Norwegian dominance and Hirscher highlight at the Sölden race

This is probably how the marketing department of the World Ski Association FIS wants the season to start: great weather, exalted crowds and high-class sport, enriched with sensational comebacks. It was clear to the naked eye that the two returning stars Marcel Hirscher and Lucas Braathen were giving the World Cup important impetus.

It was confirmed by the statisticians: 17,200 people crowded into the finish stadium down on the Rettenbachferner on Sunday, the day before there were 15,800 for the women – a total of 33,000, a record number of spectators. And the Austrian television ORF also rejoiced. For men, the audience rating was one million in the first round; in 2023 only 600,000 watched.

The ORF gave it their all and portrayed Hirscher like a skiing messiah. The rides of other athletes were generously cropped to show the eight-time overall World Cup winner’s preparations for the start after a five-year break from racing. A few gymnastic exercises, cooling down the ski boots with an ice spray. That makes an impression. Hirscher now drives for the Netherlands, but is still an Austrian national hero.

On the slopes, it was the other returnee, Lucas Braathen, who was new to Brazil, who drove impressively. In the second round he performed impressively again after a year-long break, crossed the finish line and thrilled the audience with a short samba performance. Hirscher took advantage of the good starting number in the final and achieved the third-best running time. The ORF presenter said: “It was great to be able to experience that.”

Two separated skiing twins fall into each other’s arms

The moderator will be happy a few more times. In the summer, the FIS quickly decided to create a special rule for former stars who had been in retirement for at least two and a maximum of ten years. You can race after the top 30, so you don’t have to first collect points in home corner races and work your way from the very back to the front in the World Cup. Hirscher wore the number 34 in Sölden, Braathen wasn’t away for long and was given the 41.

It won’t be long before he starts at the top again. He was the fastest in the second round and ended up fourth – behind three Norwegians. After Braathen had sat in the leader’s box for a long time, Atle Lie McGrath, of all people, managed to take the lead from him. The two were once considered skiing twins on the Norwegian team and are still great friends today. Braathen immediately ran to McGrath, hugged him and planted a kiss on his cheek.

McGrath had barely sat down when Henrik Kristoffersen took the lead away from him by a hundredth of a second. But he wasn’t supposed to win the race either. Alexander Steen Olsen, the leader after the first round, withstood the pressure and drove impressively to his first victory in the giant slalom. The currently greatest talent in the Norwegian team has already won the slalom. He has what it takes to shape the technical disciplines.

Bankruptcies, bad luck and mishaps for the Swiss

No ski festival was the start of the season for Swiss Ski. Remember: Last winter, Lara Gut-Behrami and Marco Odermatt won the overall rankings, five of eight small crystal balls went to Switzerland for triumphs in the disciplines, and finally the officials were also allowed to pick up the trophy for the nations classification.

There was now a series of negative reports in Sölden. On Saturday, after the inspection, Gut-Behrami said through tears that she didn’t trust herself to start because she was only 90 percent fit. She had already said in advance that a blow to the knee and a severe flu had affected her preparation for the season.

Apparently she was so unsettled that she suddenly feared injury. A serious injury would have ended her career in the most unpleasant way imaginable. The 33-year-old has been studying retirement for some time, and it’s hard to imagine that she would fight her way back after a months-long break.

It is questionable what the cancellation of Sölden means for the course of the season. Is it a sensible decision and Gut-Behrami will be back in Killington in a month? Or does the uncertainty go deeper? Just a few days before the start of the season, the athlete said that she could imagine driving until 2026 and enjoying the Winter Games in Italy with her family.

On Sunday it started again with a waiver message. Loïc Meillard, winner of the last giant slalom last season and, for many, Marco Odermatt’s biggest challenger in the overall World Cup, took a hit while driving in in the morning and then had such severe back pain that he was out of the question of starting.

Clear the way for Odermatt? The 27-year-old says he found perfect conditions with number 1 and was able to “let it all go.” The luck lasted a little more than 30 seconds, then he drove a little too directly at a goal, received a blow – and slipped away. That was a short day at work.

The best skier of today won twelve giant slaloms in a row. At the end of last season, the only question that remained was whether he would manage to win all of the winter races in this discipline. He entered the final round as the leader and did not make it to the finish.

The Swiss had a very similar mishap to the one in Sölden: a little too much inside position, then a blow – out of the dream. This shows that even the man who seemed invincible at times always has to push the limits. When asked whether the two bankruptcies in a row didn’t unsettle him, he simply shrugged his shoulders. He drove hard until he retired. In fact: at the second split time after just 27 seconds he was already 40 hundredths ahead of everyone else.

On paper, however, Swiss Ski’s results are sobering: 9th place for Gino Caviezel, 12th place for Camille Rast – these are the best results from Sölden. This results in 4th place in the national rankings, just ahead of Brazil.