ZWIESEL, Germany — Both races this past weekend, a giant slalom and slalom, were canceled because of horrendous weather.
Winds gusting up to 125 mph blew down billboards and ripped tiles from roofs all over southern Germany, and torrential rain poured on the race courses. On Saturday we didn’t even go outside, because they canceled the race early in the morning. On Sunday we went out on the hill, but the gondola was swinging so badly they shut it down before all the racers got on the hill for inspection.
Slalom races are hardly ever canceled, but there was no way we could race.
On paper, the cancellation is an advantage for me and a disadvantage for Nicole Hosp of Austria in our battle for the World Cup overall title. With six races remaining, I have 1,103 points and she has 1,049. Hosp is more of a technical specialist, so losing a slalom and giant slalom is a blow to her chances.
I have the upper hand in speed events, and I’ve got a great chance to extend my lead this weekend in Crans Montana, Switzerland, where we’re going to have a downhill and super-combined. After that, we have the World Cup finals in Bormio, Italy, where we will race all four disciplines.
Even though last weekend’s cancellations favored me, I wasn’t happy about it. I want to ski every race on the calendar. I don’t want to win by luck, and I wish we had raced. I’ve been skiing better in GS and slalom, and it would have been a good challenge to try to keep pace with Nicole.
And in some ways I feel like the luck evens out over time. I’ve missed the podium several times this year by hundredths of seconds, which cost me some valuable points.
