Alpine Skiing: Storylines from the Start of the World Cup Season

From Austria to North America by way of Finland, the first three race weekends of the Alpine skiing World Cup season have provided plenty to talk about.

There has been mixed form for the sport's big names, interspersed with some thrilling and heartwarming surprise (or at least unexpected) performances, too. As has become tradition, there was also the task of naming a couple of newly adopted reindeer for two successful skiers.

December and the official arrival of winter heralds the transition from the intermittent schedule to consecutive weeks of skiing just about all the way through to March.

As we enter that entertainingly relentless section of the calendar, it is a good time to look back on what has gone on so far.

Whether you are looking to relive some great racing so far or wanting to get caught up, read on for the main storylines from the early weeks of the 2014-15 season.

The opening weekend in Soelden saw Mikaela Shiffrin give a good early indication of her intention to expand on her slalom dominance this season.

Olympic, World Championships and World Cup champion in that discipline, Shiffrin had contended well in giant slalom previously, making the podium several times in late 2013.

This was the American teenager's first time on the top step, though, a sign of progress vital to any overall title aspirations she might hold.

The caveat to this season's opening success was Shiffrin was not alone in first place. Anna Fenninger, the current holder of the the GS and overall World Cup titles, was there with her, sharing the winning time of 2:39.85.

Fenninger's greater versatility right now gives her the advantage over the precocious Shiffrin, though in March the latter confirmed to The New York Times' Kelley McMillan her hope to gradually move into speed events, too.

These two will venture into each other's orbit again. Only time will tell just how long it takes for this gravitation to take on a more serious competitive edge.

What proved to be of more immediate consequence in the first few races of the current campaign was the performances of Fenninger's compatriots Eva-Maria Brem and Kathrin Zettel. The Austrians skied into third and fourth, respectively, on home snow, with even better things to come in a matter of weeks.

Completing a successful weekend for the host nation was last season's overall winner and giant slalom runner-up Marcel Hirscher winning the men's race.

An improvement on 2013's third place in Soelden, it was the best possible start to Hirscher's hopes of repeating last season's achievements while also perhaps winning back the GS title from Ted Ligety.

The American finished a disappointing 10th, with Fritz Dopfer (Germany) and Alexis Pinturault (France) joining Hirscher on the podium.

A poor first run ruined Shiffrin's chance of repeating in the Levi slalom. Instead it was another with eyes on winning some end-of-season crystal (not to mention World Championships gold in February) who took first and the unique prize of an adopted reindeer.

Tina Maze—who named her new friend Victor—peaked last season around the Olympics. It paid off with gold medals in downhill and giant slalom, but now it appears the Slovenian is aiming for a more consistent year in line with her phenomenal 2012-13.

Maze finished in the top two of every World Cup category back then, winning 11 races in the process while also taking super G gold at the Schladming World Championships. If the 31-year-old comes close to that, she will have had another excellent winter.

Joining Maze on the podium in Levi were Frida Hansdotter (Sweden) and Zettel.

While Shiffrin will be favourite again to win honours in slalom, the retirement of the discipline's previous star Marlies Schild means there is room for a new chief contender to emerge. Hansdotter and Zettel will likely have a big say in that.

The men's competition was lit up by another eye-catching performance from rising star Henrik Kristoffersen. The 20-year-old finished third in Finland a year earlier but this time beat Hirscher and Felix Neureuther (Germany) into second and third, respectively (and named his new reindeer Lars).

That trio topped the slalom standings at the end of 2013-14. While they will not have it all their own way this time around, this result suggests they are again prime candidates to be fighting it out when things are wrapped up in Meribel in March.

Kristoffersen's win was also a timely boost for Norwegian skiing after their main man Aksel Lund Svindal suffered a possible season-ending injury shortly before Soelden. Their compatriot Sebastian-Foss Solevaag had a good day too, finishing fourth.

More directly pertinent to filling the Svindal-shaped void in the Norwegian team were events in Lake Louise this past weekend. In particularly freezing conditions, Kjetil Jansrud raced to victory in both of his team-mates' preferred disciplines of downhill and super G.

The 29-year-old's previous three World Cup wins came close to home in Kvitfjell. The latter two over one weekend last winter—following his super G gold at the Sochi Olympics—hinted at a man growing in confidence.

Jansrud's superb work in Canada was the confirmation, a warning to all his rivals in the hunt for accolades and trophies to come. Per FIS Alpine:

Different day, same face in the leaderboard... 2/2 for @kjansrud at @AlpineSkiWC ? pic.twitter.com/F5kZdvBljQ

— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) November 30, 2014

The 19th out of the gate in a previously tepid downhill, his time of 1:50.20 was comfortably better than just about all who came before him.

The impressive runs that followed from home representative Manuel Osborne-Paradis and France's Guillermo Fayed threatened, but it proved to be Jansrud's day.

As too was Sunday in a more competitive super G. This time he had to hold off Matthias Mayer (Austria) and Dominik Paris (Italy), with a further clutch of Austrians just behind them (including the fit-again 2014 Kitzbuehel downhill winner Hannes Reichelt) after the big expectation-burdened team underwhelmed a day earlier.

"I think it’s a mind game, how you go into these first races of the season, and I do think there is such a thing as momentum," Jansrud has since reflected, via the official FIS website. "Now I feel as if I can relax my shoulders a bit and go with the flow knowing that the skiing I showed in Lake Louise is enough and that’s an advantage."

He is going to have ample opportunity to build on this momentum in the coming weeks.

"I tried to push in the second run because I thought that I would never get over it if I didn't win that race."

The above quote, via FIS-Ski.com, is from the earlier-mentioned Austrian, Brem. It speaks to the brilliance of her pace-setting first run in this past Saturday's giant slalom in Aspen that she had to finish the job in the second.

Extra pressure came from the fact she had not previously won a World Cup race.

The 26-year-old's time of 59.83 was almost two seconds better than second-placed compatriot Zettel after the first trip down the mountain. She had blown away the likes of Maze, Shiffrin and Fenninger (and plenty more besides) and set herself up nicely for a career-changing moment.

The ensuing competitiveness of the final run highlighted the scale of the task at hand. After Norway's Nina Loeseth held first place for what seemed like ages, the final 10 had their say.

After an earlier amazing recovery had kept her in the race, Shiffrin delighted the home crowd by taking the lead. Unfortunately for the turkey-stuffed Thanksgiving weekend crowd, she was soon knocked off the podium with Zettel and Italy's Federica Brignone settling in second and third ahead of Brem taking her turn.

"So many things came straight to my mind when I saw the green light after crossing the finish line," Brem admitted after taking the victory, per FIS-Ski.com, finishing with a time of 2:05.97. "I first didn't realise that it was me who won that race."

Where the Austrian men had struggled in Canada on the same weekend, the women went from strength to strength. In Sunday's slalom, Nicole Hosp won her first race since January 2008. That too came in the same discipline, over in Maribor, Slovenia.

The veteran did enough to hold off others including Shiffrin, Zettel and Sweden's Maria Pietilae-Holmner and Handsdotter.

Zettel is yet to have won in 2014-15, but her consistency means she is on top of the overall World Cup table as things stand (Jansrud tops the men's chart).

This weekend sees the ladies of the World Cup tour head north to Lake Louise, while the men venture stateside to Beaver Creek for their preview of the World Championships course (their female colleagues took their turn last year).

The first speed events of the season for the women mean the likes of Elisabeth Goergl (Austria), Lara Gut (Switzerland) and Julia Mancuso (USA) will all be eagerly anticipating the real commencement of their season.

There's nothing like standing in the start gate of a downhill:) Speed week is finally here!! http://t.co/DRMUCMED42

— Julia Mancuso (@JuliaMancuso) December 3, 2014

The retirement of last year's downhill title-winner Maria Hoefl-Riesch adds to the intrigue of who will come to the fore heading into 2015. A lot of the attention in Canada is likely to be focused around one woman, however: Lindsey Vonn. Per the U.S. Ski Team's Twitter account:

.@lindseyvonn is back & @AliceMckennis scores 4th place in today's #LakeLouiseWC DH training. http://t.co/oNYtGRIft3 pic.twitter.com/5wKsqCwzBA

— usskiteam (@usskiteam) December 3, 2014

As noted above, the multiple-time World Cup, World Championships and Olympic champion is not the only American returning from injury. With due respect to Alice McKennis, who impressed in training, it is the early post-surgery form of Vonn most observers are keen to see.

Fireworks are unlikely from the 30-year-old this weekend as she gets use to racing again. Nonetheless, her comeback only adds to the excitement of this developing season.

Meanwhile, the men repeat last week's order of downhill and super G before the season's second giant slalom on Sunday.

Ligety is expected back for the latter after his own recent bout with injury, while fellow technical specialists Hirscher and Neureuther will be keen to race after no action for them last week.

Follow @Tom__C