Women’s GS Preview: Who to Watch at the Saalbach World Championships

Paula Moltzan: GEPA Photos

Ladies’s GS Preview: Who’s Racing, When, and Tips on how to Watch on the Saalbach World Championships

A True GS Problem

The Ladies’s Large Slalom on the Saalbach World Championships unfolds on Zwölferkogel, a course with assorted terrain, that includes pitches, flatter sections, off-camber turns, and slope path modifications with a 398-meter vertical drop. The combo of rolling terrain, tight turns, and technical components calls for exact timing, energy and braveness.

Key Course Parts

Skiers should navigate long-radius turns, abrupt transitions, and important flat sections requiring most velocity. The “Ochsenritt” part is a robust take a look at—a compression, a roll, a wave, and a flat stretch the place sustaining velocity is important. Then, instantly after, a flatter center part under the gondola mid-station exams a racer’s skill to generate velocity earlier than tackling the following set of technical turns. A ultimate steep pitch on the backside will take a look at racers’ endurance and braveness as they push for the end into the huge stadium crammed with hundreds of Austrian followers.

House Benefit

Austrian skiers, accustomed to Zwölferkogel, might have an edge, however the world’s finest are ready to problem them.

Race Day Awaits

On February 13, the battle for GS gold will demand aggression and exact timing. Who will conquer the mountain?

Final Yr’s Highlights

Eventually season’s World Cup finals in Saalbach, Italian celebrity Federica Brignone dominated, profitable by 1.36 seconds over New Zealand’s Alice Robinson and 1.67 seconds forward of Norway’s Thea Louise Stjernesund. Mikaela Shiffrin didn’t compete in GS on the finals.

The highest North American was Stifel U.S. Ski Staff’s Paula Moltzan, ending sixth. Alpine Canada Alpin’s Britt Richardson positioned 18th, whereas Moltzan’s teammate AJ Damage took twentieth. Solely the highest 25 GS skiers of the season qualify for the finals, with solely the highest 15 finishers incomes World Cup factors—Moltzan was the only North American to take action.

Switzerland’s Lara Intestine-Behrami completed tenth however secured sufficient factors to assert the season’s World Cup GS title.

Season Standings: Who’s on the Podiums?

This season’s 5 GS races have seen three standout winners: Italy’s Federica Brignone, Sweden’s Sara Hector, and New Zealand’s Alice Robinson. Brignone leads with two victories in Semmering and Sölden, cementing her standing as a prime contender for the Crystal Globe. Hector additionally boasts two wins, whereas Robinson claimed her first victory in Kronplatz and has three podiums this season.

Podiums This Season

Sölden, Austria: Federica Brignone (ITA), Alice Robinson (NZL), Julia Scheib (AUT)

Killington, USA: Sara Hector (SWE), Zrinka Ljutić (CRO), Camille Rast (SUI)

Semmering, Austria: Federica Brignone (ITA), Sara Hector (SWE), Alice Robinson (NZL)

Kranjska Gora, Slovenia: Sara Hector (SWE), Lara Colturi (ALB), Alice Robinson (NZL)

Kronplatz, Italy: Alice Robinson (NZL), Lara Intestine-Behrami (SUI), Paula Moltzan (USA)

High 15 Breakdown: Nations Dominating GS

The 2024-25 large slalom season has delivered thrilling competitors. Robinson tops the GS standings with 300 factors, simply forward of Hector (296), with Brignone in third (200).

The highest three—Robinson (New Zealand), Hector (Sweden), and Brignone (Italy)—lead a various subject. The U.S. has three skiers: Nina O’Brien (eleventh), Moltzan (seventh), and Katie Hensien (14th). Austria’s Julia Scheib (tenth) and Ricarda Haaser (fifteenth) stay aggressive, whereas Switzerland’s Lara Intestine-Behrami (eighth) and Camille Rast (ninth) add depth. Different top-15 contenders embrace Neja Dvornik (Slovenia – thirteenth), Zrinka Ljutić (Croatia – fifth), Lara Colturi (Albania – 4th), Thea Louise Stjernesund (Norway – fifth), and Valérie Grenier (Canada – twelfth).

Three of the highest 5—Colturi (18), Ljutić (22), and Robinson (23)—are rising stars, whereas Hector (32) and Brignone (34) convey expertise.

High 15 Ladies’s GS World Cup Rankings

Click on pictures to enlarge

100 and 9 ladies from 51 nations are set to compete within the World Championship Large Slalom in Saalbach on Thursday, February 13.

Paul Intestine (SUI) set the primary run, and Žan Špilar (USA) will set the second run.

North American Contenders: U.S. and Canadian Standouts

Stifel U.S. Ski Staff

Paula Moltzan:

Because the highest-ranked Stifel U.S. Ski Staff GS skier at seventh, she achieved her first profession GS podium this season, ending third in the latest World Cup GS in Kronplatz, Italy. Moltzan has competed in three earlier World Championship GS races (2019, 2021, and 2023) however has but to complete a championship GS race.

Nina O’Brien:

With a sensational comeback season after sitting out the 2023-24 season with an damage, she is ranked eleventh for the season and has completed within the prime 15 in all 5 GS races, with a season-best sixth place in Killington. She has recorded three top-10 finishes. Like Moltzan, she has competed in three earlier World Championship GS races (2019, 2021, and 2023), along with her finest consequence coming in 2021 in Cortina d’Ampezzo, the place she completed tenth.

Katie Hensien:

She’s presently ranked 14th in GS for the season. Her finest end this season was 4th in Sölden, and he or she has scored in all 5 World Cups this season. Like O’Brien, she is having a robust comeback after lacking all of 2023-24. Beforehand, her finest GS season resulted in simply 4 factors, however she already has 87 this season and is on observe to qualify for her first World Cup Finals in Solar Valley, Idaho. That is solely her second World Championships look; in 2023 in Méribel, France, she completed twenty third, exterior the factors.

AJ Damage:

She’s presently ranked twenty third for the season in GS. Regardless of lacking two races on account of again ache, she has scored in all three GS occasions she has competed in, with two top-15 finishes. Her finest consequence this season was tenth in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia. Damage can be a confirmed podium finisher in GS, having positioned third in Soldeu, Andorra, final season. She beforehand raced GS on the 2021 World Championships in Cortina d’Ampezzo however didn’t end.

Alpine Canada Alpin Roster

Valérie Grenier:

She is presently ranked twelfth however missed the season’s first race in Sölden as a result of she was nonetheless recovering from a season-ending damage she suffered final season in Cortina d’Ampezzo. She has two World Cup GS victories, each in Kranjska Gora, and this season, she has completed three of the 4 she began, by no means inserting under ninth. Her finest consequence this season got here in Semmering, Austria, the place she completed fourth. Grenier has competed in three earlier World Championship GS races (2017, 2021, and 2023), along with her finest consequence coming in 2023 in Méribel, France, the place she completed twentieth.

Britt Richardson:

At solely 21, she’s already confirmed herself to be among the many finest. She is presently ranked 18th for the season and has completed 4 of the 5 GS races she began. Her finest consequence this season got here within the ultimate GS earlier than the championships in Kronplatz, Italy, the place she positioned seventh. Richardson has raced in a single prior FIS Alpine Ski World Championship GS, ending twenty first in Méribel, France, in 2023.

Cassidy Grey:

She’s presently ranked forty first within the season’s GS standings. The 24-year-old has scored seven occasions in GS all through her profession. This season has been difficult, with Grey scoring as soon as when she completed twentieth in Semmering, Austria. She beforehand competed in a single World Championship GS race, ending twenty third in Cortina d’Ampezzo in 2021.

North American Ladies With 2025 World Cup GS Factors

North American Ladies Racing GS

Bib 7, Paula Moltzan, Stifel USST, College of Vermont, Ski and Snowboard Membership, Vail, Oakley

Bib 10, Nina O’Brien, Stifel USST, Burke Mountain Academy

Bib 14, AJ Damage, Stifel USST, Staff Palisades Tahoe, HEAD

Bib 16, Valérie Grenier, ACA, Membership de Ski Mont Tremblant

Bib 25, Britt Richardson, ACA, Calgary Alpine Racing Membership, Burke Mountain, Academy, Oakley

Bib 27, Katie Hensien, Stifel USST, College of Denver, Rowmark Ski Academy, SHRED

Bib 32, Cassidy Grey, ACA, Staff Panorama, Atomic

What to Watch For

The Ladies’s World Championship GS in Saalbach brings collectively the most effective racers of the season, setting the stage for an intense battle on Zwölferkogel. With a mixture of rising stars and seasoned veterans, count on tight racing, aggressive ways, and dramatic lead modifications.

Robinson vs. Hector vs. Brignone: The highest three within the GS standings have all received this season, making them the first favorites. Will Robinson lengthen her lead, or can Hector and Brignone problem her for gold?

North American Cost: Moltzan has confirmed she will be able to earn the podium, and O’Brien’s consistency might push her into rivalry. Grenier, along with her previous GS wins, is one other skier to look at.

Younger Challengers: Colturi (18), Ljutić (22), and Richardson (21) symbolize the following era and will shock.

The Course Issue: The steep pitches, off-camber turns, and the difficult “Ochsenritt” part will take a look at even the most effective technical skiers. Sustaining velocity into the ultimate steep pitch will likely be key to victory.

Who will rise to the event and declare GS gold?