Tina Weirather

2018 Winter Olympics medal prognostications

Arriving to PyeongChang, South Korea, from all corners of the World, athletes from 15 different sports will battle for the 102 sets of medals available during the 2018 Winter Olympics, the ultimate reward for years of hard work and sacrifices in the name of a dream.

Unfortunately, this writer won’t be one of them, which means I can’t do much more than sit back, monitor the proceedings from my living room on the other side of the planet…and try to look smart doing so. But how? Well, by predicting the Olympic medal winners in advance and before the wind, unexpected temperatures, injuries, illnesses or just plain bad luck conspire to reshape the course of history.

Now, forecasting 100 different events is a lot for a single person, and since I won’t bother to trick you into thinking I have any idea who is going to take the freestyle skiing ladies’ aerials gold, let’s narrow the field to 28 events and my own Fab Four: Alpine skiing, Biathlon, Ice Hockey and Ski Jumping.

For full disclosure, the projections released by Sports Illustrated, the Associated Press and the statistical genius at Gracenote were consulted before publication, but the future will certainly prove my brilliance in comparison with the so-called experts and machines. Or not. Still, on a related note, can we, reasonable people with a functioning brain, agree that biathlete Laura Dahlmeier won’t leave Pyeonchang with six gold medals? Great. Let’s get down to business then.

 

Alpine Skiing

The Pyeongchang Games are expected to coronate overall World Cup leaders Marcel Hischer and Mikaela Shiffrin, but exactly how much metal can this star duo accumulate? Moreover, is Lindsey Vonn going to add a few extra Olympic honours to the 2 medals obtained in Vancouver 2010, further padding an already stellar career? Is comeback King Aksel Lund Svindal destined for greatness on his final Olympic appearance? There’s no shortage of intrigue ahead of the alpine skiing events of the 2018 Winter Olympics.

American Mikaela Shiffrin shined as an 18-year-old in Sochi 2014 and she’ll be looking for more gold at the 2018 Winter Olympics (GEPA/Mario Kneisl)

Men:

Downhill

Gold: Beat Feuz, Switzerland

Silver: Aksel Lund Svindal, Norway

Bronze: Matthias Mayer, Austria

World Champion Beat Feutz leads the downhill standings this season by virtue of 3 victories and 2 runner-up finishes in 7 races, and he’s the man to beat in the fastest of the alpine disciplines. Svindal should return to the Olympic podium at age 35, making up for the disappointment of Sochi, while an Austrian always seems to sneak into the podium in these occasions. My money is on defending Champion Matthias Mayer, wildly inconsistent but someone who’s been showing signs of life recently.

 

Super-G

Gold: Max Franz, Austria

Silver: Kjetil Jansrud, Norway

Bronze: Vincent Kriechmayer, Austria

Kjetil Jansrud defends the crown from Sochi and leads the World Cup charts at the moment, but he’s going to have his hands full with the Austrian armada. Between Franz, Kriechmayer and 2015 World Champion Hannes Reichelt, the most decorated Alpine country has nice probabilities of snatching multiple medals, and I believe the 28-year-old Franz is the man to devise the perfect run.

 

Combined

Gold: Alexis Pinturault, France

Silver: Marcel Hirscher, Austria

Bronze: Peter Fill, Italy

Alexis Pinturault has topped the Alpine combined standings in four of the last 5 seasons and he’s due a major title. The French will pick up gold after holding off the slalom charge of Marcel Hirscher. Veteran Peter Fill clocks the best time of the downhill run and then clings to the podium in the ensuing slalom.

 

Giant Slalom

Gold: Marcel Hirscher, Austria

Silver: Henrik Kristoffersen, Norway

Bronze: Ted Ligety, United States

If you’re as much as a casual alpine skiing spectator, you probably know Hirscher has yet to win an Olympic gold medal. That will end in PyeongChang, and as occurred in many previous instances this season, Henrik Kristoffersen will fill the bridesmaid role. After a first season podium on the GS of Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Ted Ligety won’t approach the top two nor impact the fight for his succession, but the American still manages to shrug away the opposition for bronze.

 

Slalom

Gold: Marcel Hirscher, Austria

Silver: Henrik Kristoffersen, Norway

Bronze: Luca Aerni, Switzerland

Triumphant in six of the seven slalom events he’s contested this season, Hirscher is the odds-on favourite for the Olympic crown, but Kristoffersen will, undoubtedly, be lurking around if the six-time overall World Cup Champion commits the most insignificant of mistakes. Aerni, the 24-year-old who won the Alpine Combined at the 2017 Worlds, pipes Michael Matt (Austria) for third.

 

Women:

Downhill

Gold: Lindsey Vonn, United States

Silver: Sofia Goggia, Italy

Bronze: Ragnhild Mowinckel, Norway

Vonn and Goggia starred on the final speed events ahead of the Olympics and they’ll again put their friendship on the line in South Korea, with the American prevailing to reclaim the downhill Olympic title. Mowinckel wins bronze to clinch Norway’s first ever medal for a female Alpine skier (all previous 29 were collected by men).

 

Super-G

Gold: Tina Weirather, Liechtenstein

Silver: Lara Gut, Switzerland

Bronze: Lindsey Vonn, United States

Four years after crashing in a downhill training run in Sochi, Tina Weirather finally emulates her mother, Hanni Wetzel, and becomes the second Olympic Champion from Liechtenstein. Fourth in 2014, current Super-G World Cup leader Lara Gut climbs two steps to claim silver, while Nicole Schmidhofer, the reigning World Champion, is bested by Lindsey Vonn for the final podium position.

 

Combined

Gold: Wendy Holdener, Switzerland

Silver: Mikaela Shiffrin, United States

Bronze: Federica Brignone, Italy

Repeating the triumph of last year’s World Championships, Wendy Holdener creeps ahead of Shiffrin, the Slalom Queen, to savour her maiden Olympic title. In an all-Italian battle for third, Brignone knocks Sofia Goggia and Marta Bassino out of podium contention while Lindsey Vonn straddles a gate in the slalom to DNF.

 

Giant Slalom

Gold: Viktoria Rebensburg, Germany

Silver: Mikaela Shiffrin, United States

Bronze: Tessa Worley, France

The most consistent GS competitor of the season, Rebensburg recaptures her Olympic crown four years after placing third in Sochi, therefore ending Shiffrin’s bid for 3+ titles in a single Olympics. A World Champion in 2013 and 2015, Tessa Worley makes up for the deception of missing the 2014 Olympics by rescuing the bronze medal.

 

Slalom

Gold: Mikaela Shiffrin, United States

Silver: Wendy Holdener, Switzerland

Bronze: Frida Hansdotter, Sweden

With an advantage of over one second, Mikaela Shiffrin blows the competition apart to secure a second consecutive gold medal in her signature event. The in-form Holdener settles for second, while 32-year-old Frida Hansdotter takes advantage of Petra Vlhová’s tentative run to steal third place from the Slovak’s hands.

 

(Mixed) Team Event

Gold: Austria

Silver: Switzerland

Bronze: France

Marcel Hirscher will bookend a spectacular Winter Olympics by guiding Austria to the top of the podium on the first Team event in Olympic history. A talented Switzerland ensemble guarantees silver by upsetting the France of Pinturault, Worley and Mathieu Favre in the semis, though the French rebound to push Sweden out of the picture in the small final.

 

Biathlon

Martin Fourcade and Johannes Thingnes Bø have monopolized attentions this winter by hoarding 14 of the 15 individual competitions staged so far in the biathlon World Cup season, and their multiple clashes are bound to set alight the Alpensia Biathlon Center, nevertheless don’t sleep on the women. Laura Dahlmeier will be looking to reproduce her unconceivable five gold, six-medal performance of last year’s World Championships, and she’ll be up against a smattering of powerful opponents, including Sochi’s dominant figure, Darya Domracheva, and the current World Cup leader, Kaisa Mäkäräinen.

Johannes Thingnes Bø (L) and Martin Fourcade (R) will renew hostilities in PyeongChang (biathlon-hochfilzen.at)

Men:

10km Sprint

Gold: Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norway

Silver: Martin Fourcade, France

Bronze: Jakov Fak, Slovenia

Despite leading the sprint World Cup standings, Fourcade has only one victory to Bø’s three in this discipline in 2017-18, and the Norwegian has generally looked faster from the get-go at every World Cup stop. Therefore, we expect Johannes to take the first assault in Pyeongchang, with Martin Fourcade stopping the clock a few ticks later for silver. The steady Jacov Fak, World Champion in this discipline in 2012, concludes the podium lineup due to a clean shooting performance in a day where most of the other contenders will miss more than usual for lack of acclimation to the track and Olympic atmosphere.

 

12.5km Pursuit

Gold: Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norway

Silver: Martin Fourcade, France

Bronze: Emil Hegle Svendsen, Norway

Staying ahead of Fourcade during the Pursuit following his sprint successes hasn’t been a problem for Johannes Thingnes Bø this season, and we predict the same will happen at the Olympics. The 32-year-old Svendsen has picked up an Olympic medal in every other biathlon discipline between the 2010 and 2014 Games, and it would be neat if he managed to complete his set at the Pursuit.

 

15km Mass Start

Gold: Martin Fourcade, France

Silver: Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norway

Bronze: Tarjei Bø, Norway

The hectic Mass start is a race that gets Fourcade’s emotions flowing like no other, and the French will outlast his Norwegian rival here, erupting to victory by a comfortable margin. For his part, Johannes may string a few misses on the day, but his magnificent skiing form should pull him out of trouble and back into medal territory. Tarjei Bø will take a ride with his younger brother and land on the last podium position.

 

20km Individual

Gold: Martin Fourcade, France

Silver: Erik Lesser, Germany

Bronze: Johannes Thingnes Bø, Norway

Martin Fourcade is the reigning Olympic Champion in the 20km individual and he won three consecutive World titles in this event before the third place of Hochfilzen 2017. The clear favourite since the race suits his deliberate shooting style and skiing prowess, the French will win ahead of Erik Lesser in a repeat of Sochi’s results. Meanwhile, Johannes Bø is not at his best in biathlon’s longest individual effort, but this season he tied his rival in the discipline’s standings by capturing a victory and a third place, and the Norwegian has the legs to make ground on the rest in spite of one, maybe even two, extra misses.

 

4×7.5km Relay

Gold: France

Silver: Norway

Bronze: Germany

Anchored by the two stars of the season, the men’s relay is expected to come down to the Johannes Bø – Martin Fourcade final showdown, with the French likely to start a few seconds late. In top form, a Norwegian group with Svendsen, the Bø brothers and Ole Einar Bjorndalen would be nearly unbeatable, however the legend was left off the team and Lars Helge Birkeland, while a steady athlete, doesn’t have as much international experience as the French trio supporting Martin. Simply because I’m still salty due to the absence of the greatest Winter Olympian ever, I’ll edge my bets on France.

With an experienced and reliable group, the Germans only need to avoid shooting themselves in the foot to secure third ahead of Austria, Italy and the Swedes, who recently triumphed in Oberhof. Russia, who won at home soil four years ago, couldn’t clear enough athletes to form a team for PyeongChang.

 

Women:

7.5km Sprint

Gold: Laura Dahlmeier, Germany

Silver: Anastasiya Kuzmina, Slovakia

Bronze: Tiril Eckhoff, Norway

Dahlmeier has yet to showcase the dominant skiing form of 2016-17, yet I sense she’ll explode off the gates in South Korea, shooting clean to overcome Anastasiya Kuzmina, the sprint Champion from Vancouver 2010 and Sochi 2014. Tiril Eckhoff is usually at her best on the sprint, and the easy shooting range combined with an up-and-down track should suit her qualities, guiding the Norwegian to a second individual medal after the Mass Sprint of Sochi.

 

10km Pursuit

Gold: Kaisa Mäkäräinen, Finland

Silver: Laura Dahlmeier, Germany

Bronze: Denise Herrmann, Germany

Shut out of medal contention on the last two Winter Olympics, Kaisa Mäkäräinen will break her duck on the Pursuit, bursting ahead of Dahlmeier after the standing shootout to clinch an emotional victory. Denise Herrmann, the ultimate wild card with her lightning fast skiing and erratic shooting, will enjoy a good day in the office and power up the field to take the final podium position.

 

12.5km Mass Start

Gold: Laura Dahlmeier, Germany

Silver: Darya Domracheva, Belarus

Bronze: Justine Braisaz, France

Although Dahlmeier won’t amass five gold medals like last year, she’ll still head home with a stuffed trophy case. This race will provide her with another opportunity to ascend to the highest podium level, while Domracheva, the 2014 Mass start Champion, will scamper away from the opposition with the finish line in sight to secure silver. Building back her form through the week after an untimely illness, 21-year-old Justine Braisaz will claim bronze and a first career medal.

 

15km Individual

Gold: Darya Domracheva, Belarus

Silver: Dorothea Wierer, Italy

Bronze: Nadezhda Skardino, Belarus

Returning to the World Tour after a couple of lost seasons due to mononucleosis and pregnancy, Domracheva is unlikely to repeat her haul from Sochi, but she won’t leave empty-handed either. I trust the Belarussian will keep her cool on the shooting range, defend her Olympic title and be joined on the podium by her teammate Nadezhda Skardino, who will shoot clean to secure the top-three for a second consecutive Olympics. Dorothea Wierer, the winner of the last 15km individual race in Ruhpolding, showed clear progression as the Games approached, and that will merit a silver medal on the event where she’s tallied three of her four World Cup victories.

 

4x6km Relay

Gold: Germany

Silver: France

Bronze: Italy

Winners of seven of the last eight women’s relays, the German ladies should lock the Olympic title without too much trouble, and that will ring true even if they opt to save their trump card, Laura Dahlmeier, after the mixed relay. Surprising Champions in Sochi amidst political turmoil back home, Ukraine returns all four athletes and they’ll be in the mix again, but I just like more the blend of experience and youth on the French team. Moreover, Italy’s relay is filled with sharp-shooters and in Dorothea Wierer they have an excellent anchor, which should be enough to drive Ukraine away from the medals.

 

Mixed Biathlon Relay

Gold: Germany

Silver: France

Bronze: Norway

Swapping Tora Berger and Bjorndalen for Marte Olsbu (or Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold) and Johannes Thingnes Bø shouldn’t have a major effect on the strength of Norway’s relay compared to Sochi, yet the opposition looks stronger this time and the race difficult to handicap. Provided Martin Fourcade is in the lineup, France will exhibit a formidable unit, and Germany would be a pain to deal with if Dahlmeier checks out in front.

As the reigning World Champions, I’m picking the Germans to outlast a fierce French challenge for the title, with Norway dropping to third. Nonetheless, keep an eye on Italy, a credible threat to replicate the bronze of Sochi if Lukas Hofer and Dominik Windisch manage to keep their erratic shooting in check…

 

Ice Hockey

Canada swept the titles in the two most recent Winter Olympics, but without NHL players, they’ll be in a tough spot to emerge victorious out of the deep pool of candidates on the men’s side. Meanwhile, the women’s event should feature another North American battle between the Americans and the Canadians, and history has proven anything can happen when those two meet.

Canada beat the United States in the women’s ice hockey Final in Sochi 2014. These two teams should reconvene at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Men:

Gold: Sweden

Silver: Olympic Athletes of Russia

Bronze: Canada

Youngster Rasmus Dahlin steals the show and goaltender Viktor Fasth slams the door shut on the high-powered Russians, who leave the tournament disgruntled in spite of managing their best result since 1998. The makeshift Canadian team edges the hard-working Finns in a low-scoring bronze medal game.

 

Women:

Gold: United States

Silver: Canada

Bronze: Finland

The four-time defending World Champions USA finally get the best of Canada, ending their neighbours’ run of four consecutive Olympic gold medals after yet another memorable chapter of one of world sports most underrated rivalries. Before that, Finland’s star goalkeeper Noora Räty almost steals a Final birth, but Canada eventually progresses out of the semi-final in OT, leaving the much-improved Finns to outduel Sweden for third place.

 

Ski Jumping

Kamil Stoch reigned supreme in Sochi four years ago, and the Pole’s name is again at the very top of the shortlist of favourites, but duplicating the achievement won’t be easy as his path to victory is brimming with talented Germans and Norwegians.

Kamil Sotch jumped for imortality at Sochi 2014. He’ll try to reach the same heights in South Korea (Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports Eric Bolte )

Men:

Normal Hill

Gold: Kamil Stoch, Poland

Silver: Andreas Wellinger, Germany

Bronze: Richard Freitag, Germany

Five weeks after an historical Four Hills Tournament sweep, Kamil Stoch defends his Normal Hill title by upstaging the dynamic German duo of Andreas Wellinger and Richard Freitag. Junshiro Kobayashi falls to fifth after posting the best mark of the first round, and he’s not the only Japanese to miss the mark since 45-year-old Noriaki Kasai also fails to follow up an excellent first attempt.

 

Large Hill

Gold: Andreas Wellinger, Germany

Silver: Stefan Kraft, Austria

Bronze: Daniel-André Tande, Norway

Poland’s Kamil Stoch is pestered by difficult wind conditions on his first jump and he wastes the chance to repeat the double triumph of Sochi. The 22-year-old Andreas Wellinger flies to victory, while reigning World Cup Champion Stefan Kraft finds his stride at the right time after a difficult season start. Daniel-André Tande scores an individual medal to lead a Norwegian team that places 4 men inside the top 10.

 

Team

Gold: Norway

Silver: Germany

Bronze: Poland

The World Cup leaders from Norway extract revenge from the poor showing of Sochi by riding their balanced foursome to the Olympic title. Poland’s Kamil Stoch sets a new hill-record on his final jump to push Germany in the battle for silver, but Richard Freitag answers the call in response to limit the losses for the 2014 Champions.

 

Women:

Normal Hill

Gold: Maren Lundby, Norway

Silver: Sara Takanashi, Japan

Bronze: Katharina Althaus, Germany

Maren Lundby, the runaway World Cup leader, battles the nerves to win the second ever women’s gold medal in ski jumping. After a field-best first attempt, four-time World Cup overall winner Sara Takanashi finds redemption from the fourth-place of Sochi by securing the runner-up spot, while Katharina Althaus, second on the World Cup standings, has to settle for bronze ahead of compatriot – and defending Champion – Carina Vogt.

 

Weekend Roundup (December, 3rd): Winter has arrived

Have you noticed how cold it is out there these days? Well, I’m fortunate to be writing these words in my balmy South European location, but athletes around the world are already feeling the effects of the winter temperatures in frigid locations such as Sweden and Russia at a time the World Cup seasons for the most followed winter sports are just getting into a rhythm.

Over the last week, a bunch of events took place in chilly weather, which means we have a lot to review. Let’s get to it right away or, in alternative, feel free to scroll down to our football section.

Ski jumping: German double in Nizhny Tagil

Located 25km east of the virtual border between Europe and Asia, Nizhny Tagil is not only the most oriental point to be visited by the 2017-18 Ski Jumping World Cup, but also the place where Germany made loud and clear that, even without Severin Freund, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with throughout this Olympic season.

Regarded as the two most talented athletes on the German team, Richard Freitag and Andreas Wellinger were tasked with stepping up this year, and they showed their class in the Tramplin Stork over the weekend, splitting the two individual events contested in Russia, lifting their country to the top of the Nations Cup, and etching their names one-and-two in the race for the overall title after the third stop of the season.

Richard Freitag celebrates his victory on the first individual competition in Nizhny Tagil (FIS-Ski.com)

On Saturday, Karl Geiger (another German) led the way after the first round with 135.1 pts, yet the fireworks were reserved for the two best Norwegians of the moment. Daniel-André Tande and Johann André Forfang smashed the trampoline’s record in succession by landing at 141m and 141.5m, respectively, however that wasn’t enough to hold off the 26-year-old Freitag, who rose from eight after the break to clinch his sixth World Cup victory. A 137m leap resulted in a 141.4 point-tally in the final round and an accumulated score of 267.5 pts, which Tande came just 0.6 pts short off. Meanwhile, the third place finisher (Forfang) and the duo Stefan Kraft / Andreas Wellinger were separated by a tenth of a second and a mere 3.3 points removed from the top.

With such tight margins, Geiger slipped to sixth in the classification of the first individual event, and the next day he watched as his two colleagues put on a show again. Jumping 132m for a score of 137 pts, the 22-year-old Wellinger set the standard after the first attempt, and then he coupled it with 138 pts to secure a third career triumph, besting Freitag, who followed the example of Saturday to escalate from fourth to second after a second jump worth 142 pts, and defending World Cup Champion Stefan Kraft, who finished third.

Germany’s Andreas Wellinger in action in Nizhny Tagil (TAD/Eibner-Pressefoto)

Another German, Markus Eisenbichler, ended in fourth, preceding Daniel-André Tande on the day and, in result, the first four men in the general classification are just 80 pts apart, Freitag leading with 270 pts and Wellinger, Tande and Kraft chasing. Junshiro Kobayashi, who carried the yellow bib after Wisla and Ruka, didn’t compete in Russia but he should be back next week when Freitag will usher the ski jumping circus into Titisee-Neustadt, in the South of Germany.

Moreover, in Lillehammer, Norway, the female World Cup kicked off with three events at the Lysgårdsbakken hill. Home favourite Maren Lundby won the first competition on Friday, overcoming the challenge of Germany’s Katharina Althaus, but the pair exchanged spots on Saturday and Sunday, with Althaus picking up both triumphs. Therefore, the 21-year-old conquered the first Lillehammer Triple overall and assumed the ladies’ World Cup lead, 20 pts ahead of Lundby and 120 above defending Champion Sara Takanashi, of Japan.

Biathlon: Denise Herrmann skis away from the opposition in Östersund

With the two women who dominated the IBU World Cup last year, Germany’s Laura Dahlmeier and Czech Republic’s Gabriela Koukalová, missing the action in Östersund, the chance to leave a mark in the season-opening stop was there for the taking, and no one took better advantage of it than 28-year-old Denise Herrmann.

A seven-year veteran of the cross-country World Tour who embraced the challenge of picking up the rifle and changing sports in 2016, Herrmann failed to break into the top 10 in any individual event in 2016-17 as her shooting was still a work in progress, yet another summer of hard work payed off handsomely in Sweden this week.

German Denise Herrmann made the difference on the skiing sections in Östersund (biathlonworld.com)

Flying around the tracks in a tier beyond her rivals, Herrmann needed accuracy at the spot to compound the lightning-fast skiing of a former sprinter, and she got it on Friday’s Sprint (7.5 km) race after a single (standing) penalty allowed her to leave the closest competition, France’s Justine Braisaz and Ukraine’s Juliya Dzhyma, more than 15 seconds behind.

The two women that flanked the German on the podium cleaned and still couldn’t muster enough to snatch victory, and the same would happen on Sunday’s Pursuit, with Herrmann giving away her initial advantage over an immaculate Braisaz after picking up two standing penalties, but eventually dashing to the finish line in the final skiing section.

Justine Braisaz, Denise Herrmann and Juliya Dzhyma (L to R). The podium in the Sprint in Östersund (biathlonworld.com)

Although the 21-year-old Braisaz had to settle for two runner-up positions in Östersund, she came away with the yellow bib and the World Cup overall lead by virtue of her eight-place on Wednesday’s 15km individual event, where Herrmann finished 23rd. They move to Hochfilzen, Austria, where the next events will be held, separated by 4 pts, while Belarus’ Nadezhda Skardino is 13 pts from the top following a week where she collected her first World Cup triumph (in the individual competition) and dropped an incredible 50-of-50 in the shooting range.

Martin Fourcade’s perseverance delivers Pursuit victory

Since 2011-12, when he won his first (of six consecutive) overall World Cup titles, Martin Fourcade has always collected (at least) an individual victory in the season-opener yet, to keep the streak going, the French superstar had to labour until the final competition in Östersund.

On Sunday, after podium finishes in the individual (3rd) and sprint (2nd) events, Fourcade could finally celebrate as he demolished the competition on the Pursuit to cross the finish line almost 50 seconds before second place Jakov Fak (Slovenia). Firing fast and to perfection at the standing position as the opposition struggled with the difficult wind conditions, Fourcade opened a gap in the third shooting stop, when Tarjei Boe had to fulfil three penalty laps, and then controlled the race, no one in sight to steal his moment as had happened with his Norwegian rivals in the previous two events.

Martin Fourcade celebrates after cleaning the standing sections at the Pursuit in Östersund (Biathlonworld,com)

On Thursday, Johannes Thingnes Boe went 20-for-20 to capture his 14th career victory and first ever in the 20-km individual race, leaving Fourcade 2:14 min behind after the French botched two shots in the final standing position while, two days later, his brother Tarjei Boe swiped the triumph from under the nose of Martin with some late heroics on the 10km Sprint. Leaving the blocks with bib 94, the 2010-11 Total Score Champion thrived on the faster conditions, and capitalized on his one-shot performance to squeeze Fourcade’s time by 0.7 seconds, thus securing a first World Cup victory in more than 4 years.

Pushed by his rivals but not toppled, Fourcade left Östersund in his usual position, the top of the overall charts, with his 162 pts being 31 more than teammate Quentin Fillon Maillet, second in the individual event and third in the pursuit in Sweden, and 44 above Johannes Thingnes Boe’s total. They’ll renew festivities in Hochfilzen later this week.

Alpine skiing: Mikaela Shiffrin lays down her speed credentials at “Lake Lindsey”

On the same week the New Yorker published an in-depth profile on the upbringing of Mikaela Shiffrin, the “best slalom skier in the World”, the American superstar went out in Lake Louise, Canada, to push the boundaries of her achievements and showcase the ambition to be the best skier ever. A savant in the technical disciplines, Shiffrin has steadily honed her speed chops over the last couple of seasons, but it was still stunning to see it all coalesce on the first speed events of the 2017-18 season.

Mikaela Shiffrin battles the elements during the Women’s Downhill on Dec. 1, 2017 in Lake Louise, Canada. (Christophe Pallot, Agence Zoom/Getty Images)

With two downhills and a Super-G on the agenda, the 22-year-old collected the first (speed) podium finish of her career on Friday, finishing 0.3 seconds off the pace of Austria’s Cornelia Huetter, who took her maiden downhill victory, and 0.21 seconds behind Tina Weirather, of Liechtenstein. Astonishing performance from an athlete that had never classified better than 13th in the most heralded of the alpine disciplines, yet the American phenomenon upped her level even more the following day, claiming victory in the 2nd downhill race of the week by brushing aside Viktoria Rebensburg, the winner of the first two GS of the year who clocked 0.13 seconds more, and surprising Swiss Michelle Gisin, who claimed a downhill podium finish for the first time.

On Sunday’s Super-G the standings provided a more familiar outlook, with Weirather and Swiss Lara Gut, the last two Super-G World Cup Champions, grabbing the top-two positions and reigning Super-G World Champion, Austrian Nicole Schmidhofer, completing the podium as Shiffrin punched the fifth-best time to bookend a marvellous weekend that wasn’t nearly as sweet for another American star, 33-year-old Lindsey Vonn.

Tina Weirather, of Liechtenstein, won the Super-G in Lake Louise (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP)

At “Lake Lindsey”, where she has racked up a mind-boggling 18 World Cup victories and 25 podiums, the veteran crashed out in the first event of the week, recuperated to complete the second in a disappointing 12th place, and then tumbled again on Sunday to collect another DNF. Not a promising season start for Vonn, who has missed a lot of time in recent years due to similar falls, and whose dream of fighting for a fifth overall World Cup title – and a first since 2011-2012 – is already all but over in the face of Shiffrin’s prowess. With 7 of 39 races contested, the defending Champion has already amassed 510 points against the 336 of Viktoria Rebensburg and the 234 of Tina Weirather.

Aksel Lund Svindal and Marcel Hirscher open their accounts in 2017-18

The Birds of Prey course in Vail/Beaver Creek, with his myriad jumps bearing the names of native flying animals, is one of the most emblematic on the Alpine Ski World Tour calendar, and a place where the best male skiers always strive to perform at their very best. With 25 crystal globes between themselves, Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal and Austrian Marcel Hirscher are two of greatest of all-time, and they showed why this weekend, picking up victories shortly after coming back from injury.

On Saturday’s downhill, the 33-year-old Svindal set the pace at 1:40:46min when he raised the curtain with bib No.1, and none of the other competitors would better his time, allowing the two-time overall World Cup Champion an unparalleled fourth downhill triumph (2009, 2014, 2016) in Beaver Creek. Winner of the discipline’s season opener in Lake Louise last week, Switzerland’s Beat Feuz finished as the runner-up for a third time on the American resort, with German Thomas Dreßen completing the podium for a first top-three position of his career.

Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal prepares to hit the snow after a jump during the downhill in Beaver Creek (Andy Cross, The Denver Post)

Meanwhile, after the cancellation of Sölden’s giant slalom, the event’s specialists had their first opportunity to shine in Beaver Creek and the victory would fall to a familiar face. Barely four months removed from a serious ankle injury, Marcel Hirscher posted a field-best second run to dispossess German Stefan Luitz from the top position and secure a fourth career win in the Birds of Prey. Making a charge from seventh, Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen claimed second, while Luitz hanged for a fifth career podium after edging Manuel Feller (Austria) by a hundred of a second.

To the dismay of the home crowd, American Ted Ligety fell from second to seventh in the second leg and, consequently, the hosts were shut down of the podium all together since Friday’s Super-G also did not go their way. Taking the spoils, Austrian Vincent Kriechmayr celebrated a maiden World Cup triumph by pipping defending Super-G WC Champion Kjetil Jansrud by 0.23 seconds, and compatriot Hannes Reichelt by 0.33.

Austria’s Vincent Kriechmayr sprays champagne after his maiden World Cup victory in the Super-G of Beaver Creek (AP-PTI)

In the men’s overall classification, Team Norway’s Svindal and Jansrud are separated by just four points (249-245), with Beat Feuz in third (208). The technical events return next weekend, with giant slalom and slalom races in Val d’Isère (France), while the ladies land in St. Moritz (Switzerland) to tackle two Super-G races and the first of the two alpine combined events of the season.

Football: Juventus wins at the San Paolo as Inter Milan seizes first place in the Serie A

Napoli held a piece of the Serie A lead for the first 14 rounds, but their tenure came to an end on Friday after a painful defeat against arch-rivals Juventus at their own ground. To add salt to the wound, the only marker inside a flaming San Paolo was laid by Gonzalo Higuaín, the former-idol-turned-public-enemy who sealed a blistering counter attack devised by Paulo Dybala in the 12th minute. Harnessing the furious charge by the hosts, the reigning Champions locked down the valuable 0-1 score, and cut the gap between the sides to one point, Napoli’s 38 pts and Juventus’ 37 trailing the 39 accumulated by Inter Milan.

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Reawakened under Luciano Spalleti, I Nerazzuri throttled Chievo at San Siro, with Croatian Ivan Perisic authoring three of the five unanswered goals and Mauro Icardi notching a league-leading 16th, and they will defend their new position and season invincibility at the Juventus Stadium next weekend. The blockbuster encounter of round 16 will be another chapter in this wildly-entertaining Serie A season, yet the Scudetto-race isn’t limited to the top-three. With 34 points amassed after a 3-1 victory over SPAL, AS Roma’s game-in-hand can make it even more interesting, and Lazio is in the same position, their 32 pts padded by a late turnaround (1-2) at Sampdoria.

In different circumstances, Gennaro Gattuso’s first game in charge continued AC Milan’s futility. Visiting the lowly Benevento, who carried the red lantern with 0 pts after 14 games, the Rossoneri conceded a late tying goal (2-2) that dropped them to 8th. Milan’s 21 pts put them closer to the relegation zone than the Champions League positions…

Premier League

Over the last 13 years, the coaching rivalry between José Mourinho and Arsène Wenger has filled countless paper columns as the Portuguese usually got the better of the Frenchman and, this weekend, the story was much of the same.

At the Emirates, Arsenal attacked furiously and forced a superb David de Gea to tie the top-flight record for most saves in a single match (14), yet Manchester United came away with the vital three points after two away goals inside 11 minutes set the tempo of the match. Both sides would score in the second half to set the concluding 1-3, and while Paul Pogba’s send-off throws a wrench into United’s plans for next week’s showdown with Man City at Old Trafford, they’ll be relieved to live a few more days with the 8-pt difference.

Surprised by Angelo Ogbonna’s tally at the end of the first half, the leaders solved the issue on hand Sunday with another late goal – David Silva’s outstretched boot directing Kevin de Bruyne’s sweet deliver into West Ham’s net (2-1)  – and amassed consecutive win number 13 to inch closer to the Premier League record. A triumph for City in the coming derby would do it, but they’ll have more than a few folks rooting against it for the sake of a competitive league. In fact, Chelsea, 11 pts adrift after beating Newcastle 3-1, Liverpool, 14 pts behind after thrashing Brighton (1-5) ahead of the Liverpool Derby, Arsenal (15) and Tottenham, a massive 18 pts from the top after tying 1-1 at Watford, can’t do much more than cheer on the Red Devils.

 

Ligue 1

Paris Saint-Germain’s 2-1 defeat at Strasbourg, their first of the season in any competition, was a major surprise, but it is unlikely to evolve into more than a minor blip on their campaign. Resting Edinson Cavani and Marco Verrati, the Parisians’ machine stuttered in the stronghold of the newly-promoted side, however their lead only shrank by a point, from 10 to 9, after second-place Olympique Marseille took their turn giving away points.

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Monaco had lost in the previous weekend and Olympique Lyon followed suit mid-week against Lille, hence L’OM drew at Montpellier (1-1) Sunday to tumble back to fourth on the heels of Monaco’s 1-0 win over Angers, secured with an early goal from Radamel Falcao, and Lyon’s 2-1 triumph in Caen. As we said last week, the race for second is going to be fun, and a team like fifth-place Nantes (1-1 at St. Etiénne) is still not out of it.

La Liga

When Argentine Maxi Gómez poked in Celta de Vigo’s equalizer (2-2) at the Camp Nou on Saturday morning, the Catalans thought things at the top of La Liga were about to get more uncomfortable, but that was not what happened. Though the leaders ended up conceding the third draw of the campaign, and second in succession, they received unexpected gifts to increase their grip of first place.

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For it, they can thank another forgettable night for Cristiano Ronaldo and Real Madrid, held to a goalless draw against Athletic Bilbao at San Mamés (0-0), and Valencia’s first loss of the season in Getafe (1-0). Los Che proved unable to exploit a man-advantage for 65 minutes, and conceded a goal shortly past the hour mark, but not every piece of news was good for Barcelona.

For instance, they lost centre-back Samuel Umtiti for the next few weeks due to injury, and watched Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann salvage a late win for his current club (2-1) against his former team, Real Sociedad. With the victory, the still-unbeaten Atletico are now 6 pts behind the leaders, 1 off Valencia’s pace and two above city-foes Real Madrid, who were caught by Sevilla (2-0 vs Deportivo) at 28 pts ahead of their clash in the Spanish capital in round 15.

Bundesliga

The opening created by Bayern Munich’s setback in round 14 vanished as quickly as it appeared after the Bavarians overcame a spirited Hannover 96 at the Allianz Arena (3-1). The defending Champions couldn’t relax until Robert Lewandowski bagged his 14th goal of the season in the 87th minute yet, in the end, these were a really good couple of days for the German giants.

It started when second-place RB Leipzig were routed 4-0 by Hoffenheim, with Bayern loanee Sèrge Gnabry netting a brace, and continued as third-place Schalke 04 surrendered a home draw to bottom-feeders FC Koln (2-2).

Following the example set forth by the competition, fourth-place Borussia Moenchengladbach also fell flat in Wolfsburg, leaving under the weight of a three-goal loss (3-0), and the other Borussia, the yellows of Dortmund, delayed their revival with another tie in a regional affair in Leverkusen (1-1). As a result, six points distance first and second, while the bridge between Leipzig and ninth-place Bayer Leverkusen is worth just five.

Moment of the weekend

Easiest pick in a long time, for sure.

Entering the 95th minute of their reception to AC Milan, last-place Benevento were staring the abyss of yet another defeat in the Serie A, the 15th in equal number of matches. A few seconds later, euphoria raged inside the inconspicuous Stadio Ciro Vigorito in the small city of the South of Italy, the reason being a miraculous last-gasp equalizer by the most implausible of all sources, goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli.

The minnows had to wait a long time for their first ever top-flight point, but there’s simply no way anyone could have written a better script than Brignoli’s sensational diving header in the cusp of the final whistle. It was an unforgettable moment for the people of Benevento, and for a club whose stay amongst Italy’s best will, more than likely, be a short one.