom, super-G is a one-run event like downhill, but with more frequent turns, similar to giant slalom. Unlike downhill, however, there are no prior training runs for super-G.
ALPINE COMBINED: Introduced to the World Cup circuit in 2005, Alpine combined (formerly super combined) melds one run of downhill and one run of slalom on the same day to showcase the skills of the all-around racers, able to handle both the speed and technical aspects of the sport. The Alpine combined not only tests a racer’s versatility, but also his or her stamina, with often less than two hours between the conclusion of the downhill leg and the start of the slalom segment. A hybrid of the traditional combined event, which features one run of downhill and two runs of slalom on two separate days, the super combined was designed to be a spectator-friendly competition in which the winner was determined by the lowest combined time for the two runs, rather than the previous complex mathematical formula.
GIANT SLALOM: Characterized as the discipline requiring the most technical skill, skiers race down the mountain through a faster and more open course than in slalom, which requires the execution of many short, quick turns. The number of gates in a giant slalom course is determined by the vertical drop of the hill. The event is staged in two runs, with the total time of each run added together to determine the final finish order. In World Cup competition, the finish list from the first run is cut to the fastest 30 racers and reversed to determine the second-run start order. In World Championships competition, the top 60 racers who finish the first run are allowed to take a second run, with the top 30 still reversed.
SLALOM: Requiring the quickest turns in all of ski racing, the slalom course is carefully designed to test the skill, timing and judgment of competitors. The gates are placed in varying combinations, and competitors must achieve the best line of approach and exit with the different combinations. Contested in two runs, the competitor with the fastest combined time is declared the winner. Any skier that misses a gate is disqualified. As with giant slalom, in World Cup competition, the top 30 racers in the first run are reversed to form the second-run start list. In World Championships competition, the top 60 racers who finish the first run are allowed to take a second run, with the top 30 still reversed.
bpeterson@durangoherald.com
