Ester Ledecká finished fifth in the second and final practice of Wednesday’s World Cup final. On the slopes in France, where speed disciplines will be held in Courchevel and technicals in Méribel, the overall winner of the series will be determined. There are also several small crystal balls in the game for each discipline.
Czech star Ledecká will present himself at Wednesday’s congress, where he will be one of the favorites and can attack the final third place in the discipline. Ledecká will also compete in Thursday’s super giant slalom, Martina Dubovská won Saturday’s slalom.
Most of the attention is focused on the fight for the general championship among women. 27-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin leads 55 points ahead of lawyer Petra Vlhová of Slovakia.
The fact that she knows better speed discipline played a role for the American woman, which she demonstrated, among other things, by winning her second practice downhill, and she is currently fourth in the super-G rankings. Vlhová have been slightly better in slalom and giant slalom of late, but Shiffrin are not far behind.
The third small globe on the slopes is Sofia Goggia of Italy, who is 75 points clear of Olympic winner Corinne Suter of Switzerland. The fight will be interesting in the giant slalom, where Sara Hector of Sweden is just five points clear of France’s Tessa Worley. Shiffrin (51 points apart) and Vlhová (91) also have theoretical chances.
The winner of the Vlhová Olympic slalom has mastered the evaluation of the most spinning disciplines, the super-giant slalom was won by Italian skier Federica Brignoneová.
Marco Odermatt is close to an overall men’s win among men. The Swiss, already king in the giant slalom rankings, has a 329 point advantage over Norway’s Alexander Aamodt Kild.
Shiffrin’s friend Kilde already has a certain globe for the super-giant slalom and is battling for another on the slopes, where he leads 23 points ahead of Swiss Beat Feuz. In the slalom, Nor Henrik Kristoffersen led 48 points ahead of compatriot Lucas Braathen, Germany’s Linus Strasser dropped 64 points.
In the final of the World Cup, the winner traditionally takes one hundred points, but the points are only in fifteenth place, where there are sixteen points.
