As part of Alpine Skiing, the Women’s Giant Slalom will take place on February 18 and has a start time of 5:30 am (ET). The event will be televised live at www.nbcolympics.com or you can check your local listings to find out when you can catch the action on television, tape-delay style. Odds for the top 15 in the event are listed below, with a slightly detailed look at the top 6 in the field.
What is the Giant Slalom? In the giant slalom, the gates are moderately close together, requiring the skier to make tight turns (though not as tight as Slalom) while maintaining high speeds (though not as fast as the Super G or Downhill). With 46 - 58 gates on a course, the event is classified as a technical event over a speed event, but the skiers can still reach speeds around 50 mph.
Anna Fenninger (Austria) is the favorite at 4/1 odds. Anna has some momentum after taking gold in the Super G a few days ago. It’s her only medal of these games so far as she finished 8th in the Super Combined and did not finish the Downhill. The Giant Slalom is one of her better events as she has finished 2 and 4th in the World Cup standings the last 2 years and 4 of her 5 career victories coming into Sochi, where in the Giant Slalom. She just may be primed for another gold medal, but at the very least should find herself on the podium somewhere.
Jessica Lindell-Vikarby (Sweden) is next at 5/1 odds. Jessica has compete at just one event at Sochi and that was the Super G, an event which she did not finish. This is her third Olympics and she has yet to medal in any of them. Jessica has compete in just the Super G and Giant Slalom in here career and this is her better event. She does have one win in each event on the World Cup circuit, but has finished 8th and 10th the last 2 years in Giant Slalom, compared to 26th and 10th in the Super G. She just may be ready for her first Olympic medal.
Lara Gut (Switzerland) is next on the list at 6/1 odds. Lara has had a pretty consistent Olympics as she finished 2nd in the Downhill portion of the Super Combined, before not finishing the Slalom portion. She then won bronze in the Downhill, before finishing 4th in the Super G. This is not her best event as just 1 of her 8 career World Cup wins have come in the Giant Slalom. She did have a solid 2013, finishing 6th in the Giant Slalom World Cup standings, after finishing 17th and 28th the two years prior. Lara has been consistent leading up to and including the Olympics and just may walk away with another medal here.
Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) is next at 7/1 odds. Of the 5 Alpine disciplines, Mikaela takes part in just the Giant Slalom and Slalom, so this will be the first event at these games for the 18 year old U.S. star. She has been racing on the World Cup circuit since she was 16 and has 7 career wins (all in the Slalom), while getting to the podium 14 times, with 11 in the Slalom, 2 in the Giant Slalom and 1 in the Parallel Slalom. In 2013 she finished 19th in the Giant Slalom Standings, while finishing 1st in the Slalom standings.
Tina Maze (Slovenia) is next at 8/1 odds. Tina has been very consistent in these games as she finished 4th in the Super Combned, 5th in the Super G and she won the gild in the Downhill. This is a very good event for Tina as she finished in the top 6 in the Giant Slalom World Cup rankings in each of the last 5 years and in 2-13 she won the season title in Giant Slalom. In her career, 13 of Tina's 23 races won have come in the Giant Slalom. Clearly one of the favorites for this event.
Maria Hoefl-Riesch (Germany) is next at 9/1 odds. Maria has had a nice Olympics so far as she took the gold in the Super Combined and won the silver in the Super G. She now has 4 career medals in the Olympics, with 3 of them being gold. Maria has finished in the top 10 in the Giant Slalom in 3 of the last 4 years, but no better than 6th in any of those years. Maria has 27 career wins, but none of them have been in the Giants Slalom. This is by far her weakest event, but still she is a threat to do damage any time she touches the snow.
Other Notable Skier's Odds For The Giant Slalom... Katrin Zettel- Austria (14/1)... Maria Pietilae-Holmner- Sweden (14/1)... Viktoria Rebensburg- Germany (16/1)... Federicia Brignone- Italy (18/1)... Anemone Marmottan- France (33/1)... Julia Mancuso- USA (33/1)... Marie-Michele Gagnon- Canada (33/1)... Nadia Fanchini- Itally (33/1)
Prediction: I will look at Tina Maze to take his one as it is by far her best event, with 13 of her 23 career wins coming in the Giant Slalom. I like the very consistent Lara Gut to take the silver, while Jessica Lindell-Vikarby should grab the bronze. Should be a very good race and would be surprised at all if Mikaela Shiffrin was able to sneak her way on to the podium.
Many thanks to Wikipedia and Bleacher Report for providing the info needed for this article.
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