The alpine Worldcup season 23I24 is a wrap
The 23I24 alpine racing season was a season of highs and lows for Fischer, with some notable highlights and a happy ending. In addition to Bryce Bennett's (USA) great weekend in Val Gardena, Daniel Yule's (SUI) record victory in Chamonix, a perfect finish by Stefan Rogentin (SUI) and several other podium places, Raphael Haaser's (AUT) third place in the overall Super G standings was certainly the biggest highlight in a season with many race cancellations and sometimes difficult conditions. The #fischerracefamily has once again proven that it is competitive and can challenge for the podium in every race.
Val Gardena in Italy remains a good place to be, both for the US skiers and for service legend Leo Mussi. Bryce Bennett (USA) once again shocked the entire World Cup circuit with his second victory in the dolomites. Starting with a high bib, Bryce crashed in the finish area into the celebrations of Alexander Aamodt Kilde (NOR) and Marco Odermatt (SUI), which had already begun. The two leaders were already giving interviews for the international TV stations when Bryce raced down the mountain with bib number 34 and turned the result on its head.
Bryce's victory on Thursday and the cancelations of the previous races meant that the US skier was given the red bib for the second downhill in Val Gardena as the discipline overall leader. And in the second downhill in the Dolomites, the American also proved that Thursday's result was no fluke and secured another podium finish. Shoutout to Bryce and his service man genius Leo Mussi, who was able to celebrate his 8th victory in Val Gardena as the responsible service man.
But it wasn't just Bryce who took a podium place in Val Gardena, Daniel Hemetsberger (AUT) also took his chance and finished second in Friday's Super-G. Unfortunately, this was the last podium finish of the season for the Austrian, who had to withdraw from the World Cup due to knee and back problems. Come back stronger, Daniel!
Madonna di Campiglio in Italy has already given us one or two reasons to get into the festive mood before Christmas in recent years. This year was no exception, with Dave Ryding (GBR) once again standing on the podium. The experienced slalom specialist from Chorley showed once again that he is improving year on year. Although this was his only podium finish this season, Dave ended up in 7th place in the overall slalom rankings - the best season of his entire career!
Raphael Haaser's (AUT) first coup! With a strong performance on the icy Stelvio piste in Bormio, the Austrian all-rounder showed his skills and finished in second place, beaten only by Marco Odermatt (SUI). And that wasn't the only podium finish this season, more will follow...
The surprise of the season: Dominik Raschner (AUT) on the podium in Adelboden. The race on the famous Chuenisbergli is known for the incredible atmosphere when the athletes tackle the last steep slope to the finish stadium. And the Austrian took advantage of this atmosphere, putting in an incredibly strong performance and finishing on the World Cup podium for the first time. After finishing in 16th place after run 1, he put in the fastest second run and climbed 13 places onto the podium.
Always a highlight on the race calendar, especially when you're up against the athletes with the yellow skis! Kristoffer Jakobsen (SWE) managed to break through, was in the lead after the first run and almost brought it home that day. A second place on the Ganslernhang is probably the biggest success of his career so far. But Daniel Yule (SUI) also showed once again that he and the Hahnenkamm races go well together and finished in third place. Overall, the #fischerracefamily put in an unparalleled performance with six athletes in the top 15! What a performance!
Raphael Haaser's (AUT) second attempt led to his second podium finish of the season, another 2nd place in the Super-G in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (GER). This result put him on the overall super-G podium and with continued solid performances he managed to hold onto 3rd place until the end of the season.
Daniel Yule (SUI) gave us a record day on February 6th. With an unprecedented performance, the Swiss slalom specialist skied from 30th place after run 1 to first place and won the slalom in Chamonix (FRA). Of course he benefited from the degrading slope conditions, but the second run was still a masterpiece. With this victory, Daniel Yule will forever be written in the history books of ski racing.
Stefan Rogentin (SUI) provided the final highlight of the season. The Swiss speed specialist claimed his first ever World Cup victory in the Super G final in Saalbach (AUT). With bib number 6, he was able to produce a perfect run and was framed on the podium by two other Swiss racers, Loic Meillard and Arnaud Boisset. What a way to end a solid season!
We've already mentioned it, third place in the overall Super G standings for Raphael Haaser (AUT) is proof of his consistently strong season. With six top 15 finishes in seven races, including four top 10 finishes and two second places, he joined Marco Odermatt (SUI) and Vincent Kriechmayr (AUT) on the podium, closely followed by Stefan Rogentin (SUI). This is definitely an achievement that we can build on and we are already looking forward to next season.
In addition to all the podium finishes, we had a solid team that collected points week after week. Some of them had certainly set themselves higher goals for this season, but some of them also achieved surprisingly strong results. Luca Aerni (SUI), AJ Ginnis (GRE), Stefan Brennsteiner (AUT), Elian Lehto (FIN), Fadri Janutin (SUI), Billy Major (GBR), Sam Morse (USA) and Jett Seymour (USA) were always ready to finish in the points and perform at the highest level for Fischer.
Austrian slalom specialist Katharina Huber (AUT) had a solid season in the women's campaign with several top 10 finishes and a 10th place in the overall slalom rankings. In one or two races she was even in a more promising position, but in the end she still had the most successful season of her career to date. Neja Dvorak (SLO) also got stronger and stronger towards the end of the season and managed two top 10 finishes with a 4th place at the finals in Saalbach.
Also worth mentioning are Ricarda Haaser's (AUT) top 10 finish and Lisa Hörnblad's (SWE) comeback after a long injury break. Simone Wild (SUI) and Lara Della Mea (ITA) were able to add their names to the points lists throughout the season and Charlie Guest (GBR) ended her career after a season full of ups and downs.