Meribel World Cup Ski Finals 2015

Whilst I was inspecting the men’s downhill I was feeling pretty scared. There were some big jumps and the course went really straight so I knew it would be fast. The fastest men went from 0-100kmph in the first ten seconds of the course! The light was really bad and you couldn’t see any of the bumps so I took it pretty easily and I was surprised that I wasn’t scared at all when I crossed the finish line and I actually really enjoyed it. The ladies course then seemed almost easy after having skied the men’s! On race day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky so I could really let my skis run and go for it. I had the best time ever and I couldn’t believe that I had actually done a men’s World Cup Downhill and survived it!

Lindsey Vonn took home the win for the ladies downhill and also took home the Overall World Cup Downhill title which is an amazing feat for the speed queen returning from injury. The men’s race was won by the Norwegian speed demon Kjetil Jansrud followed by Didier Defago who ended his incredibly successful skiing career the following day at the age of 37.

The following day was the Super G. Although I was originally meant to be forerunning I was put on reserve and so I didn’t get a run. I still got to hang out in the start though and watch the competitors get ready to race. I had my fingers and toes crossed that Lindsey Vonn would win and even after I stood by her as we watched Anna Fenniger’s fantastic run she still brought home another victory, her 67th win and her 20th overall title. She won by 5 tenths of a second proving that she really was the best woman speed skier of the season.

The men’s brought a surprise win for Dustin Cook, his first ever WC win, just 5 hundredths of a second ahead of Jansrud who was only 3 hundreths of a second in front of the French man Brice Roger. This was also Roger’s first ever WC podium and it was wonderful that it happened for him on home soil. Only 11 hundredths separated fifth and first place so I was on the edge of my seat the throughout the whole race!

The speed events were now over so it was onto the slalom and giant slalom which were the deciding races for the Overall Season titles. The Men’s GS was a surprise with the young Norwegian, Henrik Kristoffersen winning by nearly a second and the German Fritz Dopfer and French man Thomas Fanara finishing the podium. The favourites Alexis Pinturault, Ted Ligety and Marcel Hirscher all finished far off the lead. The girls race was won by Mikaela Shiffrin allowing her to win her third Slalom Overall title in a row and she’s only just turned 20. She was followed by Frida Hansdotter, only 5 hundreths behind. The highlight for me was to see Veronika Zuzulova from Slovakia in third place. I think it’s brilliant that some top nations and skiers were knocked off the podium by this upcoming slalom super star.

Today was the last day of races and despite the weather being near catastrophic both races were able to run. Anna Fenninger won the ladies GS ahead of her Austrian team mate, Eva Maria Brem and the Slovenian Tina Maze. This meant that Fenninger took home the Overall GS globe and the ultimate prize, the overall title for the season. Today was the turn of the men to tackle the slalom. Hirscher showed that he could still be the fastest on the hill by winning by 8 tenths of a second. The podium was completed by the Italian Giuliano Razzoli and the Russian Alexander Khoroshilov. The French favourite Alexis Pinturalt missed out on the podium by just 2 hundreths of a second. Hirscher broke the world record this year by winning his fourth overall title in a row.

There weren’t too many surprises in Meribel for the overall titles but there a few up and coming skiers that have made their mark in Meribel that will be ones to watch when the next World Cup season comes around in December.

My season is long from over as this week the Delancey British Championships are on in Tignes. I have a lot of titles to defend from last year so hopefully I can ski my best and fast!