Next weekend a Giant Slalom and a Slalom World Cup races will be held in Kranjska Gora.
Kranjska Gora is an alpine resort in Slovenia, near the mountains and glacial lakes of Triglav National Park. The Upper Sava Valley, one of the most beautiful Alpine valleys, lies in the north-westernmost part of Slovenia, right next to the tri-border with Austria and Italy.
Kranjska Gora was sometimes an alternate location for Maribor's Golden Fox races in recent years.
The Podkoren racecourse, where the 60th edition of the World Cup Golden Fox will take place, is due to some blind turning, hanging terrain, and spectacular finish one of the most challenging race slopes in the Women's calendar.
Racecourse facts:
Start Elevation: 1230 m (Giant Slalom) 1035 (Slalom)
Finish Elevation: 850 m (Giant Slalom) 836 (Slalom)
Vertical Drop: 380 m (Giant Slalom) 199 (Slalom)
Max. slope: 59 %
Kranjska Gora (SLO)
January 6th Giant Slalom / Women 1st run 9:30 - 2nd run 12:30 CET
January 7th Slalom / Women 1st run 9:30 - 2nd run 12:30 CET
Last season, in the first of the two Giant Slaloms held in Kranjska Gora Canadian Valerie Grenier achieved her first podium and maiden victory in the World Cup. After setting the best time in the first run she confirms her victory being the fastest also in the second run. It was Canada's first victory in this discipline in 49 years.
Marta Bassino finished in second place 0.37 seconds behind Grenier. Petra Vlhova rounded out the podium in third place 0.40 seconds behind the Canadian.
Mikaela Shiffrin won the second Giant Slalom held in Kranjska Gora. She set the fastest time in both runs, skied clean and yet aggressively, and claimed her third win of the 2022-2023 season in Giant Slalom.
Last season, in the Slovenian ski resort, Federica Brignone scored her 50th podium in the World Cup. She finished in second place 0.77 seconds behind Shiffrin. Lara Gut-Behrami was third, 0.97 seconds behind Shiffrin.
Kranjska Gora Women's Races Preview
Giant Slalom
Federica Brignone won the two Giant Slaloms held in Tremblant (December 2 and 3). She became the oldest woman to win a World Cup Giant Slalom race. The Italian skier achieved 10 of her 24 World Cup victories in Giant Slalom. Also, 33 of her 62 podiums came in the same discipline.
Federica Brignone is joint-second alongside Gustav Thöni (both 24) for most World Cup wins by an Italian alpine skier, behind only Alberto Tomba (50).
Italian women won at least one World Cup Giant Slalom event in each of the last seven seasons (2015-2016 to 2021-2022).
Back in 2020, Federica Brignone Grabs the Overall, Giant Slalom, and Alpine Combined Globes. Brignone can be proud to be the first Italian woman to conquer the Overall Globe. Brignone joined the Italian-Overall club composed of Piero Gros, Gustav Thoeni, and Alberto Tomba on the Men's field.
Federica Brignone finished in second place in the Giant Slalom in Sölden and Lienz.
Since her first win in 2015-2016, she has only failed to win a World Cup Giant Slalom race in 2020-2021 and 2022-2023.
Thanks to Lienz's second place, she took the lead in the Giant Slalom standings, 35 points ahead of Lara Gut-Behrami.
Brignone finished in second place in Giant Slalom two times in Kranjska Gora on January 21, 2012, and January 8, 2023.
Lara Gut-Behrami won the first two Giant Slaloms of the season in Sölden and Killington. The 32-year-old skier from Ticino became the first Swiss woman to win back-to-back World Cup Giant Slalom races since Sonja Nef did it in 2001. It's her seventh win in the Giant Slalom discipline. She was on the podium 78 times in the World Cup, 21 of them in Giant Slalom.
Gut-Behrami became the third woman to claim at least one World Cup win in 13 different seasons, after Renate Götschl (14), and Lindsey Vonn (13).
Gut-Behrami is one win short of becoming the seventh female Alpine skier to record 40 World Cup wins.
Her only World Cup podium in Kranjska Gora was third place in the Giant Slalom on January 8, 2023.
In the 2022-2023 winter season Gut-Behrami finished in second place on the Giant Slalom standings. She has another Top-3 finish in the Giant Slalom standings, a third place in the 2015-2016 season.
She finished in the Top-10 in 23 of the last 25 World Cup Giant Slaloms. She made it to the podium 9 times and won 3 times.
Lara Gut-Behrami claims her first Olympic Giant Slalom medal in Beijing 2022. She also won the gold medal in Giant Slalom in Cortina 2021.
Mikaela Shiffrin won seven Giant Slalom events in the 2022-2023 winter season (Semmering I and II, Kranjska Gora, Kronplatz I and II, Are, and Soldeu). The only alpine skier (male or female) to record more than seven Giant Slalom victories in a single season is Ingemar Stenmark: 10 in 1978-1979.
Last season, the 28-year-old won the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe. It's her second Crystal Globe in the discipline. In total, Shiffrin finished the 2022-2023 season with a total of 15 Crystal Globes (5 total, 7 in Slalom, 2 in Giant Slalom, and 1 in Super-G).
Shiffrin can become the first woman to successfully defend her Giant Slalom title since Anna Veith in 2013-2014 and 2014-2015.
Shiffrin won the women's Giant Slalom and Slalom events in Lienz. Shiffrin took her first Giant Slalom win of the season thanks to a dominant first run and a tactical second run. Before Lienz Shiffrin finished three times on the podium this season, all in third place.
The 28-year-old US skier has won a record 93 World Cup events, 22 of which were achieved in the Giant Slalom (a Women's record). The four male skiers to win more than 22 World Cup Giant Slalom events are Ingemar Stenmark (46), Marcel Hirscher (31), Ted Ligety (24), and Michael von Grünigen (23).
Shiffrin has won two World Cup Giant Slalom races in Kranjska Gora in 2018 and 2023. The only other female skier to record more than one World Cup Giant Slalom win in Kranjska Gora is Marta Bassino (two in 2021).
Petra Vlhova finished in the Top-3 in the Giant Slalom standings twice: two-second places in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020. She finished sixth, fourth, and fifth in the last three seasons respectively.
The 28-year-old finished in third place in the Alpine Ski World Cup Opener in Sölden, and in second place in the first Giant Slalom held in Tremblant.
Petra Vlhova claimed the first-ever World Championships gold medal for Slovakia at the 2019 FIS Alpine World Ski Championships in Åre (SWE) in the Giant Slalom event.
Six of her 28 victories in the World Cup came in the Giant Slalom, and 18 of her 68 podiums were also in this discipline.
Sara Hector claimed 14 World Cup podiums in the Giant Slalom, including four wins in Courchevel, Kranjska Gora, and Kronplatz in the 2021-2022 winter season. Her injury deprived her to become the second Swedish winner of the Women's Giant Slalom Crystal Globe, after Anja Pärson (2002-2003, 2003-2004, 2005-2006).
Hector won the Olympic Giant Slalom gold in Beijing.
Marta Bassino finished last season in third place in the Giant Slalom standings. She celebrated her first career World Cup podium, a third place, in the Giant Slalom in Sölden on 22 October 2016.
In 2021Bassino won the discipline title with the Italian emerging as the dominant force. Bassino became the fourth Italian skier to win the Giant Slalom Crystal Globe after Deborah Compagnoni did it in 1997, Denise Karbon in 2008, and Federica Brignone in 2020.
She was on the podium 28 times in the World Cup, 20 of them in Giant Slalom. She won six races all in Giant Slalom.
Marta Bassino finished on the Giant Slalom podium four times in Kranjska Gora. Bassino's last World Cup Giant Slalom podium finish was in Kranjska Gora on January 7, 2023.
Katharina Liensberger is the latest Austrian woman to stand on the Giant Slalom World Cup podium: a third place in Lienz on December 28, 2019.
Austria has won a record 93 Women's World Cup Giant Slalom events, but its most recent victory was more than seven years ago when Eva-Maria Brem won in Jasná on March 7, 2016.
Slalom
This race takes place 57 years to the day since the first Women's World Cup event in Alpine Ski. Canada's Nancy Greene took victory in the Slalom in Oberstaufen on 7 January 1967.
Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhová have recorded a 1-2 finish in 23 Alpine Ski World Cup Slalom events. Shiffrin finished ahead of Vlhová 13 times and it was the other way around 10 times.
Eleven of the last 12 women's World Cup Slaloms were won by Mikaela Shiffrin (7) and Petra Vlhová (4). The only exception in that run was a victory for Lena Dürr in Špindleruv Mlýn on 29 January 2023.
Mikaela Shiffrin and/or Petra Vlhová finished on the podium in each of the last 13 World Cup Slalom events.
Each of the last three World Cup slalom events held in Kranjska Gora were won by Shiffrin (2018) or Vlhová (2020 and 2022).
Mikaela Shiffrin won the Slalom events in Levi, Killington, and Lienz. Shiffrin recorded 56 of her 93 wins in the Slalom, a record for most wins in a single event. Ingemar Stenmark follows with 46 wins in the Men's Giant Slalom, and Lindsey Vonn with 43 wins in the Women's Downhill.
With 147 podiums is in second place all-time for most Alpine Ski World Cup podiums. Ingemar Stenmark with 155 holds the record. Only Stenmark (81) has recorded as many podiums in Slalom as Shiffrin (80).
Last season Shiffrin won the Slalom title. In total, Shiffrin finished the 2022-2023 winter season with a total of 15 Crystal Globes (5 total, 7 in Slalom, 2 in Giant Slalom, and 1 in Super-G). In 2023-2024, Shiffrin can equal Ingemar Stenmark (8) for most Slalom Crystal Globes.
Besides Shiffrin, Lindsey Vonn (8 in Downhill) and Annemarie Moser-Pröll (7 in Downhill) are the only other women to have won a World Cup title in one discipline at least seven times.
Since 2018-2019, Shiffrin has recorded just one DNF in 47 Slalom World Cup starts: in Kranjska Gora on January 9, 2022. Mikaela Shiffrin has finished on the podium in 12 of her last 13 appearances in Slalom World Cup events, except for a fourth-place finish in Levi on November 11, 2023.
Petra Vlhová is the reigning Olympic Champion in Slalom. Last season she finished third in the Slalom standings. She recorded podium finishes in the Slalom standings in each of the past five seasons, claiming two Crystal Globes: 2nd-1st-3rd-1st-3rd.
Petra Vlhová won the first Slalom of the season in Levi and later in Courchevel. It was her second win and third podium of the season in the discipline and her 30th World Cup victory.
The 28-year-old skier is now joint-fourth alongside Erika Hess with 21 wins in the all-time women's ranking for most World Cup Slalom wins, behind Mikaela Shiffrin (53), Marlies Schild (35), Vreni Schneider (34).
Lena Dürr finished in second place in Lienz. It was her 11th podium in the World Cup, her 7th one in Slalom. She finished second and third respectively in the two Slaloms held in Levi. The 32-year-old German skier achieved her first Slalom World Cup victory last season in Špindlerův Mlýn on January 29, 2023.
Dürr won the bronze medal in the Slalom at the 2023 Alpine World Ski Championships in Méribel. The German skier finished fourth in the discipline standings last season. In 2021-2022 she finished in third position, her first time in the Top-3.
Katharina Liensberger returned in Levi to a World Cup Podium. The 26-year-old from Vorarlberg surprised the audience with two consistent runs. The last time she finished in the Top-3 was in March 2022, when she won the Slalom in Åre.
The winner of the 2021 Slalom Crystal Globe and World Champion in Cortina, faced a highly challenging 2022-2023 season, finishing in the Slalom Top-10 just twice.
Katharina Liensberger was the latest Austrian woman to win a World Cup Slalom in Åre on March 12, 2022.
Leona Popovic finished second on Sunday's Slalom in Levi. It was her second Alpine Ski World Cup podium.
Last season, Zrinka Ljutic (3rd in Špindlerův Mlýn) and Leona Popovic (2nd in Soldeu) recorded the first Slalom podiums for Croatia in the Women's World Cup since Ana Jelusic in 2007.
Janica Kostelic (30), Ivica Kostelic (26), and Filip Zubcic (3) are the only three Croatian skiers to have won a race in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Anna Swenn-Larsson finished fifth in the Slalom standings last season. Her best Slalom standings finish was a fourth place in 2018-2019.
Swenn-Larsson shared the first place with Holdener at the Slalom event held in Killington last season. At the age of 31, the Swede became the oldest debut winner in a World Cup event.
Anna Swenn-Larsson had achieved eight Slalom podiums in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Laurence St-Germain became World Champion in the Slalom at the 47th Alpine World Ski Championships in Meribel on February 18. She left the US favorite Mikaela Shiffrin behind by 0.57 seconds. Bronze went to German Lena Duerr (+0.69). For the second time, a Canadian won the world title in Slalom. Anne Heggtveit achieved this feat in 1960 in Squaw Valley.
St-Germain's best result in a World Cup Slalom event was fifth place in Åre on March 11, three weeks after becoming a world champion.
Michelle Gisin celebrated in Linez her first Top-3 of the season and returned to the World Cup podium after nine months. Her last podium was in the Super-G in Courchevel-Méribel on March 17, 2023. It was her eighth podium in Slalom in the Alpine Ski World Cup, and the third she has achieved in Lienz.