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2021 & 2022 Notes: 3 On The Cusp; 4 I Overlooked.




2 August 2023 -- These are original notes, unchanged from post-season 2021 and 2022.

2020 Overall and Discipline rankings were included for recent reference/context.


2022 WC POST On cusp

2021 Women’s WC post-notes – On career cusp?

7/22 Post notes in Arial Narrow (Calibri italic here)


A few stalwarts who have performed consistently well for 7-10 years—recently in contention but stymied by injury, or healthy but outside elite status. Perhaps in career twilight; hope to crank back up.

Tessa Worley – Reluctant categorization. Elite GS (1 globe, 5 podium seasons, 2 Worlds gold), competitive SG; inopportune injuries and no SL/DH kept her from top Overall standings. Still in GS form—2022 pivotal for sustaining top ranking. Mainstay of French team; I suspect she’ll remain for a few more seasons even if performance weakens. (age 31)

2021 12th 479 pts. GS-3d SG-17th

2020 29TH 231 pts. GS-8th SG-30th

2022 8th 747 pts. GS-1 SG-13

Oh Yeah. Big-time season performance. 9xGS: 2x1st; 2xpodium; 4xtop-5; 1x 8th. Needed every point, as Sara Hector ran a come-back year FTA. Tessa’s totally jazzed re globe; must be psyched for 22-23. She’s healthy. I see no reason she won’t contend again. Robinson, Hrovat, Bassino, Lara GB rebound and Shiffrin, Hector, Vlhova continuation…severe competition. (I’m realizing that GS is most competitive discipline.) Beijing GS DNF a bummer; I bet she’s itching for another globe and Worlds medal to seal a legacy w/o Olympic medal. Will be loaded for GS bear.



Tamara Tippler – Perhaps unfair here. Late blooming speed skier—2021 best season by far. Hasn’t lost time to injury that I know of. Could be entering prime and several seasons as a consistent SG/DH top-10. Must build on/at least sustain last season’s results. Spunky and confident. I suspect she’s important for team spirit. (age 30)

2021 11th 483 pts. DH-7th SG-4th

2020 30th 217 pts. DH-21st SG-18th

2022 21st 399 pts. DH-24th SG-7th

Ran full (18 race) speed campaign. Big DH fall-off—only 1 top-10 in 9 starts. What’s up? SG: 2 early-season podiums; 4th last race; 2 other top-10s. Health and pluck keep her A-team spot safe, I reckon. I’m bummed she didn’t catch bronze in Beijing SG – 0.10 behind Gisin! Tamara deserved it, or, could really use it to increase her visibility. She’s an archetypal steady-Eddy athlete, no attitude issue AFAICT; always ready to go. Hopefully this treading water season presages a 10-place DH improvement and top-5 SG. A tough goal.



Nicole Schmidhofer – Val d’Isere crash disastrous for this sparky racer, and for WC circuit. Elite speed patiently evolved and arrived big-time: 2017 World Championships DH gold; 2019 DH globe. Lost season means blank slate—rehab and training has either worked or it hasn’t. Career may be in balance—I’ll bet Nici goes ape and finishes top 10 in DH and/or SG. At least, please don’t be re-injured. Not shy. She has gift of gab and a visible public future, I’d think. (age 32)

2021 Unclassified

2020 13th 445 pts. DH-9th SG-3d

2022 109th 16 pts. SG-45th

NICI!! Worst unlucky injury I’ve seen: Val d’Isere netting failed, I say. Ran a few WC early races, but wasn’t ready. Wisely backed off and back to gym. (No EC starts shows it wasn’t a matter of lower-echelon practice.) She must badly want to compete this season, then decide upon future. I don’t know how insane she is—if she goes for broke post-injury cum Vonn, she should contend.




2 August 2023 -- Original notes from July 2022. Brief; didn’t expand/add to list. Posting in spirit of disclosing fully the examinations that helped lure me onto my WAWC path.


2022 WC POST – Overlooked earlier

7/22 notes

More to come

Competitors I didn’t evaluate last year. Some are egregious omissions, others on come-back track and off my radar. So, these are first-time notes, though I’ll try to catch up via thoughts re earlier performances.

Ragnhild Mowinckel - Huge oversight. Lovely personality—exuberant, optimistic, very friendly, funny. Pyeongchang DH and GS silver. Missed 2020 injured knee; on come-back tear. I’m pulling for her big-time. Fixture on Norwegian team for as long as she wants. Head and shoulders her team’s best; 4th Overall 2022 gives her elite status—just a definitive hair beneath the Overall and Discipline competitive heavies. Only competitor besides Shiffrin to finish 2022 top-10 in three disciplines. I don’t see her winning a small globe, but podium for at least one. Scotched SL after 2019 trial; I suspect that will remain the case. One of WC’s most appealing characters. Very smart, too, with impeccable English. University after racing’s over, I bet. Radiant smile, bold eyebrows. (age 29)

(Listing 2019 for perspective; missed 2020 injured, and want three seasons’ results per other folks.)

2019 7th 675 pts. DH-23 SL-38 GS-6 SG-5

2021 29th 230 pts. DH-24 GS-19 SG-16

2022 4th 880 pts. DH-6 GS-7 SG-4 Where would trajectory have placed her without injury? And what a tremendous DH improvement! Ran 7 DH in 2019, with no top-10s. Then 8 in 2022: 5xtop-10, including a 2nd. Finished season strong. Man, she may uncork 2023. I hope so.



Ramona Siebenhofer - Seems quiet, unassuming; unflashy professional. Solid recent record. Would need to research health to put together her story. (Eg. no WC pts 2011-2013) Someone I didn’t cotton to in my initial WC immersion. Steady improvement after low-key early career. Could make a significant move and not surprise WC watchers. (age 30)

2020 27th 250 pts. DH-22 GS-31 SG-31

2021 15th 378 pts. DH-10 GS-12 SG-48

2022 12th 636 pts. DH-4 GS-14 SG-16



Ilka Stuhec – Another bubbly personality—and superb speed talent. 7 wins 2017 to take DH title, 2nd in SG, and 2nd Overall. 2xDH gold at Worlds 2017 & 2019. (Worlds are equivalent to Olympics, IMO.) Alas, late-season knee injury kept her home 2018; solid 2019 comeback hosed by another crash. Hasn’t been same since—out of Speed top 10s. Keeps chugging along. Very appealing, I wish her well. Maybe she’ll be this season’s Sara Hector! (age 32)

2017 2nd 1325 pts. DH-1 SG-2 GS-34 SL-35 A killer speed campaign. 4xDH wins, 2xSG wins, 4 podiums, all others but one top-10; tastes Tech as well. A real gamer. Her and Schmidhofer’s injuries cheated recent speed seasons, IMO.



Conny Huetter – Solid early career speed results, now on strong recovery from knee injuries which hosed 2020 & 2021 seasons. A fine egg—toils happily on her family farm, enjoys escapades with sidekick Tammy Tippler. Citing three disparate seasons to show her path/ability. Seems pretty relaxed, but I bet she’s determined to regain top form. No surprise if she finishes 2023 top-5 in DH. (age 30)

2016 7th 811 pts. DH-5 SG-4

2019 35th 240 pts. DH-13 SG-25 Missed a few races (health issues?) and had a couple DNFs.

2022 21st 399 pts. DH-12 SG-14 Late-season face-plant ended it per concussion caution, I believe.


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