World Cup Kvitfjell: “A Dream Come True”

Kvitfjell finish area: GEPA photos

On March 3-5 the World Cup speed women will conquer the legendary Kvitfjell course in Norway. One downhill and two super-G races will occur on the same hill as the men have raced in the World Cup since 1993. Norwegians Ragnhild Mowinckel and Kajsa Vickhoff Lie are two top contenders who will finally compete in front of a home crowd. Notably, they are among the few women who have trained or raced on the World Cup hill. Mikaela Shiffrin has also trained in Kvitfjell before this week’s races

“This is a dream come true!” Vickhoff Lie exclaims when talking with Ski Racing Magazine about racing the World Cup in Kvitfjell. The 2023 World Championship super-G bronze medalist continues: “I have dreamt of this since I started alpine skiing, that I could race the World Cup at home. Kvitfjell is the speed home arena for all Norwegians. It is mega cool!”

Mowinckel is also happy to finally race the World Cup in Norway. She leads the World Cup super-G standings with a 30-point advantage over Switzerland’s Lara Gut-Behrami. Mowinckel is particularly thrilled about wearing the red leader’s bib in Friday’s super-G, a unique situation on home turf. With three super-G races remaining this season, two in Kvitfjell, she considers the situation exciting while maintaining her calm. As always, Mowinckel wishes to keep her focus on skiing. “Then, one can look at the results afterward,” she tells Ski Racing a few days before the competitions start.

Many in the alpine skiing world will also watch in excitement as they wonder if Shiffrin will tie or surpass Ingemar Stenmark’s record of 86 World Cup victories this weekend.

The Olympic Hill

The women, like the World Cup men in previous years, will now race in Olympiabakken, “The Olympic Hill.” Olympiabakken was the speed event venue during the 1994 Olympic Games in Lillehammer, Norway.

As the Kvitfjell World Cup celebrates its 30^th anniversary, it is also the first time the women will compete in a regular World Cup competition there. Previous women’s World Cup downhill and super-G races in Kvitfjell have been connected to the World Cup Finals in 1993 and 2003. Hence, those competitions were exclusively available to the top-ranked skiers of those seasons.

During the 1994 Olympics and the 2003 Finals, the women raced downhill on the same slope as the women will compete on this year. On the other hand, the 1994 Olympic women’s super-G course used different slopes in the upper section of the race than in this year’s World Cup.

New experience

Racing on Kvitfjell’s World Cup course in Olympiabakken is a new experience for the current generation of women’s World Cup competitors.

For one, this year is the first time the women will ski over the Russi Jump in a super-G competition at Kvitfjell because they will start on Sletten, the slightly flatter area above the Russi Jump. In addition, there are other factors:

There have been European Cup and FIS super-G races at Kvitfjell through the years, and several of the current top World Cup speed racers have competed in these past European Cup events. However, the European Cup super-G races did not take place on the same run used for the World Cup races, but rather on the hill now used as a warm-up hill for World Cup events; Nasjonalanleggsløypa at the top of the mountain. The EC course previously skied by some of this week’s competitors continued around, not over, the Russi Jump and finished only halfway down the mountain compared to the full-length World Cup course. The EC course did not go into Olympiabakken at all.

Super-G FIS races typically occur during the week after the annual Kvitfjell World Cup events. The FIS courses usually start at the Russi Jump and continue down the lower half of Olympiabakken. Vickhoff Lie has participated in two of these FIS competitions in the past, she tells Ski Racing. This possibly makes her the only current women’s World Cup competitor, or one of very few, with race experience on the lower part of the World Cup course.

Training at home

The Norwegian Alpine Team trains at Kvitfjell each April, typically from the men’s downhill start to the flat below the Russi Jump. This has provided both Mowinckel and Vickhoff Lie with a lot of training in the upper section of the course. However, it is typically impossible to do speed training in the lower half of Olympiabakken at that time of the year. Therefore, this January, the whole World Cup course was prepared and secured with safety nets so Mowinckel and Vickhoff Lie could have two days of full-length training on the World Cup race hill. That was a first-time experience for both women.

“Kvitfjell has been a training arena for us during many of the past years. That has been awesome,” Mowinckel says. “We haven’t trained in the lower part often; I think it is two days total. So, that is not a mega advantage, but it is maybe more than most others.”

Benefits of coach’s experience

The Norwegian women can also get first-hand race tips from their speed team head coach, two-time super-G World Champion Atle Skårdal. Skårdal has competed on the Kvitfjell course several times during his ski racing career for Norway, including finishing third in the first-ever World Cup downhill in Kvitfjell in March 1993.

Later, Skårdal worked many seasons as the FIS race director for the women’s World Cup and then as the FIS technical expert. He joined the Norwegian Ski Federation coaching staff last spring, and he has tremendous experience with women’s World Cup races.

Skårdal sees Mowinckel and Vickhoff Lie’s January training as critical, according to this year’s edition of the World Cup Kvitfjell magazine: “When they come to the first training in March, Ragnhild and Kajsa have a psychological advantage. They know the jumps; they know the turns. That means a different sense of security than what the other competitors have.”

Shiffrin training at Kvitfjell

The U.S. World Cup overall leader, Shiffrin, skipped last week’s training and racing in Crans-Montana, Switzerland. Instead, she traveled from the World Championships to Kvitfjell, where she has recharged and trained in cold, wintry conditions. She did gate training on the World Cup warm-up hill, which runs next to the upper part of the World Cup race hill. The top pitch has similar steepness to the race hill, but the top part of the race hill curves down the mountain in a different fashion than the warm-up hill.

Shiffrin has yet to train on the lower part of the World Cup hill but enjoyed a free skiing run there last week, according to the World Cup Kvitfjell magazine. Olympiabakken was open to the public until Saturday evening when the organizer started working on the racecourse.

Shiffrin is familiar with Kvitfjell. Last spring, she joined boyfriend and renowned speed racer Aleksander Aamodt Kilde while he was attending the April training camp with the Norwegian national team.

According to the World Cup Kvitfjell website, Shiffrin and Kilde have not talked much about the course, but she plans to speak with him this week while he is racing in the World Cup in Aspen, Colo. According to the Kvitfjell World Cup website, she has received some initial tips: “Aleks has said that the timing is important, that I need to carry speed in towards the finish. And, of course, that it is all about skiing well.”

Race conditions

The current snow conditions in Olympiabakken are good, according to Kvitfjell Race Director Ole Johan Bjørge.

“We have watered the most demanding turns, the ones that have always experienced the most deterioration. Since we are running two super-Gs, two downhill training runs and one downhill race, we must have a very secure surface,” Bjørge tells Ski Racing two days before the first training run.

“The height and length of the jumps and rolls are reduced, so it is less demanding now than when the men race. There is also less terrain on the course,” Bjørge continues.

As always, FIS is responsible for setting the World Cup downhill course, while one of the national team coaches is elected to set the super-G course. Bjørge assumes the course setters will aim to decrease the speed a bit more than the speed seen during the men’s Kvitfjell competitions. After all, the safety of the racers is always the most crucial aspect during training and racing.

Favorites

There have been five winners in as many World Cup super-G races this year: Corinne Suter, Switzerland; Mikaela Shiffrin, USA; Federica Brignone, Italy; Lara Gut-Behrami, Switzerland; and – most recently – Raghild Mowinckel, Norway. Mowinckel holds the current lead in the super-G standings.

In downhill, Italian Sofia Goggia continues to dominate after winning the last World Cup downhill race in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, on Feb. 26. That was Goggia’s fifth World Cup downhill victory this season and she holds a solid lead in the downhill standings. Only two women’s downhill races remain this season, including Saturday’s competition in Kvitfjell.

The fact that most competitors have little to no race or training experience on the Kvitfjell World Cup hill should make for an exciting race weekend and maybe unpredictable podiums.

Having accumulated training sessions on the upper part of the Kvitfjell race hill combined with recent strong results in downhill and super-G, Mowinckel and Vickhoff Lie might be able to take home another super-G victory or capture the first-ever World Cup downhill victory for a Norwegian woman.

Kajsa’s camp

In addition to working hard towards earning top results, Vickhoff Lie is eager to encourage girls to continue alpine ski racing longer. In particular, she is determined to help Norwegian alpine girls enjoy and excel in speed events.

Vickhoff Lie shares a goal with Ski Racing and says: “I have an idea and I have a dream to organize a speed camp for girls, and I am moving closer to achieving this.”

Maybe Vickhoff Lie’s future training camp will help develop champions who will compete in Kvitfjell.

Celebration

Since 1993, the men have enjoyed World Cup downhill and super-G races in Kvitfjell almost every year through March 2022. Also, local ski racing legend Kjetil Jansrud, who grew up about 30 kilometers from the Kvitfjell finish area, skied his last World Cup race here. He was honored and celebrated in the finish area just one year ago. You can read his ski racing story: Thank you, Kjetil Jansrud.

In 1996, Kvitfjell offered another spectacular day for the home fans. Ingeborg Helen Marken won the women’s super-G during the World Cup Finals – Norwegian women’s only World Cup victory in Norway. On that same day, Norwegians Kjetil André Aamodt won the men’s super-G race, Skårdal won the men’s World Cup super-G title, and Lasse Kjus captured the men’s World Cup overall title.

The women’s World Cup tour last visited Norway in Hafjell in 2006. It is finally time for Norwegian fans to celebrate the best female speed racers again.

Mowinckel hopes this year’s return of the women’s World Cup to Kvitfjell will help increase the interest in women’s alpine skiing in Norway. The Norwegian Alpine Team is impressive with top results on the alpine circuit, but alpine skiing is not the number one national sport in the media and among most people.

Mowinckel, who has raced the World Cup since January 2012, is particularly happy to have all her family and friends present in Kvitfjell so they can experience the World Cup tour up close. “It is awesome with friends and family. Those who haven’t traveled abroad to watch us will now have (a World Cup race) closer and have the possibility to join.”

Mowinckel and Vickhoff Lie are excited to experience the Norwegian home crowd energy in Kvitfjell for the first time.

Race hill stats

The 2023 women’s super-G course will have a 600-meter vertical drop, the maximum FIS regulations allow. The 7,628-foot/2,325-meter-long course starts at 2,566 feet/782 meters.

The women’s downhill course starts higher at the men’s World Cup downhill reserve start. The start is at 2,920 feet/890 meters and the course is 8,694 feet/2,650 meters long. The start is right above Winther’s Cut, the steepest part of the course with a 64% gradient. The finish for both disciplines is at 597 feet/182 meters.

The 2023 Kvitfjell schedule

Friday, March 3: super-G, scheduled start time 10:30 CET.

Saturday, March 4: downhill, scheduled start time 11:00 CET.

Sunday, March 5: super-G, scheduled start time 10:30 CET.

World Cup standings

Coming into the three speed events at Kvitfjell, the World Cup standings are as follows:

Super-G: 1. Ragnhild Mowinckel, Norway (272 points); 2. Lara Gut-Behrami, Switzerland (242 p.); 3. Federica Brignone, Italy (233 p.) Top North American racer: 11. Mikaela Shiffrin, USA (136 p.)

Downhill: 1. Sofia Goggia, Italy (580 points); Ilka Štuhec, Slovenia (401 p.); Elena Curtoni, Italy (288 p.) Top North American racer: 11. Mikaela Shiffrin, USA (176 p.)

Overall: 1. Mikaela Shiffrin, USA (1,697 points); 2. Petra Vlhová, Slovakia (975 p.); 3. Lara Gut-Behrami, Switzerland (926 p.)

Following Kvitfjell, the women will move on to a weekend of giant slalom and slalom races in Åre, Sweden, on March 10-11, before concluding the World Cup season with the Finals in Soldeu, Andorra, on March 13-19.