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Exciting fights in store in Lenzerheide
After the construction of the "Silvano Beltrametti" course, Lenzerheide served as the venue for the Audi FIS Ski World Cup Finals in 2005 and 2007. Thanks to recent improvements to the course and infrastructure Lenzerheide was chosen to host the World Cup Finals in March 2011 and again in 2013.
Altogether six out of 12 globes are still to be won in Lenzerheide, two for the ladies and four for the men. The status on the ladies side is such that the small globe in super combined has been won by Lindsey Vonn, in addition to the the downhill and super-G crystals, while in slalom the globe went to Austrian Marlies Schild. The hunt for the globes in the ladies' overall and in the giant slalom standings is still on.
The duel for the ladies' overall World Cup remains interesting. Since 2008, it has been a duel between Lindsey Vonn and Maria Riesch. The decision whether Vonn can secure the large globe for the fourth consecutive time or not will come down to the final races and be largely dependent on who has the strongest nerves.
Even before the last downhill, it was clear that Vonn would finish the season as the event champion for the fourth consecutive time, while Maria Riesch's second place is also certain. Thanks to victory in the final race, third place was claimed by Julia Mancuso (USA) who won in Lenzerheide ahead of Lara Gut. With Riesch failing to score any points in 17th, Vonn took the lead in the overall standings after finishing 4th in the race for the first time since 27th December and with three races remaining.
Vonn has also already claimed her third consecutive trophy in super-G over Riesch. Julia Mancuso is 74 points behind the German in third before the final race on Thursday. In giant slalom, Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg moved to the top of the standings in Spindleruv Mlyn and is leading by 77 points over second-placed Tessa Worley from France (358). Rebensburg would like to repeat what her teammate Kathrin Hölzl achieved last year, namely to win the giant slalom standings. The six victories in six races have been evenly distributed between Rebensburg and Worley but the German also claimed a second place, which puts her narrowly ahead in the standings.
In slalom, world champion Marlies Schild has won every single race that she finished this season and has already won her third small globe in this event. Finn Tanja Poutiainen and Maria Riesch will fight in Lenzerheide for runner up spot.
As far as the men are concerned, Croatia's Ivica Kostelic already claimed the coveted large globe for the overall standings last weekend in Kvitfjell for the first time in his illustrious career, as well as the super combined. Going into the final downhill on Wednesday, Michael Walchhofer had a lead of 14 points over Switzerland's Didier Cuche after a successful week-end in Kvitfjell. Both for the Austrian who is bidding farewell to the ski circus in Lenzerheide, and for Cuche, the globe at stake was their respective career's fourth, as since 2005 the winner of the small crystal globe in downhill has always been Cuche or Walchhofer. In an exciting finale, the day win went to France's Adrian Theaux but the real winner was Cuche who finished fourth to narrowly outscore Walchhofer, who finished 11th, by 12 points.
Six athletes still stand theoretical chances to win the super-G standings. Cuche (291) is ahead of the injured Austrian Georg Streitberger (227), who finished the season prematurely and will therefore not be racing in Lenzerheide. Ivica Kostelic (223) is in third place, followed by Walchhofer (214), Hannes Reichelt (AUT/207), Carlo Janka (SUI/205) and Romed Baumann (AUT/197). Cuche has never before claimed the super-G globe. With his victory in Kvitfjell last Sunday, he already laid the groundwork to achieve his goal. The six super-G races of the season so far saw six different winners.
In giant slalom, the three-time winner and world champion Ted Ligety (USA) is leading the discipline standings by 77 points over Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal and 80 points ahead of the Frenchman Cyprien Richard. It would be the second consecutive crystal globe in that discipline for the American if he holds on to his advantage. In slalom, a duel between Ivica Kostelic and Jean-Baptiste Grange is on the horizon, with the Croat holding a 36 point advantage over the French world champion. The third-placed Swede Andre Myhrer (95) is already probably too far behind to stand a real chance to still capture the globe.
On Sunday, the season's second Nations Team Event after the World Championships in Garmisch will conclude the Audi FIS Ski World Cup season.
Contributed by Sandra Kühni