Will Feller fix the ball in Aspen?

The tech-heavy finals at the Alpine Ski World Cup continue in Aspen.

The men will compete in three races from Friday to Sunday before returning to Europe. Manuel Feller is banking on Sunday's potential crowning slalom event and wants to avoid one of the two giant slalom races in the Rocky Mountains. Marco Odermatt could collect the next crystal ball and tie his streak.

On the hunt for records

Odermatt has already won eleven races this winter. This means that we are not far from the record of 13 wins in a season, which is held by the Swiss himself along with the trio of Ingemar Stenmark, Hermann Meyer and Marcel Hirscher. In the giant slalom World Cup, the 26-year-old leads Croatia's Filip Zubcic by 386 points with four races remaining. He has ten RTL wins in a row across all seasons. In Aspen, the giant slalom takes place at 6:00 pm and 9:00 pm CET (Friday live ticker>>>, Saturday live ticker>>>), Sunday at 5:00 pm and 8:00 pm CET ( live ticker >> >).

Feller wants to make a positive impact on the former silver mining town and today's posh city. The (second) American tour of the season, which is controversial for environmental and resource reasons, usually has his blessing. “It's good advertising for skiing; ratings at home are also relatively good.” The Tyrolean sees four technical weekends in a large but dense program. In Aspen, the conditions for the athletes will look relatively tough, with the canceled giant slalom in Solden also postponed.

A review of the racing calendar

“The person who planned this was definitely not driving himself,” Feller said. The 31-year-old cited jet lag, five races in nine days and Kranjska Kora next weekend. Feller said calendar planners have already been billed for several injuries this winter.

After a seventh-place finish in the giant slalom at Palisades Tahoe, Rafael Haaser is looking at similar parts again. “Maybe there's more to see, but overall I'm very satisfied.” Tech races last at Aspen in 2017 (RTL winner: Marcel Hirscher), new territory for him as well. “The path is easy, it has everything, it's important to hit the exit in the flat well.”

Stefan Brennsteiner wants to forget the “bitter defeat” of his failure. “I think I didn't bring enough confidence into it. Going to work with confidence is what I plan to do going into Aspen,” said Brensteiner, who usually gets faster and faster at the end of the season. With just two top ten finishes, the Salzburg player has so far fallen well short of his own expectations.