All the news from the world of winter sports with victories for Robinson, Odermatt, Muir, Embacher, Lamparter, Yiming and Fukada.
Welcome to our weekly round-up of the thrilling world of winter sports, where the excitement of the FIS events and other global competitions has kept fans on the edge of their seats. From the snow-covered slopes to the icy tracks, here is your dose of high-speed action, skilful manoeuvres and thrilling performances from around the world. Here is all you need to know:
November 30: Copper Mountain, USA
– Lara Colturi (ALB) – 3rd- Colturi continued her impressive run of form in the slalom events as she recorded her third podium of the season. The 19-year-old finished as runner-up in the previous two slaloms and this time took third place after finishing behind Mikaela Shiffrin and Lena Duerr.
November 29: Copper Mountain, USA
– Alice Robinson (NZL) -1st- Robinson made a piece of history on Saturday in Copper Mountain as she claimed victory in the Giant Slalom. The 23-year-old dominated the competition, finishing almost a second clear of Julia Scheib in second and 1.08 seconds clear of third-placed Thea Louise Stjernesund. With her fifth World Cup win, Robinson became the most successful women’s Alpine ski racer from outside North America or Europe.
– Speaking about the record, she said: “I didn’t know that, but that is pretty cool. It’s always really special for me to represent New Zealand, especially in a sport like ski racing that’s so dominated by North America and Europe, so I’m really proud of that.”
November 28: Copper Mountain, USA
– Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) -2nd- Kristoffersen secured his first podium of the season in the Giant Slalom as he finished in second place in Copper Mountain. The Norwegian looked to be heading to victory when he usurped Filip Zubcic at the top of the leaderboard, only for Stefan Brennsteiner to snatch first place with the final run of the day.
November 29: Secret Garden, China
– Kirsty Muir (GBR) -1st- Scottish skier Muir started the season as she ended the last with victory in the Big Air event. The 21-year-old triumphed in Tignes in last season’s final event and once again came out on top, amassing a huge score of 174.50 in Saturday’s final as she finished well clear of Naomi Urness and Liu Mengting.
– Muir, whose left double cork 1440 safety in her first run earned her 91.25, said: “I’m so stoked. I was in it today to get my tricks down. I wanted to just focus on the tricks, the result was just the end outcome.”
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November 29: Secret Garden, China
Su Yiming (CHN) -1st- Su delivered in front of his home crowd in Secret Garden as he delivered his first World Cup victory in two years in Saturday’s Big Air event. The 21-year-old amassed a huge score of 174.50 thanks to a contest-best score of 88.25 in a third run that included a switch backside 1980 melon. Compatriot Ge Chunyu took second, while Japan’s Ryoma Kimata rounded out the podium.
– He said: “This one means so much to me. It almost means everything to me. I just wanted to do my best and put down the best show, and I’m really grateful that I could put down all the tricks that I wanted to do.”
Mari Fukada (JPN) -1st- Teenage sensation Fukada dominated the first Big Air event of the season, with her score of 156.75 putting her well clear of compatriots Reira Iwabuch in second and Miyabi Onitsuka in third. The 18-year-old took an early lead with her first run before securing the win with a third run that included a frontside 1080 tailgrab to melon.
– After securing her fourth career World Cup victory, she said: “I’m really happy to start the World Cup season so well. Everyone is getting so good these days, so I’m happy I can compete with all of the girls.”
November 27: Copper Mountain, USA
Marco Odermatt (SUI) -1st- All-round sensation Odermatt looked in fine form again on Thursday as he launched the defence of his Super-G title with a gutsy victory over Austrian duo Vincent Kriechmayr and Raphael Haaser. The three-time Super-G champion banked a time of 1:07.70 down the tricky course to edge out Kriechmayr by 0.08s and boost his hope of becoming the third man in history to win four Super-G titles in a row.
– The 28-year-old Swiss said: “I trained a lot during the summer. You’re never done, you always have to continue with the hard work. It’s just great that I can start the season like this. When you’ve won the Globe you want to win the Globe again. You have to take it race by race, the season is long and there are so many good athletes. Everyone wants to win so you have to attack every race again from the beginning.”
November 26: Falun, Sweden
Stephan Embacher (AUT) -2nd- Young Austrian Embacher started the season well in Sweden thanks to an impressive second place behind Slovenia’s Anze Lanisek, with his compatriot Domen Prevc back in third. The 19-year-old has huge potential and, after fourth place in Tuesday’s Men’s Normal Hill HS95, he landed the biggest jump in Round 2 on Wednesday to score 259.9 for his first individual FIS World Cup podium.
– Two-time World junior champion Embacher said: “I didn’t see the line when I landed, so I was confused and didn’t know how I had jumped. I thought maybe I was fourth, but it was a really nice day and second is amazing. I’m in good shape and I felt like if it (a podium finish) wasn’t here then it could maybe happen another time, but of course I’m proud that all of the hard work has paid off.”
November 29: Ruka, Finland
Johannes Lamparter (AUT) -1st- Lamparter won his fourth consecutive individual Nordic Combined World Cup event on Saturday courtesy of a dominant display in Ruka. The Austrian topped the provisional qualifying round with a jump of 132.5m, handing him a 14-second advantage in the cross country after the ski jumping finals were cancelled due to strong winds. He then finished 32 seconds ahead of Julian Schmid in second and 43 seconds clear of compatriot Thomas Rettenegger.
– He said: “In the cross-country the plan was to go at a really high pace from the start so nobody could catch me and I managed to bring it home in a really safe way.”
November 28: Ruka, Finland
Johannes Lamparter (AUT) -1st- Reigning champion Lamparter made the perfect start to the season as he claimed his 18th individual World Cup victory. The 24-year-old won the final two events of last season and made it three in a row thanks to a superb jump of 134.5 metres before finishing 7.7 seconds clear of Julian Schmid, with Ilkka Herola taking third place.
Photos: Red Bull
