World Cup GS openers will include 15 U.S. racers

The opening World Cup giant slalom races this weekend in Sölden, Austria, will include eight U.S. starters for the women and seven U.S. men. The women starters are Julia Mancuso, Lindsey (Kildow) Vonn, Resi Stiegler, Stacey Cook, Caitlin Ciccone, Katie Hitchcock, Megan McJames and Lauren Ross.

THE OPENING World Cup giant slalom races this weekend in Sölden, Austria, will include eight U.S. starters for the women and seven U.S. men.
    The women starters are Julia Mancuso, Lindsey (Kildow) Vonn, Resi Stiegler, Stacey Cook, Caitlin Ciccone, Katie Hitchcock, Megan McJames and Lauren Ross.
    Ross is a surprise starter after sitting out all of last season with a left-knee injury. “I was really pleased to see Lauren [Ross] punch in there,” U.S. women's coach Patrick Riml said. “It is a real confidence booster for her, coming back after an injury. She did a hell of a job. We were training with Anja [Paerson] and she got her ass kicked by Lauren."
   Ross told Ski Racing she is excited to get back to competing: "So psyched about Saturday," she wrote in an e-mail. "Feeling good."
   Kaylin Richardson was left off the starting roster for the American women. “I was not surprised that Kaylin didn’t make it and I know she is disappointed,” Riml said, “but she was primarily a slalom skier and then she did really well in super G, so we have been working on these two areas. We want her to succeed with slalom and super G. Then we can move into the others.”
    Starting for the men on the Rettenbach Glacier are independent U.S. racer Bode Miller, and U.S. Ski Teamers Ted Ligety, Jimmy Cochran, Erik Schlopy, Tim Jitloff, Dane Spencer and Jake Zamansky.
    The women will kick things off Saturday, while the men race Sunday on the Rettenbach Glacier in Sölden. First-run time is 3:45 a.m. EDT, with the second run scheduled for 6:45 a.m. EDT both days.
    Contrary to last season, when warm temperatures scrapped the Sölden event, the region feels like winter now. There is a dusting to a centimeter of snow in Sölden and the peaks are all white. The pines are laced with white, making a nice contrast with the leaf trees that are orange and gold now.
    “This is a tough hill, one of the hardest the girls face,” Riml said. “They have injected it at the top and the snow is very compact. If the slippers don’t take too much air out of it, it could be grippy, which is good.
    “They [the organizers] have added snowmaking from the base to halfway up the slope,” he added. “It will make a difference.” Riml added that the injection was set back because of sand in the water left over from installing the new piping that plugged the injector. So the crews have hosed the top of the course and injected below around the breakover."

— Gary Black Jr. contributed to this report