Alpine skiing: Loïc Meillard will be at the start of Levi’s slalom

Loïc Meillard will be well on Sunday at the start of the Levi World Cup slalom. He has recovered from the back injury which forced him to withdraw from the Sölden giants three weeks ago.

“For now, I’m taking it day by day. Being able to line up on Sunday is already a victory for me. It also shows that I have worked well in recent weeks,” said Meillard (28 years old) on the Swiss-Ski X account.

No classic Shiffrin-Vlhova

The two Ski World Cup slaloms on the program for this weekend in Levi (Finland) will be contested on Saturday without the usual duel between the queens of the discipline Mikaela Shiffrin and Petra Vlhova but with the return on Sunday of Marcel Hirscher and Lucas Pinheiro Braathen between the stakes.

Since 2016, the slaloms in the small Finnish resort, located beyond the Arctic Circle, have been one after another and have been similar, with a victory for Mikaela Shiffrin or Petra Vlhova each time.

The American and the Slovak have been crushing the discipline for eight years but Vlhova decided this year to give up the start of winter, not yet completely ready to return to competition ten months after rupturing her anterior cruciate ligament. right knee.

At 29 years old, the Slovak, imperial in the first slalom in Levi last year before riding in the second when victory was in her arms, should return to competition in the coming weeks.

Deprived of her great rival, Shiffrin therefore seems the huge favorite to achieve a 98th World Cup victory on Saturday – by far the absolute record – and get even closer to the symbolic milestone of 100 successes on the circuit.

Last season, despite a break of a month and a half in the heart of winter to recover from a heavy fall, the American secured the small globe of the specialty by getting on the podium in eight of the eleven winter slaloms, including seven times on the top step.

During the giant opening of the World Cup at the end of October in Sölden (Austria), she dominated the first round before missing out on the second and had to settle for fifth place.

Pinheiro Braathen attendu, Hirscher au départ

Among the men, back in Lapland for the first time since 2019, the passages of the Norwegian now Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and the Austrian now Dutchman Marcel Hirscher will be closely scrutinized on Sunday.

The first, winner of the small slalom globe in 2023, made a dazzling return to the World Cup in Sölden (Austria) three weeks ago.

After a season without competition – he announced his retirement in October 2023 due to a conflict with his federation – and a change of nationality – he now skis for Brazil -, Pinheiro Braathen offered himself a spectacular fourth place in Sölden for his return.

If his successful recovery in Austria makes him a serious candidate for the podium on Sunday, there are many who can claim victory: the winner of the specialty globe last winter, the Austrian Manuel Feller, and his German runner-up Linus Strasser , or the Frenchman Clément Noël.

Levi will also mark the return between the stakes of the former king of skiing Marcel Hirscher, who crushed the discipline during his first career (32 victories in slalom, six small globes in the specialty between 2013 and 2019).

In Sölden for his highly anticipated return to the circuit after five years of retirement, Hirscher won his bet by taking 23rd place in the opening giant, scoring points in his first race.

“This is one of the most emotional days of my career. It was great that it worked so well,” commented Hirscher, 35, after the race.

“It’s time to go scrub the poles, direction Levi!”, wrote on Instagram Hirscher, whose status as a former glory of the sport guarantees him correct bibs at the start, and therefore rather good track conditions.

ATS/AFP

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