The Women’s Alpine Skiing 2017/18 Season is starting tomorrow with the giant slalom race in Sölden, Austria and will conclude in Åre, Sweden on 18 March 2018. The season will be interrupted by the 2018 Winter Olympics which take place from 9 to 25 February in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Women’s Alpine Skiing – 2017/18 Season Betting Preview + Predictions
Last season Mikaela Shiffrin became the youngest(22 years old) Overall champion since the 2002/03 season when Janica Kostelic won at the age of 21. She can become the ninth woman to win the Overall crystal globe in back-to-back seasons and the first since Anna Veith in 2014-2015. The only U.S. woman to have achieved this is Lindsey Vonn, who won three in a row from 2008-2010. Shiffrin also clinched her fourth slalom title last season, after winning it in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Only Vreni Schneider (6) and Erika Hess (5) have won more slalom globes (Marlies Schild also 4). She has won 31 career World Cup races, joint-ninth all-time among women alongside Erika Hess. Her 25 wins in slalom rank her third all-time among women, behind Marlies Schild (35) and Vreni Schneider (34). She is currently the firm favourite to win the overall Skiing World Cup Slalom at the odds of 1.294 at Pinnacle and 2.00 favourite to become the Overall champion.
Lindsey Vonn has won a women’s record 77 World Cup races. The only man with more World Cup race wins is Ingemar Stenmark (86). Vonn has won a record 20 World Cup classifications among men and women. She has won eight globes in downhill, five in super-G, four in the Overall and three in alpine combined. Vonn’s eight downhill globes are the most among men and women in this discipline. It ties the record for most World Cup titles in a single discipline as Stenmark won the slalom and giant slalom titles eight times. Vonn’s five super-G titles are a joint-record with Katja Seizinger, Hermann Maier and Aksel Lund Svindal. Only three skiers have won more Overall titles than Vonn (4): Annemarie Moser-Pröll (6), Marcel Hirscher (6) and Marc Girardelli (5). Vonn turns 33 years old on 18 October and can become the oldest woman to win a crystal globe. That record currently belongs to Michaela Dorfmeister who was 32 years and 356 days old when she won the WorldCup super-G title in 2006. She can become the second-oldest woman to win a World Cup race, after Elisabeth Görgl who won the super-G in Val d’Isère in December 2014 at the age of 33 years and 304 days. Vonn’s 77 race wins consist of 39 in downhill, 27 in super-G, five in alpine combined, four in giant slalom and two in slalom. Her 39 race wins in downhill and 27 wins in super-G are most among men and women. Vonn is one of four women to have won at least two World Cup races in all five disciplines (excluding City Events), together with Pernilla Wiberg, Petra Kronberger and Anja Pärson.
Lara Gut was forced to end her season prematurely during the World Championships last February. At the time she was leading the super-G standings and was only 180 points behind Mikaela Shiffrin in the Overall standings. She is the winner of the Overall World Cup in 2016 and the super-G globe in 2014 and 2016. She can become the fifth woman to win the super-G standings at least three times, after Katja Seizinger (5), Lindsey Vonn (5), Carole Merle (4) and Renate Götschl (3). Gut has won 23 World Cup races: 11 in super-G, seven in downhill, four in giant slalom and one in alpine combined. Only Lindsey Vonn (27), Renate Götschl (17), Katja Seizinger (16) and Carole Merle (12) have won more super-G World Cup races than Gut (11). About a month ago, Gut announced that she has no plans to start in the first race of the season, but apparently, her recovery went better than planned and she will be able to participate in the giant slalom race tomorrow. The Swiss skier said she is feeling strong and has no issues with her knee. Lara Gut is currently the second favourite to win World Cup Super G(overall) with the odds of 4.00 on Bet365 and 3.81 on Pinnacle. Odds are fine for us to recommend a bet on her to win the World Cup Super G.
Last season Tessa Worley became the first French woman to win a discipline globe since Carole Montillet-Carles in 2003 (super-G), as she won the giant slalom classification. The only French woman to win multiple giant slalom globes is Carole Merle(1992, 1993). Worley has won 11 ladies’ World Cup giant slalom races, joint-ninth most all-time. She is five wins shy of entering the top two: 16 for Annemarie Moser-Pröll and 20 for Vreni Schneider. Only Merle (22) and Perrine Pelen (15) have won more World Cup races among French women in all disciplines than Worley (11).
Last season’s Downhill and Alpine Combined champion Ilka Štuhec suffered a knee injury and will be unable to compete this season.
Italy is hoping to win its first ladies’ discipline globe since Denise Karbon’s giant slalom win in 2008. Last season Sofia Goggia finished second in the downhill() and third in the Overall and giant slalom standings, while Federica Brignone claimed second place in the alpine combined classification. Eva-Maria Brem will return to competition after missing almost the entire 2016/17 season due to a broken leg. She won the giant slalom globe in 2016.
Outright Predictions
Lara Gut to win World Cup Super G – 4.00 Bet365, 3.81 Pinnacle
Sofia Goggia to win World Cup Downhill – 4.98 Pinnacle, 3.75 Bet365
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