Sawt Falasteen - Rivals lurk as Vonn headlines world downhill

It is, however, debatable how realistic Vonn's chances of a podium are, given the quality of likely title contenders.

AFP Sports looks at five things ahead of the downhill at the Austrian resort:

- Venier leads Austrian hopes -

Stephanie Venier streaked to victory in the super-G, and the whole of Austria will be hoping the 31-year-old can retain her form to push for a speed double.

She skied out of the final downhill training on Friday, but heads up a buoyant Austrian team including Mirjam Puchner and Cornelia Huetter.

"It's always good to start like this," Austrian federation CEO Christian Scherer said of Venier's win.

"We always said that the world championships have their own rules and laws, so potentially this will be kind of the breakthrough and we are going to be more on the podium than during the season."

- Goggia heads Italians -

Sofia Goggia will be flying the flag for Italy along with Federica Brignone, who claimed super-G silver and tops the World Cup downhill standings.

Goggia, like Venier, also failed to make it down the final training run, failing to master the last jump which she said had cost her a podium place in the super-G.

But her gung-ho attitude means the 2018 Olympic downhill gold medallist, who won silver in Beijing in 2022, can never be ruled out come race day.

Goggia insisted her takeaway from her fifth-placed finish in the super-G was the "knowledge that I'm skiing well".

"It's something I knew before this race and that has confirmed it."

- Vonn's second bite of cherry -

Cold-ridden Vonn clattered into a gate pole with her arm to dash her super-G hopes.

But the 40-year-old made it down the third downhill training on Friday with no problems.

So all now turns to the downhill in the American's bid for a ninth world medal at her ninth world championships.

"Maybe it's not the result I wanted, but I was in the starting gate and I was enjoying it," Vonn said of the super-G.

"I was focused. I had a great time. I just wish it would have been a better result."

- Snowboard convert Ledecka -

Ester Ledecka surprised everyone when she claimed Olympic super-G gold in the 2018 Pyeongchang Games on skis borrowed from Mikaela Shiffrin, days before a historic double when she also won the parallel giant slalom gold in snowboarding.

She famously refused to take her goggles off in her post-superG race press conference because she hadn't put any make-up on as she didn't expect to be sat on the dais.

The 29-year-old all-rounder, also a reputed windsurfer, has form in Saalbach, having won last year's World Cup super-G on the same Ulli Maier slope.

She is a proven downhiller, with two World Cup victories to her name and seven podium finishes and the gliding nature of the course suits her style.

"It's full of rolling turns, nice jumps," she said. "It's challenging, but I love it!"

- Blue riband event -

The self-proclaimed blue riband event of alpine skiing, the rules for which were drawn up by Briton Sir Arnold Lunn in 1921, is a bone-rattling, danger-laden race which regularly features gruesome crashes.

Dressed only in figure-hugging catsuits, back braces and helmets, the skiing speed queens hurtle down long, steep and icy slopes at speeds sometimes topping 140km/h, with an altitude drop of 500-800m for the women.

The margin of error over the one-run race is tiny for skiers who put their trust into physical form and technical proficiency on the two skis strapped to their feet.

Given the risk involved in downhill racing, skiers have the chance to try out the course three times in training and make regular pre-race course inspections.

B.Mahmoud--SF-PST