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4ster

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should!
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Hoping this season that we can have one thread for Men & a second for Women pertaining to all things World Cup.
Where, when, who, what & how to watch.
Training, predictions, performance, technique, tactics, injuries & results.
Whatever it is you can post in the appropriate thread.
There is already some discussion going on in the Men’s thread here:
https://www.pugski.com/threads/world-cup-2019-20-season-men.16568/#post-389532

This will be the WOMENS thread.



WOMENS SCHEDULE
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Teppaz

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A season preview from Summit Daily: Shiffrin going for Stenmark’s record (number of WC victories) rather than Tina Maze’s (points in a season), first WC races in China, male hopefuls now that Hirscher is gone, etc.

I was surprised by the note about the lack of female downhillers. Wasn’t aware it had become an issue.
 

Tricia

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Both the men's WC and women's WC threads for the 2019/20 season are stickies
 
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4ster

4ster

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Nice straight forward article.
I was surprised by the note about the lack of female downhillers. Wasn’t aware it had become an issue.
Goggia is a badass & I think Stuhec should be back in shape this year. Will Veith be a downhiller or stick with SG & GS?
Schmidhofer, Venier, Siebenhofer all Austrians, all a threat. Can Wierither get something going? Maybe Alphand or Mowinckel? Gut?

With safer, tamer downhills, will that entice a Shiffrin to get after a few more.
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Primoz

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Veith is out of Soelden for sure, how it will be after that is still to be seen. I have feeling she's not really 100% ready, and after such bad luck as she had recently I'm not sure she's willing to take any risks unless she's 100% ready. Not to mention it was really close she would finish her career earlier this year.
Mowinckel is also far from race ready, so we will also need to wait for her for a while, and she's certainly not gonna be overall (in discipline as in overall overall there's noone except Shiffrin anyway) contender. If all goes well, she might be good on race or two later through the season, but certainly not overall this season. Stuhec... well I don't know. Earlier this year I was almost 100% sure we will hear about her retirement sometime around this time, but I was obviously wrong, but I don't think she can repeat another year like she had few years ago. She will probably win few races,might even be in play for DH and/or SG title, but not overall. But her team is completely changed so we will see how this will work out, but honestly I don't have too good feeling with that.
Goggia is lose cannon... she skis great, but you still need to have something in your head to win... you going full speed out of start gate and "no tactics and whatever will be will be" is not really right attitude to be real contender. She changed very little bit lately, but I don't think that's enough.
Shiffrin... it's useless to even bother writing, and honestly, they can give her big crystal ball already in Soelden.
 

Tricia

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A season preview from Summit Daily: Shiffrin going for Stenmark’s record (number of WC victories) rather than Tina Maze’s (points in a season), first WC races in China, male hopefuls now that Hirscher is gone, etc.

I was surprised by the note about the lack of female downhillers. Wasn’t aware it had become an issue.
I was not aware of that either. Its interesting to read Primoz perspective on this, especially the comment about Goggia being a loose cannon.
 

Teppaz

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I'm really looking forward to the men's slalom and GS. Should be a fun battle for discipline titles + overall.

Whereas sad to say but the women's field looks less competitive, except maybe in DH? Shiffrin making strides into SG too, so there's really no stopping her.
 
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4ster

4ster

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I was not aware of that either. Its interesting to read Primoz perspective on this, especially the comment about Goggia being a loose cannon.
Just watch her ski, she is balls out! I bet she has posters of Bode & Klammer on her bedroom wall.
Sometimes an athlete will get tactically smarter with age, we shall see about Goggia :huh:

To be honest for me, most women’s downhills & some of the men’s are kind of boring. Toning them down will make them even more so. I much prefer the high speed turns of SG, something that Veith excelled at in her prime.
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Tricia

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Just watch her ski, she is balls out! I bet she has posters of Bode & Klammer on her bedroom wall.
Sometimes an athlete will get tactically smarter with age, we shall see about Goggia :huh:
So @4ster do you think the women will be more interesting to watch this season, or the men?
Just curious. :popcorn:
 
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4ster

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So @4ster do you think the women will be more interesting to watch this season, or the men?
Just curious. :popcorn:
Tough question, I am a fan of exceptional performance which we had from both genders last season.
I am really interested in seeing how the men’s slalom plays out. Women’s GS may prove to be the most interesting, provided all the players step up to the plate.
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Muleski

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Three or four seasons ago, there was chatter to brace ourselves as what was unfolding was likely the weakest women's field in a LONG time. Well, we're there now.

With respect to the USST, we have some young women the rise, but most are far from a WC podium. We're dealing with the "Mikaela effect", which caused a huge number of women to give up the sport as they thought they "sucked" relative to MS. This is back when she was 15-18, and people did not necessarily, universally realize what she would become. So that's the USST. Look at both years a bit older than MS. WE have almost no wowen's tech team.

I'd like to see a skier or two contend with MS on the tech side, and hopefully we will. Vlhova, for one. There is going to be no contest whatsoever for the overall. None, if MS stays healthy. Just a question of by how much she wins, and how many wins she racks up. She's the best ever. Might as well enjoy watching her, if if the competition is not that great.

Goggia is hammer down skier, and from what I hear from Italian coaches, she has been a challenge to coach since she was a junior. Headstrong. Super talent. I believe that one thing that has really improved, starting last year is her level of fitness and stamina. For a while, she could be a serious disaster in the making, hoping to hang on and finish the longer more demanding tracks, while running out of gas. She should be threat to win, or at least podium every time out of the gate. I'm not convinced that we will ever see Stuhec ski at the level and consistency that she did two years ago. Nor Lara Gut. We'll see....Maybe.

USST women. My gut says that ONCE again, they are not managing Breezy Johnson's rehab and return to snow as they should. I would love to be totally wrong, but generally speaking, an ACL/MCL and prepping to race WC speed takes a lot of rest...and time, not just hard work. We have a history of creating pressure to come back too soon. Keep in mind, she wrecked this knee in Mammoth this spring, while returning to snow from surgery on the OTHER knee. Some very informed in the world of rehabbing skiers at this level though that in the spring it was too much, and that a risk of it can be over working the "good knee" and risking more injury. Not saying that happened exactly that way. The USST speed group has looked like a rehab ward. I'm not expecting much. And I wish the culture was such that taking the right amount of time was OK. A move like Laurenne Ross is taking, taking the entire season off to hopefully be ready next season is very unusual. We'll see if she does return.

Hopefully well see a group of younger faces emerge on the WC, from all nations, to really make bold moves. That would be great.

My personal favorite is Alice Robinson of NZ. Tactically near perfect in GS. Incredible natural talent. Has always just "sent it" and now has the tactical mindset to perform as she did a the end of last season. Also happened to get into a entirely new boot {very similar, identical to an older boot of hers} two weeks before Jr. Worlds, which lead to her WCF's. Yeah...that matters. I would look to her making a change in her equipment by next summer at the lastest. She is is HOT demand, and is being pursued by everybody. She can likely get great support, the fastest skis made, and a big payday {not that she needs the payday.} Just signed a deal with RedBull, as well. Alice could challenge for the GS globe, soon. Perhaps another year. And she will eventually just KILL it in SG. She is still 17. Turns 18 later this year. If she were skiing with a stronger national federation, I can only imagine.

As always, looking forward to the season. Paying a lot of attention to NorAm results as well. Those will be interesting for our younger skiers.
 

Swede

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Just to add a few thoughts that hasn’t been mentioned. Keeping an eye out (and fingers crossed) for Estelle Alphand 19/20. Great young skier with the right attitude that missed last season due to injury. Also wonder about the czeck snowboard girl Ledecka, what type of prep she has done? Would be interesting to see her with 100% focus on SG and DH (with skis on her feet). Also noting that combined is still alive, but rules slightly changed to the benefit of speed skiers (no reverse order for 2:nd run).
 

Swede

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Just watch her ski, she is balls out! I bet she has posters of Bode & Klammer on her bedroom wall.
Sometimes an athlete will get tactically smarter with age, we shall see about Goggia :huh:

To be honest for me, most women’s downhills & some of the men’s are kind of boring. Toning them down will make them even more so. I much prefer the high speed turns of SG, something that Veith excelled at in her prime.
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I liked her [Fenninger] more before she got married ogsmile
 

Teppaz

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I much prefer the high speed turns of SG, something that Veith excelled at in her prime.
Me too! The SG is incredibly exciting. It's the race I show to friends who have no clue about ski racing.
 

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