Olympic Alpine Skiing

Alpine skiing comprises some of the most high-octane entertainment on offer at the 2018 Winter Olympics, and giant slalom features as one of the most anticipated disciplines available in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

Men and women will compete in six classes: Giant slalom, slalom, downhill, combined, Super-G and the team event, and the former looks particularly open among the favourites heading into Sunday.

Among those to keep an eye will be the United States skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who will be seeking to add to the gold medal she won in the slalom event at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics.

Tina Maze won gold in this event at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, but won't be present to defend her crown four years on after recently giving birth, per Slovenian news website Sta.si.

Read on for a preview of Sunday's action from the women's giant slalom event, complete with times and live-stream information.

            

Date: Sunday, February 11

Qualifying Runs Time: 8:15 p.m. ET/1:15 a.m. GMT (Monday, Feb. 12)

Final Runs Time: 11:45 p.m. ET/4:45 a.m. GMT (Monday, Feb. 12)

TV Info: NBC Universal (U.S.), BBC and Eurosport (UK)

Live Stream: NBC Olympics (U.S.), BBC iPlayer (UK), Eurosport Player (UK)

            

Preview

One woman on a particular mission to succeed in Pyeongchang is 33-year-old veteran Lindsey Vonn, who has one Olympic gold and one bronze to her name coming into this year's Games.

But Vonn has decided not to compete in the giant slalom event and will leave America's strongest hopes with emerging heavyweight Shiffrin, arguably the best skier on the planet coming into these Games.

Shiffrin will be another American star worth keeping an eye on after she finished atop the podium in the slalom event in Sochi, and the New York Times recently profiled the biggest emerging superstar in alpine skiing:

No one in the world does quick, technical turns better or is winning more slalom races than Mikaela Shiffrin. Now she wants to master the downhill, too.https://t.co/2OSp98AuDC pic.twitter.com/8VrXEXzBl3

— NYT Graphics (@nytgraphics) February 8, 2018

Now 22 and four years wiser after her triumphant Olympic debut, it's the speed disciplines in which she's been gaining most attention of late.

Two-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist Bode Miller recently referred to Shiffrin as the best alpine skier he's ever seen, per Reuters:

"I think she's maybe the best ski racer I've ever seen, male or female. She's so balanced, dynamic, intense and focussed, so for me, I think she's got a chance in any event she skis in.

"I would say it's likely she wins two (Olympic) golds, I would say an outside shot at five medals, and I think probably, at her best, maybe three or four of them are golds."

Frenchwoman Tessa Worley is the current world champion in giant slalom and will be one to keep an eye on, while Tina Weirather of Liechtenstein has also been showing elite pedigree on the circuit of late.

Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg currently leads the Alpine Skiing World Cup giant slalom standings, one factor in deciding the run order on Sunday, but was congratulatory to Worley after her recent silver at the World Cup:

Happy about my second place today! It was a really hard fight! Congrats to @TessaWorley and Meta Hrovat. 💜 @fisalpine pic.twitter.com/tewVEt3FQN

— Viktoria Rebensburg (@V_Rebensburg) January 27, 2018

Anna Veith took silver at the 2014 Winter Olympics behind the now-absent Maze and could be one of those looking to push up the rankings and clinch gold on behalf of Austria.

However, American audiences will be transfixed on the progress of Vonn and Shiffrin, two stars with the potential to slalom their way to silverware in Pyeongchang.

The men's downhill alpine skiing final at the 2018 Winter Olympics scheduled for Sunday morning in Pyeongchang has been postponed until a later date. 

According to the United States Ski and Snowboard Team, the event—which was slated to air live Saturday evening in the U.S.—has been delayed because of strong winds. 

"We are looking ahead because we are facing challenging conditions from Sunday," international ski federation chief race director Markus Waldner told reporters on Thursday, according to Reuters' Nick Mulvenney. 

Waldner also said there were discussions about moving the event to Saturday, but the International Olympic Committee opted against that plan for "many, many reasons."

Winds are reportedly expected to approach 35 mph on the mountains Sunday morning. 

When the event does eventually unfold, all eyes will be on Norway's Kjetil Jansrud, who took home bronze at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi and clocked top-three finishes in all three days of training in advance of the final, per NBCOlympics.com's Seth Rubinroit. 

Jansrud's stiffest competition will likely come from 2014 gold medalist Matthias Mayer of Austria and World No. 1 Beat Feuz of Switzerland. 

The United States remains a long shot to steal a spot on the podium. Bryce Bennett, No. 18 in the World Cup standings, is the Red, White and Blue's best hope for a medal. 

The men's downhill alpine skiing takes place on Sunday, as the medals are decided at the 2018 Winter Olympics.

After three days of training at Pyeongchang 2018, the vital race is scheduled to run in the early hours in Europe, with the event taking place Saturday evening for viewers in the United States.

However, the program has been threatened by bad weather, and it could be delayed due to high winds and safety concerns.

Matt Majendie of the London Evening Standard reported a postponement cannot be ruled out as the start of the race approaches.

Here is the latest medal table from the Games:

Here is how you can watch the action:

                              

Date: Sunday, Feb. 11

Time: 2 a.m. (GMT)/9 p.m. (ET) Saturday night

TV: NBC Universal (U.S.), BBC and Eurosport (UK)

Stream: NBC Olympics, BBC iPlayer

              

Preview

The men's downhill is one of the Winter Olympics' blue-riband events, as the high speeds display the precarious nature of the dangerous discipline.

The Nordic threat is real, with Scandinavia set to once again reaffirm their grip on the prestigious skiing race.

Kjetil Jansrud of Norway has been magnificent in training for Sunday's showpiece, and he will expect to medal again after winning bronze at Sochi 2014.

The 32-year-old is a versatile athlete, and he's been a master of the snow in multiple events during his career.

Jansrud also collected the gold in the super-G race four years ago and understands what is needed to become Olympic champion on the day.

Austrian star Matthias Mayer is the reigning champion, and the 27-year-old has multiple career podiums to his name across different skiiing events and competitions.

However, Beat Feuz could produce his best to affect the top-three places, with the 2017 world champion one of the quickest on show in South Korea.

The United States' chances remain slim, as Bryce Bennett is not expected to medal at the Games.

The 25-year-old has the potential to puncture the top-10 standings, but he does not have the ability to compete with the very best.

Norwegian veteran Aksel Lund Svindal is also present, and the 35-year-old is considered his country's greatest skier in history.

Svindal has three Olympic medals to his name, including a gold in the super-G in 2010, and as a five-time world champion, his pedigree is undeniable despite his advancing years.

Remember how much you saw of Michael Phelps during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro? Prepare to be similarly inundated with a nonstop blizzard of news about Mikaela Shiffrin, who may be just as dominant at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

That's how imposing the 22-year-old alpine skier from Colorado looms as she takes aim at a historic gold-medal haul.

For the next two weeks, Shiffrin will be compared to America's most prolific winners from the Winter Games, including speedskater Eric Heiden, whose five individual gold medals in 1980 has long been considered impossible to duplicate on the unpredictable surfaces of snow and ice.

But Shiffrin has a shot. That's because no one else in the world is so versatile at mastering all of skiing's challenges.

She is unmatched at zig-zagging through courses in the slalom, the event that first catapulted her to Olympic fame at Sochi in 2014, when she set a record by winning gold at the age of 18. She's nearly as good in the giant slalom and alpine combined, and she also has staked out turf in the downhill and super-G this season.

After weather conditions delayed what was to be Shiffrin's first shot at gold in the giant slalom from Monday to Thursday, her first event will be the slalom on Wednesday, per Sports Illustrated's Tim Layden. 

In an exacting sport where margins of victory often measure only hundredths of a second, no one expects Shiffrin to pull off a clean sweep in Pyeongchang. But she could consummate a three-gold triumph that would forever escalate her into the highest echelon of alpine's daredevils. That Olympic hat trick in a single Games has been accomplished by only two men—Austria's Toni Sailer in 1956 and France's Jean-Claude Killy in 1968—and just one woman, Croatia's Janica Kostelic in 2002.

It would be an Everest-scaling achievement, but Shiffrin believes it's possible.

"I think so. I mean, ask Michael Phelps," she said at the outset of the season. "I know it's not the same thing. There are more events in swimming, but do you think it's possible to win 23 Olympic medals in a career? I guess so."

Among Shiffrin's many believers is her idol, Bode Miller, another rare all-eventer whose six Olympic medals for the U.S. included one gold.

"I think she's maybe the best ski racer I've ever seen, male or female," Miller said this season, per Reuters. "She's so balanced, dynamic, intense and focused. So for me, I think she's got a chance in any event she skis in."

As for an Olympic prediction, the NBC commentator added, "I would say an outside shot at five medals, and I think probably, at her best, maybe three or four of them are golds."

From the start of this season in November through early January, Shiffrin looked unstoppable. She took a massive lead in the overall World Cup standings, racking up an incredible 10 victories in four disciplines, including the first five-race winning streak by a woman in 20 years.

Then came a tailspin.

In her final five World Cup races before the Olympics, Shiffrin's best showings were two seventh-place finishes. Worse, two resulted in a DNF—did not finish. And she essentially had a third DNF when she missed a gate late in a race, then walked back up the hill and cleared it, for 27th place.

After a giant slalom fall in Italy left her with back-to-back wipeouts for the first time in six years, a tearful Shiffrin admitted, "I'm not invincible," and acknowledged she had fueled her doubters.

"I can see it in my mind, 'Mikaela Shiffrin faltering before the Olympics.' And, 'The streak is coming to an end,'" Shiffrin told reporters in January. "But I'm not really worried about what other people think. That's a different place that I'm in this year compared to last year."

The reference to the 2016-17 season addresses the last time Shiffrin unraveled. Bad European weather derailed her obsession with nonstop training. Fears about lack of preparation frayed Shiffrin's nerves, and she was sick to her stomach before some races.

"I definitely have moments of doubt, and my best coping strategy is to rely on the training I've had prior to those races, because I have moments of doubt almost every single race," Shiffrin told Bleacher Report in a phone interview this season. "If I've had bad conditions for training, then those doubts start to become, 'Oh, this is a legit fear that I have about this race.' That makes it much more difficult to overcome, because I don't feel totally prepared to deal with it if something goes wrong."

But staring down adversity is also what made her enthralled with attacking steep slopes all over the world.

"I think any ski racer will tell you that's a huge part of where the passion comes from, the uncertainty every time you get in the starting gate," she said. "Anything can happen, but also feeling like you have control over that. I think a lot of people have an urge to want to control things that seem uncontrollable, and that to me is what ski racing is. There's a lot of theatrics and chaos, and I do love that."

Conquering those moments of chaos—like when she overcame a wobble in the middle of her slalom at Sochi—is what Shiffrin lives for.

"Turning something that looks like a disastrous fall into a turn, those are moments in our sport that I find inspiring," Shiffrin said. "It's just natural athleticism at that point. It's how much time you spent in the gym, how strong you are, how fast you can think on your feet. Because when you're going 75 miles an hour and you hit a bump, one person might fall, but you're able to stay on the course. It's a huge testament to how much the athlete has worked outside of the race, when no one's looking."

Three-time Olympian Steve Nyman instantly appreciated Shiffrin's resolve the first time he saw her, when she was about 13 and training on a course in Vail, Colorado, where he often dominated.

"I'm going up the lift, and I see this little girl ripping down the course," Nyman remembered. He took his run and then hustled over to the timekeeper and asked, "Uh, did that little girl beat me?"

The answer was, "No, but it was really close."

The two struck up a friendship as U.S. ski team members, and Nyman continued to marvel at Shiffrin's progress as she went on the World Cup circuit at the age of 15 and began winning titles at 17.

"Her understanding, her focus, her ability to take notes and want to improve is better than anybody I've witnessed, ever," Nyman said. "She'll get done with training and be writing down her focuses, and she won't even acknowledge you. She wants this so bad, and she'll do anything to get it."

Playfully, Nyman has sometimes tried to break that focus, without success.

"I'll tease her while we're training, just dumb stuff, trying to get in her head. And then I'll apologize later, and she'll just look at me and say she honestly didn't hear it. I'm like, 'Come on, really? I was such a dork up there.' She just has the ability to zone everything out, and you can see it."

Shiffrin demonstrated that focus while she and her upset stomach regrouped in 2016-17 and ended the season with 11 World Cup victories in four disciplines and her first overall World Cup title. She gives a big share of the credit for that rebound to the person who has been coaching her the longest: her mother, Eileen.

"She knows me the best, and she's the one who will pull me aside and tell me to go back to when the training was good a few weeks ago," Shiffrin said. "We'll pull up a video of some of my good runs and just remind me that I am a good skier, I do know how to do the sport, even if it wasn't great for the past couple of days. At that point, it's just reminding myself not to let the doubts get in my head too much."

Eileen put aside her nursing career to travel full-time with Shiffrin. Her mother skied some while growing up in Massachusetts, and then immersed herself in the sport after her anesthesiologist husband, Jeff, a former collegiate skier for Dartmouth, introduced her to masters competitions. Eileen became fascinated with the intricacies of making perfect turns, and Shiffrin emphasized that her mother is every bit as important to her career as technical coach Mike Day and strength and speed coach Jeff Lackie.

"My mom is the only one who's been there since day one, and she's always been involved," Shiffrin said. "Her knowledge has evolved as I've evolved. I think it's a special relationship. I'm thankful for that, and I think it gives me an edge."

Eileen readily admits the mix of parenting and coaching isn't always tranquil.

"We've had our up and downs with me trying to be a mom and also a coach," Eileen said with a laugh in a phone interview. "Sometimes I get aggravated with her attitude, you know, the typical mother-daughter relationship. So sometimes we butt heads a little bit, but for the most part, we get along really, really well and always have."

Eileen naturally loves seeing her daughter on the cover of Outside magazine and Sports Illustrated, but she also frets about skiing's impact on the rest of Mikaela's life.

"At the moment, there's no way she can go to college, there's so much on her plate," says Eileen. "Even if it wasn't an Olympic year, just trying to be an all-event athlete is so consuming. There's no time left for anything else."

And while many are engrossed with whether Shiffrin can match Lindsey Vonn's career total of World Cup victories, or with how many Olympic medals she can pile up by 2022 or 2026, Eileen suggests fans should just appreciate the here and now.

Eileen says last season's frustrations with imperfect training conditions "are the kind of thing that can burn somebody out, and make somebody like Mikaela decide to move on. I don't feel like she's necessarily in it for the long haul. She may find she's had enough and there's more to life than banging your head against the wall, because she definitely believes there's more to life than ski racing."

Looking back on how her daughter stunned the world with gold at Sochi, Eileen said it was a blessing the Shiffrins were in Europe when NBC began cranking up its 2014 Winter Olympics hype.

"We didn't see any of that, and thank God we didn't, because it's stressful enough," Eileen said. "She probably won't see any of the commercials or any of the notoriety that comes out about her this time, either, and it's probably better that way. Thinking of being the American face of the Olympics is incredibly flattering to her, but it's not something she thrives on. If anything, it would probably backfire and make her feel like she has to live up to all of these expectations."

Those expectations for 2018 began to mount shortly after Shiffrin won at Sochi. Then, with almost a casual air, she told reporters she might win three or more medals at the next Games.

As bold as that outlook was, Eileen didn't regret hearing her daughter say it.

"I was super proud of Mikaela for even thinking along those lines," Eileen said. "I think that unless you start thinking along those lines, you would not even be apt to try it."

That outspokenness was at odds with Mikaela's personality, though.

"She's not a diva," Eileen said. "She has huge respect for the other girls she's racing against, and she'd never ever assume she's going to walk away with anything. She's shy, and she's not concerned with being the most popular girl in the room. She loves to fly under the radar."

She'll continue to fly down slopes in Pyeongchang, but it won't be under the radar.

Tom Weir covered eight Winter Olympics as a columnist for USA Today.

Wengen followed by Kitzbuehel is one of the most daunting, potentially rewarding and iconic one-two punches currently in sports. Its downhill races are at the centre of consecutive weekends that rival any other on offer elsewhere.

For Norway's two World Cup speed stars Aksel Lund Svindal and Kjetil Jansrud, the latest running of the mid-January double had implications beyond standalone glory. Their season's ambitions were tied up in how promptly they could take on the tour's most challenging mountains.

The destination of their targeted overall and downhill titles (and because of events in Austria, the super-G too) were certainly impacted. But not as either in this absorbing friendly rivalry would have liked.

By the time all was said and done in Kitzbuehel, Svindal's campaign was over and Jansrud's reframed significantly.

The two team-mates had entered the weekend locked in a rivalry refreshingly devoid of ego and animosity.

After a confidence-boosting super-G gold at the 2014 Winter Olympics, Jansrud thrived in his compatriot's injury-enforced absence last season to win the World Cup titles in both speed events. Since returning in October, Svindal has naturally been intent on reclaiming crowns previously his on multiple occasions.

Overall World Cup title aspirations were also set to be a factor in prospective duels. Both well aware valuable points lost to the other would benefit Marcel Hirscher here—the reigning, four-time big globe winner primarily targeting a fifth via his technical-event specialities (his successful super-G dalliance in the American resort of Beaver Creek a helpful addition to his tally).

The 33-year-old Svindal's even greater past glories were always going to trump concern over the possible affects of his long-term injury. Jansrud, three years his junior, had nonetheless earned the right to be considered a legitimate obstacle to his compatriot automatically picking up where he left off.

Their close proximity on more than one level as Lauberhorn week commenced confirmed a compelling battle thus far.

Svindal had the edge in points in his preferred downhill and super-G disciplines thanks to five wins. The 2014-15 front-runner, Jansrud was restored to a place among the chasing pack.

Commendably he did not pout, retaining his competitive hunger while still maturely presenting himself a supportive team-mate. No small thing given the disappointment he felt at his prominence diminishing slightly, as admitted to British Olympic skier Graham Bell on BBC's Ski Sunday.

"I think also a big part of it is putting your ego away at certain times because, as everybody knows, individual athletes have a big ego," Jansrud said reflecting on the adjustment of competing alongside and against Svindal again.

"I've kind of accepted being the No. 2, which I think is OK because you get what you deserve in sport. It's way more cool to win a race than getting second, so I'll just have to make sure I give him the competition he deserves."

A reminder of that competition was seen in his victory in Wengen's Alpine combined. Coupled with his pipping Svindal in the pre-Christmas running of a rare parallel giant slalom, Jansrud showed he would not cede the spotlight easily.

Impressive Norwegian hat trick this week-end at @WeltcupWengen : https://t.co/KhNOvlwXZN #ApresSkiMonday #fisalpine pic.twitter.com/Q8Ga063uNQ

— FIS Alpine (@fisalpine) January 18, 2016

Nevertheless, on a great weekend for Norway (see above), the following day's downhill felt more representative of what had been and indicative of what was to come in the season's remainder.

Jansrud was forced into a 20-minute wait for his go on the glamorous slog of the Lauberhorn after mist descended on the already shortened course. At the second split, he was chasing the lead but not out of reach. By the time television pictures caught up with him on the Hanneggschuss, he was over a second-and-a-half behind.

It may not have mattered.

Though Hannes Reichelt's ski in-between had pushed him close, Svindal's scintillating effort was commensurate with a performer only beaten in one downhill up until then. At his second time check he had put over a second into previous leader Klaus Kroell. Crossing the finish line it was minus-1.52.

The weather was just worsening at the midway point as Svindal raced—his sympathetic look as Jansrud completed his turn acknowledged his own fortune. But the satisfaction of a first win at Wengen and a considerable extension to his place at the top of the downhill leaderboard was warranted.

"It was hard today, but I just focused on finding the best line and skiing a clean run," Svindal said post-race, per CNN. "It feels good, I've been chasing Wengen for a while."

If Wengen and Kitzbuehel combine for Alpine skiing's one-two punch on the sporting senses, the Hahnenkamm particularly packed a wallop this year. The epic Streif living up to its fearsome reputation.

Svindal won a super-G on the day prior, Alexis Pinturault its overarching Alpine combined. A day after another Norwegian in Henrik Kristoffersen continued his excellent season, the second of a trio of slalom wins at famous venues also including Wengen and, soon after, Schladming.

Peter Fill gave a controlled and crucially quick assault on the downhill to record a career-best win. Despite all these achievements, it was the Streif's casualties, mental and physical that defined the weekend's likely overall place in the story of the season.

Jansrud again went after Svindal and Reichelt. His 14th place was a season low in the downhill, undoubtedly affected by what he had witnessed beforehand.

When a bunch of downhill racers end up at the hospital at the same time. And you do paper,… https://t.co/Jdyozao52c

— Aksel Lund Svindal (@akselsvindal) January 24, 2016

Unlike Reichelt and his fellow Austrian Georg Streitberger who were lifted off the mountain, Svindal walked away from his crash on the Hausberg. The later news, sadly, was not good (though he and Streitberger looked to make the most of the situation).

A ruptured anterior cruciate ligament has ended his season and opened up the door for the likes of Hirscher, Kristoffersen and Jansrud to capitalise. All still with shots at year-ending honours, a considerable rival of theirs no longer a factor.

Not one of them will cheer the likable and entertaining Svindal's latest misfortune, though.

Jansrud will accept the reprieve for his season's chances and like any good sportsperson will get on with his job. But its abrupt nature will deny him and us the opportunity to see just how far or not he may have pushed Svindal.

A rivalry and working relationship on pause even as a friendship continues.

Follow @Thomas__Cooper

You have got to hate sports sometimes. That it can be so cruel as to take out its best, brightest, most eager and valiant before they even have a chance to compete. An unfunny joke masquerading as unfortunate accidents and injuries.

The news on the eve of the opening 2015-16 Alpine skiing race that the reigning, two-time overall World Cup winner Anna Fenninger suffered a season-ending injury counted among the worst of such jokes. Chiefly for the 26-year-old herself, but also for a competition robbed of a star contender.

The subsequent first couple months of the season have indicated how a landscape absent of Fenninger is going to shape up heading toward the World Cup finals in March. In a schedule without an Olympics or world championships, some here are performing as expected, others surprisingly so.

The year off taken by the veteran Slovenian star Tina Maze, a chief rival of the Austrian throughout last season, has also naturally impacted the going prior around the turn of the year.

The unexpectedness of Fenninger missing out has added an extra edge to proceedings, however (Maze's break had been announced in May). The sudden removal of a probable prominent player in the quest for points has forced at least partial re-evaluations of the chances of both rivals and team-mates.

The Americans

It is somewhat misleading to label Fenninger, Maze and Lindsey Vonn as a "big three" in the hunt for the big World Cup globe.

The 2015 season was the first time they had occupied those positions together (and in that order ultimately). In part a consequence of the recently retired German contender Maria Hoefl-Riesch vacating the hunt. In part a result of fitness and form not previously coalescing together at the same time.

However, with that timing and the considerable overlap in ambitions between three of the sport's most successful female competitors of recent years, it was no surprise their paths to victory intertwined.

No Fenninger and no Maze this time opened the quest for the overall title and the individual discipline-point hunts that inform it for Vonn. As one of the sport's most consistent other performers, her fellow American Mikaela Shiffrin was a natural suggestion to be her likely nearest rival.

Initial results suggested the Stars and Stripes were indeed set to feature regularly and ultimately decisively at the top of leaderboards.

After failing to finish the Soelden, Austria, giant slalom, Vonn set her stall out by dominating on her favourite Lake Louise hunting ground in Canada (now 19 wins and counting). Buoyed by her dominant start in the downhill and super-G competitions, the 31-year-old then won a first GS in over two years in Are, Sweden.

Aahhh I can't believe it! Hat trick! 🏆🏆🏆#LV70 pic.twitter.com/Yl0xslmpjV

— lindsey vonn (@lindseyvonn) December 6, 2015

Shiffrin, 20, had been similarly commanding in the season's first two slaloms on home snow in Aspen, Colorado. Winning by respective advantages of 3.07 and 2.65 seconds, notice was served of a skier only getting better in a specialty she had already repeatedly proved herself in.

Ascension into the ranks of legitimate overall contenders was also being enticingly hinted at with demonstrations of her versatility elsewhere.

A GS second place in Soelden was followed up in Aspen with a late DNF (did not finish) that denied Shiffrin recording a pace comparable to her slalom times the preceding days. A frustrating but encouraging season's beginning in an event she is still comparatively getting down pat.

Outside of her familiar technical participation, Shiffin then took a respectable 15th in her first World Cup super-G in Canada.

Vonn's victory in Sweden was unfortunately aided by a reminder of Alpine skiing's sometimes damaging unpredictability.

Unlike Fenninger, the knee injury Shiffrin suffered preparing that weekend would not definitively end her campaign. But it did all but kill what was shaping up as her first real overall challenge (defending her slalom crown is also a long shot now, albeit not mathematically over given the lack of a consistent winner in her absence).

Gut Steps In

https://twitter.com/Laragut/status/656800305611452416

Fenninger's bad luck, while helpful, should not have cheered any of her rivals on the competitive but largely amiable World Cup scene.

Close friend Lara Gut was especially disappointed by the news. The Swiss dedicated her giant slalom win in Lienz to Fenninger, well aware of the fallen champion's remarkable consistency winning the traditional year-ending race in Austria.

For Gut, it was the culmination of a Christmastide period in which the 24-year-old asserted herself as the most likely obstacle to Vonn's hopes of displacing Fenninger.

In late November she capitalised on Shiffrin's late slip-up in Aspen to take the GS—her first World Cup win or podium placing since January. Vonn's triumphant sweep in "Lake Lindsey" through to Are then combined with a mix bag of showings from Gut that felt more reminiscent of the 2015 season's bouts with inferiority and inconsistency.

A stunning pre-Christmas weekend in the French resorts of Val d'Isere and Courchevel—winning an Alpine combined and the downhill, second in GS—has suggested Gut can, however, be competitive with America's all-time World Cup wins leader. After Lienz and prior to a mixed weekend  in another Austrian venue in Altenmarkt-Zauchensee (DNF in the downhill, second in the super-G, both won by Vonn), she was nevertheless being careful not good too ahead of herself.

Per the Federation Internationale de Ski website, Gut said:

"It's too early to think about the overall yet. After Lake Louise I was far behind Lindsey. It can change so quickly. Now I just want to stay focused on my skiing, to work every day hard to be fast and do what I can."

Heading into the weekend of January 16, Gut sits top of the overall leaderboard 38 points ahead of Vonn. She is in a solid position in the speed events and in taking top in the giant slalom standings has benefited from Fenninger's absence—the discipline being the Austrian's domain in recent years.

The advantage in the latter could be extended when Gut returns to Austria for the latest installment in Flachau. Another crucial test of her race-by-race mentality.

The Next Austrians Up

Standing in the way of Gut's hopes on Sunday—and her aspirations for at least a first individual discipline title since winning the super-G two years ago—will be Eva-Maria Brem.

Brem is one of the notable Austrians battling to ensure the standout Fenninger not competing does not reflect badly on their team. Currently in second place in the giant slalom standings (her eventual finishing place last year), with Maze also away she is in good shape to make the most of a couple less competitors.

Another of Fenninger's compatriots to excel so far this year is Cornelia Huetter.

The 23-year-old former Junior World Ski Championships bronze medalist is enjoying the best season of her fledgling career. A first win still eludes her, but the expectant Austrian fans and coaches should be pleased with her successive speed podium finishes (broken up only by a giant slalom DNF and less proficient technical skills letting her down in the combined).

Sitting second to Vonn in both the downhill and super-G—by 50 points in the former, 80 in the latter—Huetter's consistency bares a resemblance to that which Fenninger built her successful last two years on. Should she also replicate the older skier's knack of finding a few momentum-building late-season first places, more tangible success may await.

Huetter will be well aware things will likely only get tougher when Fenninger returns (assuming her injury has left no ill-effect). In the men's competition last year, Kjetil Jansrud made the most of fellow Norwegian Aksel Lund Svindal being unable to compete.

Producing some mightily impressive performances, he successfully won the downhill and super-G titles previously his compatriot's. Now that Svindal is back, wins are proving harder to come by for Jansrud.

Vonn, Shiffrin, Gut, Brem and Huetter will be keen to make the most of 2016. For varying reasons, they will know full well a fit-again Fenninger (not to mention a possibly re-motivated Maze) will make the world championships year of 2017 a whole lot trickier.

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American Olympic skier Mikaela Shiffrin, who won gold in the slalom event at the 2014 Winter Games, suffered a knee injury Saturday while warming up for an event in Sweden.

Continue for updates.

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Shiffrin Comments on Injury

Saturday, Dec. 12

"I am flying home tomorrow for a complete evaluation," Shiffrin wrote on her Facebook page. "I have at least MCL injury and bone bruising, hopefully no additional injury. Full diagnosis and recovery predictions after I'll see a doctor at home."

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Shiffrin Transported to Hospital

Saturday, Dec. 12

Andrew Dampf of the Associated Press reported she was transported to a local hospital to undergo further testing on the injury. 

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Albrecht Comments on Injury

Saturday, Dec. 12

Her manager, Kilian Albrecht, stated the injury will force her to miss Saturday's race at the very least.

"She basically flipped over into the net," Albrecht told Dampf in describing how the injury occurred. It's noted the first run of the giant slalom race was delayed 15 minutes due to high winds.

Shiffrin, 20, is one of the top young stars in skiing. Along with her gold at the Olympics, she's dominated the World Cup circuit and the World Championships in the event.

While it's unclear how much time she could miss, the hope is that she's able to avoid any serious damage that would lead to an extended absence. She's been making steady progress, but any bumps in her recovery would bring everything to a sudden halt.