Alpine skiing: Linsberger chasing overall World Cup driving

At the premiere at “Ländle” last year without an audience, Slovakian Petra Vlhova beat Paula Moltzan (USA) and Lara Gut-Behrami (SUI). Elisa Morzinger was ranked eighth best Austrian, with Katharina Troup (13), Franziska Gretsch (14) and Katerina Linsberger (16), and four of them finished in the top 16.

Gut-Behrami confirmed her participation on Saturday, but with Mikaela Shiffrin and Vlhova missing two absolute stars as well as the winner and third place in the season’s opening giant slalom in Sölden. The American American Shiffrin has back problems, and Vlhova has already focused on the slalom pairs in Levi (Finland). Gut Bahrami and Linsberger are vying for first place in the World Cup as a whole.

Liensberger warned about vaccination status

The 24-year-old ÖSV runner completed a good training session with the team at Hippach on Friday, although it was cold. “I am really looking forward to racing on our soil,” said the double world champion from Cortina. Not least thanks to the achievements made there, she will now have more self-confidence. “If I can bring what I can do on the slope, I know I can be fast,” Linsberger confirmed. The Vorarlberg native assured that a home win in front of the fans would be something very special.

She wants to approach the Olympic season step by step. “Every race is an important event, I always want to get the best performance.” Linsberger stated again that she did not want to comment on her vaccination status. “It doesn’t matter what my situation looks like. But of course I want to make sure that I meet all that is required for Beijing.”

Parallel individual competition only this season

Lech/Zürs is the only parallel individual competition on the World Cup calendar, and this discipline is not yet included in the program at the Olympics either. The last race so far was in February at the World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo, which was a turbulent for the women.

Linsberger was first declared the silver medalist, and after a while the gold medal was awarded, as the Italian Marta Pacino at the same time. ÖSV first had to refer to the rulebook to the officials.

ramp in good condition

The ramp on the ramp specially designed for parallel racing was in good condition, it was equipped with stored snow deposits, there was fresh snow. The starting height is 1820 meters and the end is 1718 meters. The mean regression is 29 percent. Rain is announced for the weekend, and spectators are admitted according to a 2-G rule.

The top 16 of the morning qualifiers, which are held in one inning, qualify for the evening decision. World Cup points are also awarded for places 17-30 according to the qualifying score.