+ The program for the weekend
Saturday: Giant Slalom, ladies (10.00/13.00)
Sunday: Giant Slalom, men (10.00/13.00)
TV6/Viaplay broadcasts.
+ Comeback 1
The most unexpected comeback is made by Marcel Hirscher, five years after he retired. But now the 35-year-old Austrian, who won the overall World Championship eight years in a row from 2012 to 2019, will not compete for his home country but for his mother's homeland, the Netherlands.
+ Comeback 2
Norwegian Lucas Braathen put his skis on the shelf last year, at just 23 years old, after a conflict with the Norwegian Federation. One season later, he's making a comeback – for Brazil, since his mother is from there.
+ The top favorite and the challenger
He has won the overall World Championship three years in a row and the Sölden competitions the last two times. Swiss Marco Odermatt thus has to live with a big favorite tag ahead of the weekend.
Countryman Loic Meillard was the only one who could challenge Odermatt in giant slalom last year and won the competition where Odermatt went out. Therefore, he is seen as the top challenger in the premiere competition.
+ Shiffrin on her way to 100
Giant Mikaela Shiffrin finished last spring a injury-plagued season with a total of 97 World Championship wins. That she will reach 100 this winter is hardly in doubt, the question is only when and in which disciplines the wins will come. Last season, she won one in giant slalom and was on the podium four times.
+ The 30-plussers are still going strong
Swede Sara Hector, 32, Italian Federica Brignone, 34, and 33-year-old Swiss Lara Gut-Behrami were third, second, and first in the giant slalom cup last time. Hector won one competition last season and took three more podiums. Lara Gut-Behrami won the giant slalom cup and can become the most victorious woman in Sölden, having three wins so far.
+ Eight Swedes in Sölden
The giant slalom slope on the Rettenbachglacier above Sölden is not usually a favorite for the Swedes. These are participating in the premiere this weekend: Sara Hector, Lisa Nyberg, Hanna Aronsson Elfman, Hilma Lövblom, and Estelle Alphand, Mattias Rönngren, William Hansson, and Fabian Ax Swartz.
+ Missing
Olympic gold medalist Petra Vlhova is still not back after a knee operation and the Slovak does not know when she is ready for a comeback. Norwegian star Aleksander Aamodt Kilde, who crashed badly in the downhill in Wengen last winter, will be out for the entire season.
