The 58th edition of the most prominent alpine skiing circuit in the world is currently underway! The FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup 2023/24 welcomed top racers to participate in 90 thrilling events spread across four disciplines. Following tradition, the giant slaloms opened at Solden, Austria. With the dominant veteran Mikaela Shiffrin on the athletic run to enter three-digit World Cup wins, there has always been a challenge for newbies.

After the first leg came to a finish, fans eagerly awaited fierce competition, which came to a halt with an unexpected ranking. What shocked the fans most was the cross-border budding racers’ unexpected finish.

Alpine skier leaves disappointing impression

As the pre-race favorite, Maria Therese Tviberg of Norway shocked everyone by winning the gold medal in the women’s parallel at the 2023 FIS Alpine Ski World Championships. When many expected a similar performance in the ongoing FIS Alpine Skiing World Cup, a rather disappointed DNS featured beside her name.? Tviberg, 28, performed in the first and the second sectors, however, remained absent from the rest two.

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Previously, she earned two medals in the parallel competition; a later added silver in the team event. At the Roc de Fer track in Meribel, France, she easily defeated combined silver medallist Wendy Holdener to win the major final. Then, the freshly crowned World Champion showed promise saying, “After qualifying for the big final I became speechless… I am just proud of myself and to make my first individual podium at a world championships, it’s really a dream come true.”

With the knockdown, she now joins the lineup of “did not finish” going longer with each sector finish. Now, eight fellow racers joined the bottom of the ranking, including American fresher Elisabeth Bocock. Bocock has made many appearances on the NorAm Cup giant slalom podium in the 2022?2023 season. With the remaining races, can one still expect a rise in ranking for the prodigies? Meanwhile, much attention shifted to Mikaela Shiffrin being away from the top spot.

Where does Mikaela Shiffrin stand?

In the opening run of the women’s giant slalom, Shiffrin finished fifth while Italian skier Federica Brignone showed her superiority. After starting the second leg with the quickest time in the first split but losing many tenths of a second in the second sector, Shiffrin had to catch up with 0.75 seconds in the second leg. Petra Vlhova of Slovakia and Lara Gut-Behrami of Switzerland, the previous overall winners, finished slightly ahead of Shiffrin.

Brignone acknowledged amazement at her lead and practically faultless performance, particularly taking into account a week with little training runs on snow. The skier said, ?Last week wasn?t good with the weather so I didn?t know where I stand, but today I?m very happy.?? Being inches away from taking home 100 World Cup count, the important question is will Shiffrin flaunt her brilliance in the next races?

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