The Alpine skiing combined competition consists of one run of downhill and two runs of slalom, each discipline run on separate days. The winner is the skier with the fastest aggregate time.
Michelle Gisin, Wendy Holdener and Lara Gut can win the alpine combined on home snow in St. Moritz, Switzerland. In the last 13 editions of the World Championships only one woman managed to win this event in her home country, as Anja Pärson was victorious in Åre, Sweden, in 2007. Gisin, Holdener and Gut could become the seventh Swiss woman to win the alpine combined, after Erika Hess (3), Frieda Dänzer, Madeleine Berthod, Chantal Bournissen, Ida Schöpfer and Rösli Streiff. Six different Swiss winners in the ladies’ alpine combined is a joint-record, as also six different Austrians have won this event. In total, Swiss women have won the ladies’ alpine combined on eight occasions, one shy of the record held by German women.
Holdener won the ladies’ World Cup alpine combined title last season, finishing ahead of Lara Gut and Michaela Kirchgasser. Holdener is yet to claim a medal at the World Championships, with her best finish an 11th place in the 2013 ladies’ slalom. Currently priced at 11.00 at bet365 to win the slalom race.
Coming into these World Championships, Gut has claimed four medals in the tournament across all disciplines, but still lacks a gold one: silver in alpine combined (2009), downhill (2009) and super-G (2013) and bronze in downhill (2015). Only four women claimed more medals at the World Championships without ever winning a gold medal: Käthe Grasegger (S1-B6), Anita Wachter (S2-B3), Julia Mancuso (S2-B3) and Nini von Arx-Zogg (S4-B1). Coming into these World Championships, Erika Hess (7), Vreni Schneider (6), Anny Rüegg (5), Frieda Dänzer (5) and Nini von Arx-Zogg (5) are the only Swiss women to have claimed more total medals than Gut. Currently 6.00 to win the downhill race and 7.00 for the giant slalom win.
Last season, Holdener and Gut finished first and second respectively in the World Cup alpine combined standings. Gisin finished second in Val d’Isère behind Ilka Štuhec in the World Cup alpine combined earlier this season.
Anna Veith won the gold medal in the ladies’ alpine combined in 2011. She can become the seventh woman to claim multiple gold medals in this event, after Christel Cranz (5), Marielle Goitschel (3), Erika Hess (3), Annemarie Moser-Pröll (2), Janica Kostelic (2) and Pernilla Wiberg (2). Veith won the ladies’ World Cup alpine combined title in 2014/15. She made her comeback in December after damaging her knee during a training crash in October 2015. I don’t recommend betting on her as she is currently not in her best form.
Austrian women have won this world title on seven occasions, one fewer than Swiss women. Only German women have won more often (9).
Recommended bets
Downhill race
Lara Gut – Outright Winner – 6.00 Bet365 1Unit
Lindsey Vonn – Outright Winner – 6.00 Bet365 1Unit
Viktoria Rebensburg – Podium Finish – 7.00 Bet365 1Unit
Slalom race
Veronika Velez Zuzulova – Podium Finish – 2.00 Bet365 1Unit
Thats all for today, be sure to check back for the predictions for the last race(giant slalom), which is scheduled for 16.2.
