The opening round of the 2017/18 Men’s Audi FIS Ski World Cup, a giant slalom at Soelden in Austria, was cancelled when a fierce storm swept across Central Europe so the slalom at Levi in Finland in mid-November will now be first race of the new season which runs into the middle of next March and is shared among more than 30 venues in the northern hemisphere.
Marcel Hirscher won the slalom at Levi last year and went on to claim a sixth overall World Cup title. It’s no surprise that the record-breaking Austrian is only 2/1 with William Hill to be crowned overall champion again in the spring. Hirscher’s speciality is the giant slalom and he won four races in that discipline last winter and never once failed to reach the podium – he also won the World Championship title at St Moritz. An ankle fracture during practice in August did keep the 28-year-old off the slopes for six weeks but such injuries are commonplace for downhill racers and it’s unlikely to impact the Austrian’s hopes of a seventh overall World Cup title.
Kjetil Jansrud is 6/1 with William Hill to be overall World Cup champion at the end of the coming season. The Norwegian, reigning Super G champion, won Downhill events at Val D’Isere and Kvitfjell last winter but he no longer competes in slalom and his record in giant slalom is modest to say the least. The veteran will lose vital points in both disciplines in the next few months.
Jansrud’s fellow countryman Henrik Kristoffersen may be a bigger danger to Hirscher’s domination at a general 5/1. Kristoffersen, still only 24, is a much more agile racer than Jansrud but not as much of an all-rounder as Hirscher. The slalom and giant slalom are the disciplines in which the young Norwegian excels – he won an incredible eight slaloms in the 2016/17 World Cup season – but he does restrict himself to the technical events, which decreases his chances in the overall standings.
Alexis Pinturault, from Courcheval in France, is only 11/4 with William Hill but can be backed at 4/1 elsewhere to become Overall World Cup champion. Pinturault pushes himself to the very limit, sometimes beyond it, but is a solid performer in Super G, Giant Slalom and Slalom and took the lesser Alpine Combined title last season. He’ll pick up points steadily if avoiding injury, though whether it will be enough to outscore Hirscher is another matter.
Men’s Alpine Skiing World Cup Overall Betting
Marcel Hirscher 2/1, Alexis Pinturault 4/1, Henrik Kristoffersen 5/1, Kjetil Jansrud 6/1, Aksel Lund Svindal 8/1, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde 10/1, Felix Neureuther 33/1, Beat Feuz and Dominik Paris 50/1, Vincent Kriechmayr 66/1, Carlo Janka and Ted Ligety 80/1, Peter Fill, Matthias Mayer and Manuel Feller 100/1
