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SKIING

Surprise World Cup win for Swedish alpine skier

Sweden's Jessica Lindell-Vikarby raced to a surprise alpine skiing victory on Monday, taking first place in the women’s World Cup Super-G in Cortina, Italy and marking the first World Cup victory of her career.

Surprise World Cup win for Swedish alpine skier

The 24-year-old Swede, who hails from the Stockholm suburb of Huddinge, finished with a time of 1 minute, 25.13 seconds, putting her 0.81 seconds ahead of Austria’s Anna Fenninger and 0.87 seconds faster than Andrea Dettling of Switzerland.

Prior to Monday, the 24-year-old Lindell-Vikarby had only once managed to climb on to a World Cup podium since joining the tour in 2003, having finished third in a Super-G in Lake Louise in December 2007 and her best to date this season had been a fifth place on the same piste again in a Super-G.

“What happened today is a dream,” said Lindell-Vikarby. “I was a bit nervous because I had to wait for the best skiers to go down.

“But I was the best today. Cortina is one of my favourites slopes. Mentally and physically I felt great and I was ready for a podium. I think I had a good run from top to bottom without any major mistakes.”

Meanwhile, a run by teammate Anja Pärson looked promising at the start until the former World Cup and Olympic champion crashed out following an attempted right turn, ramming into the safety net at high speed.

Pärson, who injured her knee at the weekend, was up shortly after the spill, however and made her way down the slope under her own power.

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SKIING

Snow report: What’s the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

Good news for skiers in France, as a mild December has given way to a cold blast in early January that's bringing some much-needed snow.

Snow report: What's the latest outlook for French ski resorts this winter?

After a mostly dry and mild December, snow returned to the the Pyrenees on Friday.

Meanwhile most resorts in the Alps have been able to stay open after a promising early start to the ski season, thanks to fresh snowfalls, with more on the way this weekend.

Pyrenees

Snow has returned in the Pyrenees. Some 5cm fell overnight into Friday, January 5th in eastern parts of the mountain range, with forecasts predicting a further 15cm to 20cm to be on the ground 24 hours later. The region had not seen any snow since December 2nd.

In Angles, 20cm of snow had fallen at higher altitudes by mid-morning on Friday.

Further west, numerous resorts in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département remained closed this week after early December snow had melted in mild conditions that have dominated France in recent weeks, but significant snowfall is expected over the weekend into Monday, and resorts are hoping that they will see enough to open.

One resort, Artouste, has been unable to offer skiing since the start of the season on December 23rd due to a lack of snow. A scenic rail service – usually reserved for warmer months – has kept the resort going. It is set to stop running on Friday, amid expectations of enough snow to finally open the slopes.

READ ALSO Climate crisis: ’90 percent’ of Europe’s ski resorts face critical snow shortages

Alps 

Many ski resorts opened on time, or even a little earlier than scheduled last month, after significant early snow fall, and have enjoyed deposits in the first days of 2024. But, even here, resort managers welcomed the promise of more significant snow this weekend.

Some resorts weren’t so fortunate. Ski areas in Gérardmer, in the Vosges, were still closed in the week leading up to Christmas because of poor snow conditions, but they are hoping for enough snow to finally get started this weekend, while La Bresse-Honeck was using ‘stocked snow’ made by using snow that fell earlier in the winter months to stay open as recently as December 30th.

In the Northern Alps, resorts such as Alpe d’Huez benefited from fresh snowfall on December 22nd, while Val d’Isère had new snow on December 29th. In the Southern Alps, Les Orres’ last pre-New Year snow was on December 8th.

And the French Alps have enjoyed more snow since the start of the year. There’s at least 50cm of fresh snow on the higher slopes of Les Gets and Morzine, for example, a significant improvement on the same time last year, when the resorts were among several that had very little snow to speak of.

In Chamonix, meanwhile, snow has fallen on eight of the last 14 days, with more expected every day between Friday and Monday.

Massif Central

As the post on X / Twitter shows, the Massif Central has not had the best of winters for snow so far. But between 30cm and 50cm is expected in Le Lioran by Monday. 

READ ALSO ‘So many barriers since Brexit’: The French ski businesses no longer willing to hire Brits

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