Two weeks before the classic men’s night race on January 25, a World Cup race for women will take place on the steep, classic Planai finish slope for the first time on Tuesday evening. You don’t have to worry that this might be too difficult for women. Rather, the race should be a floodlit spectacle even without a spectator. The previous women’s slalom in Schladming took place both at the dress rehearsal in 2012 and at the 2013 World Cup itself on the neighboring Streicher slope. So far, there has only been a slalom comparison between women and men on the Planai by Marlies Raich (formerly Schild), who was allowed onto the race track as a forerunner in the men’s night race and mastered it with ease.
This time, Schladming also wants to give the women a great stage, even if a Planai slalom without spectators will give a rather unusual image at the night spectacle normally garnished with up to 50,000 live fans. The short-term takeover after the Corona problems in Flachau was possible “because we tried, as always, to be largely ready for our men’s night race 14 days in advance,” said OC boss Hans Grogl of the APA. This was “no problem with a team that has been welded together for over 20 years and the Planai mountain railways”.
More or less only “cosmetics” are needed, assured Grogl. For the women, the start will be postponed a bit. The race starts flat, only after ten to fifteen goals does it go into the steep slope. “The slope will certainly be adapted and not be as completely iced over as it was with the men,” assures the OC boss. “We want to offer the women a perfect race,” is the goal of the two-time World Championship location in Styria, less than 40 kilometers from Flachau.
For Grogl, too, it is “always something special” when women drive for the first time on a race track that was previously only used by men. “But I believe that the women are now at a very high level. The first 20 or so will manage it without any problems”, Grogl referred to Petra Vlhova, Mikaela Shiffrin, Katharina Liensberger and Co. “It will be for the boys with higher starting numbers but definitely a challenge. “
For Shiffrin, the Planai race somehow fulfills a long-term wish. In November 2015, after two bombastic victories in Aspen, the then 20-year-old said she would – like US compatriot Lindsey Vonn in the downhill – look for a comparison with the slalom men. Preferably on the Schladming Planai. So far, only Raich has succeeded indirectly. Before the first round of the men’s race in 2012, the Salzburg woman drove so well that she would have qualified for the 30s final.
Source: Nachrichten
