{"id":5015,"date":"2018-09-21T15:26:57","date_gmt":"2018-09-21T21:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/?p=5015"},"modified":"2018-09-21T15:41:28","modified_gmt":"2018-09-21T21:41:28","slug":"anticipation-first-bite-of-cold-weather-inspires-early-preview-of-2018-races","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/anticipation-first-bite-of-cold-weather-inspires-early-preview-of-2018-races\/","title":{"rendered":"Anticipation: first bite of cold weather inspires early preview of 2018 races"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Tom Boyd<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
The Talon Crew began hanging A-Net for the Birds of Prey World Cup in August.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Birds of Prey World Cup race week doesn\u2019t officially begin until the first downhill training day November 27, but in truth, the event has already begun in the minds of race fans all over the world who anticipate this legendary contest of grit and willpower on the slopes of Beaver Creek, Colorado.<\/p>\n

The first sign was the photo of Talon Crew hanging A-net on course, which hit Facebook on Aug. 16<\/a>.<\/p>\n

And another good omen from the racing gods hit the Vail Valley Sept. 19, as heavy rain turned to overnight snow on the high peaks. The biting air of autumn turned fierce for a few hours, and the unmistakable scent of snow drifted down from the highlands.<\/p>\n

For those of us here at the Vail Valley Foundation, all of the above has already got our blood racing.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also got us wondering: who will be the next nine medalists to take the podiums here in Beaver Creek?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Downhill<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\"\"
Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway has won the past two Beaver Creek Birds of Prey World Cup downhills. Photo by Alexis Boichard, Agence Zoom.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Top of that list comes the one-and-only Aksel Lund SVINDAL (NOR)<\/strong>. He has won gold the past two downhills held in Beaver Creek (2016 and 2018), doing so while wearing the No. 1 bib in 2018.<\/p>\n

As charismatic off the slopes as he is fearless while on them, Svindal seems to intimately know every idiosyncrasy of the Birds of Prey track, and has become a fan favorite in Colorado here and beyond \u2013 plenty of American fans cheered as he skied his way to the No. 2 overall downhill title in 2018.<\/p>\n

It was his fourth time winning the Birds of Prey downhill race, eclipsing the legendary Hermann MAIER (AUT)<\/strong> who has three downhill wins on the course, including the 1999 Alpine World Ski Championships race.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do like it here,\u201d Svindal said last December. \u201cEver since I came here the first time, I think it\u2019s one of my favorite stops on the World Cup tour and I\u2019ve had a lot of success.\u201d<\/p>\n

His greatest competition may come from his own home country of Norway in the form of Kjetil JANSRUD<\/strong>, who placed seventh overall in the men\u2019s downhill standings last season, and took silver in last year\u2019s Birds of Prey super G.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Thomas Dressen of Germany won the first German downhill podium since 2004. (Photo by Alexis Boichard\/Agence Zoom)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both those racers must content with Beat FEUZ (SUI),<\/strong> who is the reigning downhill champion from the 2017-18 season, and who was a mere .15s behind SVINDAL<\/strong> in the 2017 edition of the Birds of Prey World Cup downhill.<\/p>\n

FUEZ <\/strong>also ran early in last year\u2019s race \u2013 winning with bib No. 3. However it was bib 10 that took third, as most German race fans will recall, as Thomas DRESSEN<\/strong> (GER)<\/strong> earned the first German downhill podium since 2004, when Max RAUFFER<\/strong> won in Val Gardena, Italy.<\/p>\n

Among the seemingly endless variables that will determine this year\u2019s champion are the course conditions. Last year\u2019s track was nearly all man-made snow, and warm temperatures favored the early-morning runners. If the crystal-cool air currently floating through the Vail Valley has anything to say about this season\u2019s conditions, however, a more wintry mix will be in play when this year\u2019s race week comes to town.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Giant Slalom<\/strong><\/h5>\n

The accomplishments of Marcel HIRSCHER (AUT)<\/strong> are so impressive as to seem fabled \u2013 or at least a little embellished. And yet there is no embellishment to this astounding statement: this one phenomenal athlete has been the World Cup overall champion a record seven times in a row, dominating the tech events to such an extent that no other skier can match him.<\/p>\n

Five of the past seven years, HIRSCHER<\/strong> has also captured the Giant Slalom overall title \u2013 but in Beaver Creek, he has historically struggled to beat the home-turf favorite: Ted LIGETY<\/strong> (USA)<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

LIGETY <\/strong>was Giant Slalom overall champion five times (2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014) and won the Beaver Creek Birds of Prey giant slalom five times in five years (2010-2015), but has struggled with injury of late. The giant slalom specialist dipped in 2016-17, but made notable strides back to form in 2018, placing eight overall in World Cup giant slalom standings.<\/p>\n

LIGETY\u2019s <\/strong>status, however, remains a mystery. Only time, and training, will tell just how well this veteran of the World Cup will bounce back.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, he and HIRSCHER<\/strong> have some new blood to contend with, namely in the form of Henrik KRISTOFFERSEN<\/strong> (NOR)<\/strong>, who took silver at the Birds of Prey World Cup giant slalom and second overall in the World Cup overall rankings.<\/p>\n

Fast on the heels of HIRSCHER, KRISTOFFERSEN<\/strong> is making his bid to be the next dominant racer on the World Cup tour, and there\u2019s no better place to establish that dominance than in the early season, on the highly-competitive Birds of Prey track.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Super G<\/strong><\/h5>\n

\"\"The super G is shaping up to be a tug-of-war between Austria and Norway, with France doing their best to play spoiler.<\/p>\n

JANSRUD <\/strong>is the two-time defending overall super G champ, and has been close to the top position in Beaver Creek before. However, the powerful Norwegian has yet to gain gold in Beaver Creek, taking silver in 2014 and 2017.<\/p>\n

This could be his year. But to get there, he\u2019ll have to overcome an Austrian team slated to include Vincent KRIECHMAYR<\/strong>, the reigning gold-medalist on the Birds of Prey super G.<\/p>\n

Then, of course, there is Hannes REICHELT (AUT)<\/strong> who earned bronze here last year at the impressively mature age 37, and is already back on snow, training for yet another year of an historic World Cup racing career.<\/p>\n

HIRSCHER<\/strong> has shown he can win here in this discipline \u2013 proven by a December, 2015 victory in super G. And guess who was hot on his heels that year? Ted LIGETY<\/strong>, who took silver in that race. He was followed by\u00a0Andrew \u201cThe War Horse\u201d WEIBRECHT<\/strong> (USA)<\/strong> who is now retired.<\/p>\n

If the USA wants to make its mark in super G, it will most likely come from Travis GANONG<\/strong> (USA)<\/strong>, who took sixth in 2015 but only 33rd<\/sup> in 2017. A lot of work remains for the USA if they seek to return to the heyday of Bode MILLER<\/strong> and Daron RAHLVES\u2019<\/strong> performances of the early\/mid 2000s.<\/p>\n

And then there is Steven NYMAN (USA)<\/strong>, who can claim a huge fanbase in Colorado and has shown best-in-the-world promise over the course of his career. NYMAN<\/strong>, however, is in somewhat of a similar circumstance as LIGETY<\/strong>, and recent injuries have put the speed-event specialists career in limbo.<\/p>\n

Many questions remain, but when winter comes to Beaver Creek, so will all the answers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Tom Boyd The Birds of Prey World Cup race week doesn\u2019t officially begin until the first downhill training day November 27, but in truth, the event has already begun in the minds of race fans all over the world who anticipate this legendary contest of grit and willpower on the slopes of Beaver Creek, … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":5017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[115],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5015"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5015"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5015\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5015"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5015"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bcworldcup.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5015"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}