Daulton blog

Top skiers set for battle at Alpine world champs

GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, Germany (AFP) – The world's top skiers are set to battle it out in the Bavarian Alps with the Alpine World Ski Championships taking place from February 8-20.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen hosts the 41st world championships which starts Tuesday with the women's super-G race when United States starlet Lindsey Vonn hopes to brush off injury to take on home favourite Maria Riesch.

But organisers are hoping the championships do not grab the headlines for all the wrong reasons with the issue of safety being debated after Austria's Hans Grugger suffered serious head injuries last month.

Ten individual gold medals are up for grabs here with the world's top men and women racing for downhill, slalom, super combined, super-G and giant slalom titles, plus the team competition.

Born-and-raised in Garmisch, Riesch is the current women's World Cup leader and threatening to break Vonn's three-year domination of women's alpine skiing.

Vonn is facing a fitness battle to be ready to defend her super-G crown on Tuesday after she suffered a crash last week while training in Zwiesel, Germany.

She has said she will wait until the last minute before making any decision and will train on Monday for the super-G.

As the world and Olympic slalom champion, Riesch has home advantage and a 156-point lead over Vonn in the World Cup rankings. The German will be racing in all five events.

But Vonn, 26, has few peers in the blue-riband downhill event and the pair are on a collision course when the world title is decided on Sunday February 13.

Sweden's seven-times world champion Anja Paerson would love to spoil the party after postponing retirement, Austrian Marlies Schild is a big danger in the slalom, and Swiss Lara Gut is the only super-G season winner apart from Vonn.

Vonn has won the last three World Cup overall titles, is the Olympic and world downhill champion.

Defending men's world downhill champion John Kucera of Canada is still working his way back to fitness after breaking his leg at the start of last season.

As the current men's World Cup leader Ivica Kostelic of Croatia is the name to beat in Garmisch, but Switzerland's Didier Cuche, the super-G world champion two years ago, and Norway's Aksel Lund Svindal are sure to be challenging.

"At the moment, I'm in really good shape and I'm hoping to able to compete at the top at the World Championships as well," said the 31-year-old Kostelic.

"I have the highest expectations for the slalom."

American Bode Miller will not be competing in the slalom because of a lack of form this season in alpine's tricky technical event.

Miller has failed to qualify for the second run of a single slalom this season, but he warmed up for Garmisch with third in the super-G at a World Cup race in Hinterstoder, Austria with local hero Benjamin Raich in second.

The 33-year-old Miller is the reigning Olympic super combined champion and took silver in the super-G, and with four world medals to his name, he has the experience to get amongst the medals in the speed events.

Another name to watch for after he won the overall World Cup title last season is 2009 giant slalom world champion Carlo Janka of Switzerland.

"I won twice in Garmisch last year and thank to those victories, I'm of course looking forward especially to the world champs," said the 24-year-old, who took downhill bronze two years ago in Val d'Isere.

Norway's Svindal will be looking to defend his super combined world title, but will be a threat in all the speed disciplines on the Kandahar course.

The 28-year-old scooped Olympic super-G gold, downhill silver and giant slalom bronze at the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Erik Guay who won the super-G in Garmisch last March at the World Cup finals, will lead Canada's charge, but he has admitted confidence is low after seeing several team-mates crash out with injuries.

Injuries have robbed Canada of some of its leading skiers including Kucera and medal-hopeful Manny Osborne-Paradis who tore knee ligaments and broke his fibula during a recent World Cup downhill in Chamonix, France.