World Cup women prepare to kick off season in Soelden

SOLDEN, Austria — With new snow arriving early in Solden the tone has been set for the women’s World Cup opening giant slalom race on the Rettenbach glacier high above this Austrian village. Unlike recent World Cup opening races which have been bothered by warm weather, this year winter seems to have arrived early.

Mega-champion Lindsey Vonn begins her quest for a fourth overall World Cup title. With three overalls, she is the lady with the most wins since the legendary Annemarie Moser Proell took a record six of the oversized World Cup globes back to her village of Kleinarl, Austria. (Vreni Schneider, Janica Kostelic and Petra Kronberger also won three overall titles).

Vonn will be racing with the nation’s most decorated female Olympic alpine medalist, Julia Mancuso, who promises to challenge for the overall title this season.  Mancuso will be joined by Vail veteran and mom, Sarah Schleper. The final U.S. starter is former NorAm champion Megan McJames.

The U.S. squad will have plenty of challenges on this course which is considered by many to be the toughest the women race all year. Not only will a strong German team be headed by last year’s GS discipline winner, Kathrin Hoelzl, they will be a major threat as they get ready for their World Championships in Garmisch-Partenkirchen and the French may mount a strong showing as well.

Lara Gut, the young Swiss sensation thought by many to be the next star of the women’s circuit, is expected to be back after missing last season with a dislocated hip.

“Now it is up to the girls,” said U.S. alpine women’s head coach Alex Hoedlmoser. And indeed the U.S. team is healthy and looks physically ready for tomorrow’s test.

“The course is a bit soft now, but hopefully the organizers can slip some of the softness out,” Hoedlmoser added.

The European techno disco music is beginning to pound here and the fan clubs are pouring into town. It will be show time for the 2010 – 2011 Alpine World Cup season in less than 12 hours.

Fans can tune in to Universal Sports for coverage of Soelden with the races airing same-day on television.

For complete, official results, full stories, images and calendars from the World Cup this season right on your iPhone or iPod touch, click here to download the Ski Racing app for free.

Image: Maria Riesch (l) and Lindsey Vonn scope the course in Soelden. (Gepa)