Global Warning: Who Should We Be Watching Out For?

By Published On: June 2nd, 2015Comments Off on Global Warning: Who Should We Be Watching Out For?

National championships for Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Italy, France and Slovenia reveal rising stars

After 40-odd years of looking at racers’ names on results sheets, I have a bit of a radar for the ones who’ll take off on the World Cup. I’m not always right, but it’s a fun and informative exercise this time of year to check out who’s been firing it up at national championships around the globe.

If I were a betting man, I’d put my chips on Stephanie Brunner, Marco Schwarz, Jasmina Suter, Loic Meillard, Jessica Hilzinger, Marcus Monsen, Ramus Windingstad, Maria Therese Tviberg, Marta Bassino and Federica Sosio.

Why? Read on. The fun has just begun.

Austrian National Championships

Women’s GS

Jessica Hilzinger of Liechtenstein and Katharina Gallhuber of Goestling, Austria, tied for fourth. Put future watch tags on those 18-year-olds: they were seven-tenths back of winner Ramona Siebenhofer, an all-rounder with six World Cup scores last season in four different disciplines. (She’s already arrived.)

More immediate attention might go to Stephanie Brunner, a silver medalist in GS at World Juniors, who was also second in both the Austrian national GS and in the combined.

Hilzinger, by the way, was also fourth in the Swiss national slalom. She added fifth in the Austrian slalom.

Keep one eye on eighth-finishing Katharina Truppe as well. She had a bronze medal in slalom at World Juniors and at the Austrian national slalom, she was second behind Carmen Thalmann and two-tenths ahead of Bernadette Schild. That translates to “fast.”

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Jessica Hilizinger; GEPA

Men’s GS

Marcel Hirscher was the only Austrian man to win a World Cup GS last season, and he did not play in these championships. Still, we have to be impressed with Marco Schwarz taking the national GS over veteran Manuel Pleisch by a tight 0.02. Schwarz was also fifth in the Austrian national slalom, but just ninth in the Slovenian national GS.

Don’t sleep on Manuel Annewanter, either. A sixth in GS and seventh in slalom at this event is no small feat. Similarly, Christoph Krenn was fourth in super G and fifth in DH.

Women’s Downhill/Combined

Elisabeth Reisinger was second behind Mirjam Puchner. Since Puchner scored in 13 World Cup events last season, a 0.35 deficit seems pretty reasonable for a 19-year-old up-and-comer.

Bianca Venier notched a sixth in the downhill and third in the combined. Something makes us also want to keep tabs on Katharina Huber. A fourth in combined at this event shouldn’t be enough to warrant any label, but she was also part of the Austrian World Junior Championship tech team.

Held at Lackenhof, the combined demonstrated the versatility of the younger Austrian racers. There was just one non-junior in the women’s top 10, and that was Serbian Nevena Ignjatovic in fifth place.

Winning was Denise Zoehrer; Stephanie Brunner was second. Bianca Venier, also a World Junior medalist, was third. Katharine Huber was fourth, Michaela Heider sixth, Lisa Tuertscher seventh, Julia Scheib eighth, Elisa Pilz ninth and Katharina Leinsberger 10th. Take your pick. One or more of these is bound to emerge on the international stage soon enough.

Veteran Mirjam Puchner dominated women’s downhill, but the top 10 was decidedly young, highlighted by Elisabeth Reisinger in second, ahead of World Cupper Nicole Schmidhofer. Bianca Venier in sixth (again), at age 18 is impressive, but so were 20-year-olds Ines Beran in fifth, Martina Rettenwender in seventh and Michaela Heider (again) in eighth.

Men’s Downhill

In Austria, downhillers tend to hang around, so 30-something Patrick Schwaiger getting the national title shouldn’t be too surprising. Mario Karelly was second, and bears watching in the near future. Younger skiers with longer-range futures include Slaven Dujakovic in fourth, Christoph Krenn in fifth, Daniel Danklmaier in seventh and Stefan Babinsky in the 10 slot.

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Mario Karelly; GEPA

Men’s Super G

This one went to Slovene Bostjan Kline — not too surprising, considering he scored in seven World Cup speed races last season. Clemens Dorner and Daniel Danklmaier were second and third, respectively, both within striking distance (between eight and nine-tenths back). Note that Danklmaier and fourth-finishing Thomas Mayrpeter both own World Junior medals from recent seasons (2014 and 2013, respectively).

The current juniors kicked in a tie for fourth from Christoph Krenn, fifth from Michael Offenhauser and two 19-year-olds in the ninth and 10th positions: Tobias Kogler and Stefan Babinsky, respectively.

Men’s and Women’s Slalom

These races, held at Spital am Pyhrm, went to Christian Hirschbuehl and Carmen Thalmann, a World Cup master of point-collecting.

Michael Matt (at 22) in second and juniors Marco Schwarz in fifth and Manuel Annewanter in seventh were the standouts among men. In 10th came Maximilian Lahnsteiner, a few tenths behind German Stefan Luitz.

Swiss National Championships

Super G

This event also provided some skiers wearing the “can’t miss” tag, including the winning Jasmina Suter, second-place Nathalie Groeli and third-place Michele Gisin, just a hundredth behind. Veteran Denise Feierabend got fourth, followed by Italian junior Nadia Delago in fifth, Austrian Stephanie Brunner in sixth (tied with Rahel Kopp); Italy’s Nicole Delago took eighth. Melanie Meillard was ninth, exactly a second (and three years) behind Suter. Simone Wild rounded off the top 10.

Gilles Roulin, Stefan Rogentin and Gian Luca Barandun were the juniors making the top 10 of the Swiss men’s super G, finishing third, fifth and sixth, respectively.

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Gilles Roulin; GEPA

Downhill/GS

On the women’s side, Michele Gisin, Jasmina Suter, Nathalie Groebli, Lara Zuercher and Juliana Suter all managed top-10 results, and solidified the good impressions made on the coaches.

Loic Meillard — much to like here — was the only junior in the men’s downhill top 10, though he used that ninth-place finish to catapult himself into the combined victory.

Meillard was the top junior in the men’s GS in fourth, 2.01 seconds behind winner Thomas Tumler.

The women’s GS showcased youth behind winner Dom Gisin. Simone Wild, in third, bears watching, as does fifth-placing Jasmina Suter. It’s the teens, though, who really captured our attention: Aline Danioth in seventh, Mel Meillard in eighth, along with Austrian Marie-Teres Sporer in ninth and Vanessa Kasper 10th. They aren’t likely to emerge on the international scene in 2016, but they’ll be there soon after.

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Simone Wild; GEPA

Combined

The women’s combined saw some older domination as 26-year-old Denise Feierabend won, and third went to 30-year-old Dominique Gisin. But Michele Gisin (age 21) was fourth, Jasmina Suter fifth, and Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic sixth. Teenagers Zuercher, Deb Gerber and Medea Grand and Charlene Genolet rounded out the top 10.

Slalom

The women’s slalom erupted with junior stars, thanks to third-placing Michelle Gisin (behind Feierabend and Wendy Holdener) followed by Lechtenstein’s Jessica Hilzinger, Rahel Kopp and teens Melaine Meillard and Aline Danioth. Jas Suter was ninth and Zuerher 10th.

Loic Meillard was the standout junior in the men’s slalom, in 10th. Final-year junior Anthony Bonvin placed eighth. The event belonged mostly to older competitors, though it’s hard to see anything but a potential boom from 22-year-old winner Luca Aerni.

Norwegian National Championships

If you haven’t heard of Marcus Monsen, you soon will. A World Junior medalist this season, he was second in the Norwegian downhill, won the combined championship, and was sixth in super G. It’s worth noting that he was just four-tenths behind Kjetil Jansrud in that downhill.

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Marcus Monsen; GEPA

Rasmus Windingstad showed ability across the board at this event with his sixth in downhill, sixth in combined and seventh in super G. He’s obviously a solid skier and competitor. Earmark him for stardom.

Already arrived is Maria Therese Tviberg. She had two starts in Beaver Creek at the World Championships and collected a pair of World Cup scores in St Moritz. She’ll get more starts in the coming season (after rehabbing a torn ACL from spring skiing) as her performances at the Norwegian National Championships included: second in downhill, third in combined, second in super G and first in GS. Feel the sizzle.

Also creating some heat was Kristin Anna Lysdahl: third in downhill, eighth in combined, ninth in super G, fifth in slalom and eighth in GS. Note, however, that proven Cup star Nina Loeseth won that slalom by two and a half seconds, worth the doubt and a grain of salt to Lysdahl’s expectations.

One we can expect to see on the speed circuit sooner rather than later is Mina Fuerst Holtmann. She won the Norwegian national super G for the second-straight year, adding the downhill crown this season, and was also second in combined and fourth in GS.

French National Championships

Romane Miradoli has been a mainstay at this event for several years now and is a three-time member of the French World Junior team. She was sixth in downhill and seventh in slalom at this season’s French National Championships. Anouk Bessey posted fourth in downhill and seventh in super G.

Noemie Larrouy got seventh in downhill and ninth in super G.

Clara Direz registered a pair of fourth-place finishes, in slalom and GS. Lucie Piccard scored eighth in both the technical races. At 16 years, three months, Camille Cerutti put up an impressive top-10 showing in the French GS, especially with the strength of the field. Tessa Worley was 3.85 seconds ahead of her — but then, that’s former world champion Tessa Worley.

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Clara Direz; GEPA

The average age of the top five on the men’s GS was 30. In sixth place was Elie Gateau, five seconds off the pace set by Thomas Fanara. We aren’t expecting many fresh faces to pop up among French men in any disciplines right away. The super G podium averaged 32 years of age. Victor Schuller, 20, was sixth, 1.67 behind champion Adrien Theaux.

Italian National Championships

In Italy, a few young women showed up, but very few men.

Marta Bassino was third in GS and made the top-10 in the downhill, super G and combined. That’s worth a tag, especially since she already secured two top-10 finishes on the World Cup circuit earlier in the year.

Laura Pirovano, at 17, was fourth in GS. Jole Galli has three top 10s (sixth in GS, ninth in slalom, eighth in combined). Roberta Midali won the slalom. Federica Sosio was consistent, placing sixth in slalom, downhill and super G; and fifth in combined. Valentina Cillara Rossi was 10th in super G and ninth in combined. If you need a man to watch, we’ll give a shout-out to Emanuele Buzzi for posting ninth in downhill, seventh in super G and second in combined.

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Laura Pirovano; GEPA

Slovenian National Championships

There’s no doubt about the probability of Miha Hrobat making the grade on the international scale. Two medals at the World Junior Champs solidify that status. He added two third-place finishes at the Slovenian National Championships, in super G and combined, and also picked up two additional top-10s: a ninth in downhill and tenth in slalom. That’s well rounded.

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Miha Hrobat; GEPA

Sasa Brezovnik was also at World Juniors, for the second straight year, and made the top 10 in all five events at his country’s championships: fourth in downhill, sixth in super G, fifth in combined, eighth in GS and seventh in slalom.

Austrian Nicole Walder scored two top-10s in this event, sixth in downhill and ninth in super G.

Austrians Ines Beran, Claudia Hoerbinger, and Croatia’s Andrea Komsic finished seven through 10, respectively.

Other juniors pushing forward at the Slovenian title meet were Jakob Spik (fifth in combined, third in GS); Aljaz Dvornik (eighth in combined, ninth in slalom); Istok Rodes (ninth in combined) and Zan Kranjec, a three-time World Junior medalist who was 10th in the Slovenian combined.

A year ago, Nadine Fest just missed a podium racing at Topolino; this year she vaulted up to a fifth (super G) and seventh (combined) at Nationals. Andrea Komsic also earns a look for her top-10s in in four Slovene title races, including a third in slalom and fourth in GS. Meta Hrovat placed eighth in both the super G and combined. Honorable mentions go to Klara Livk, Sasa Trsinski and Leona Popovic.

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About the Author: Hank McKee

In memoriam: The veteran of the staff, McKee started with Ski Racing in 1980. Over the seasons, he covered virtually every aspect of the sport, from the pro tours to junior racing, freestyle and World Cup alpine competition. He wrote the first national stories for many U.S. team stars, and was still around to report on their retirements. “Longevity has its rewards,” he said, “but it’s a slow process.”