“Every point is important”: Who will get the crystal balls?

In the men's race, Alexis Pinturault's credit in the overall World Cup shrank to 81 points on Sunday. He can already feel Marco Odermatt's breath on his neck. Pinturault came 15th in the Super-G in Saalbach-Hinterglemm, which was actually tailor-made for him and set by his own coach. “It was a big step in the overall World Cup. Every point that you can catch up on is important,” explained the victorious Odermatt. “I expect a great fight until the end.”

Pinturault will certainly give him that, as he has been working towards the big ball for so long, most recently he was second twice. The Frenchman has the advantage of having two more slaloms than Odermatt, who will definitely miss the gate runs. Before the World Cup final in Lenzerheide (from March 17th), the men's program in Kranjska Gora includes a giant slalom and a slalom. Duel Odermatt against Pinturault also in the RTL World Cup The races in Saalbach-Hinterglemm did not result in any decisions in the battle for the men's speed balls. In Lenzerheide it's Austria versus Switzerland twice: Vincent Kriechmayr starts the Super-G with an 83 point lead over Marco Odermatt. Victory in the discipline ranking will be difficult to take away from him. Meanwhile, Beat Feuz is about to win his 4th downhill ball. The Swiss is 68 points ahead of Matthias Mayer. 23-year-old Marco Odermatt is having the season of his life. © APA / HELMUT FOHRINGER

Odermatt is not only breathing down Pinturault's neck in the fight for the big crystal ball, but also in the giant slalom World Cup. With 2 races to go, his lead over the young Swiss is 25 points. But Croatian Filip Zubcic (he is 64 points behind Pinturault) still has a chance. There are also two more races to be held in the Slalom World Cup. With 2 points, Marco Schwarz is the clear favorite to win the small crystal ball. The pursuers, Ramon Zenhäuser (589) and Sebastian Foss-Solevaag (443), are over 405 points behind. Vlhova back in the role of favorite The Slovakian Petra Vlhova scored 180 points at the home World Cup in Jasna and thus achieved an important partial victory in the fight for the overall World Cup. Her competitor Lara Gut-Behrami couldn't get past 9th place in the giant slalom, meaning the Swiss is only 36 points ahead in the overall ranking. The next two races in the women's World Cup are slaloms next week in Åre. Since Gut-Behrami is not competing in this discipline, the technical specialist Vlhova will most likely travel to the final in Lenzerheide as the overall leader. Petra Vlhova has a successful weekend behind her. © APA/afp / VLADIMIR SIMICEK

While the fight for the Super-G and giant slalom balls is already in favor of Gut-Behrami and Martha Bassino has been decided, the starting position in the slalom and downhill remains exciting. With three races to go, Petra Vlhova is in the lead in the Slalom World Cup with 480 points. But Mikaela Shiffrin (435), Katharina Liensberger (410) and Michelle Gisin (375) are lying in wait. Will the injured Goggia get a bullet? Sofia Goggia could win the downhill ball for the second time after the 2/2017 season. Despite her injury, the Italian is still 18 points ahead of Corinne Suter and 70 points ahead of Gut-Behrami. However, Suter would secure victory in the discipline rankings with a second place at the World Cup finals in Lenzerheide. Gut-Behrami could only adorn herself with downhill crystal if she won and her Swiss teammate didn't finish better than 97rd. Switzerland leads the Nations Cup In the Nations Cup the starting position looks clearer. Austria will probably lose out to Switzerland this year too. The gap is over 1.000 points. Italy is in third place, with the women having scored a good two thirds of the points. The Azzurre are in second place in their ranking with 3 points, behind Switzerland (3.629) and ahead of Austria (2).

In the men's category, however, four nations have now scored more points than Italy (4). Namely Switzerland (1.679), Austria (4.721), France (4.657) and Norway (3.438). The Azzurri are currently ranked 2.637th – just ahead of Germany (1.556).

Overall Men's World Cup (after 31 of 37 races): Pos Name Country Points 1. Alexis Pinturault FRA 1.050 2. Marco Odermatt SUI 969 3. Marco Black TUE 718 4. Matthias Mayer TUE 700 5. Vincent Kriechmayr TUE 675 12. Dominic Paris* ITA/Ulten 426 *Best Azzurro

Overall Women's World Cup (after 27 of 33 races): Pos Name Country Time 1. Lara Gut-Bahrami SUI 1.256 2. Peter Vlhova SVK 1.220 3. Michelle Gisin SUI 969 4. Martha Bassino ITA 840 5. Federico Brignone ITA 817

Nations Cup: Pos Country Points 1. Switzerland 9.061 2. Austria 7.692 3. Italy 5.308 4. France 4.214 5. Norway 3.793

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“Every point is important”: Who will get the crystal balls?

Before the final two weeks of racing, the fight for the crystal balls in the Ski World Cup is coming to a head. There will be some exciting decisions made. SportNews has summarized the initial situation.

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