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The defender: Lara Gut-Behrami

Two years ago in Cortina d'Ampezzo (Italy), the Swiss impressed, winning the super-G and giant titles, and finishing third in the downhill.

Olympic super-G champion in Beijing last year, the 31-year-old skier is not dominant in the World Cup this season.

Always well placed, it only won the second race at Saint-Anton (Austria) a little less than a month ago.

But his record (eight world medals, three Olympics) says a lot about his ability to shine at global events.

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Favorite: Federica Brignone

What a demonstration!

During the combined on Monday, the opening race of the Worlds, the Italian gratified the Méribel public with a superb performance, built during the super-G of the first round (first), where she finished well ahead of Gut-Behrami .

Inevitably, her victory gives her the label of favorite for the super-G, where she will try to obtain her third medal at the Worlds.

Will a new duel between Gut-Behrami and Brignone take place on the Roc de Fer?

The two skiers had in any case shared the victories during the two super-Gs of Sankt-Anton.

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The Frenchwoman: Romane Miradoli

The only Frenchwoman to be on a World Cup podium this winter, during the super-G of Saint-Moritz (Switzerland), Romane Miradoli perhaps represents the best chance of the tricolor clan.

Frenchwoman Romane Miradoli during the combined slalom of the Alpine Skiing World Championships, in Méribel, February 6, 2023 © Lionel BONAVENTURE / AFP

However, she finished the combined super-G sixteenth, behind Tessa Worley and Laura Gauché, tied for eleventh.

“Since my victory in Lenzerheide (Switzerland) in March 2022, I tell myself that I can do it, I have acquired a certain confidence in my skiing, with also the ability to bounce back after less good races, she assured in upstream of the competition. A status of leader is better to assume it than to postpone it, but I don't necessarily think about it."

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The number: 1

This season, five skiers have won in as many super-Gs contested, which makes the World Championships event particularly open.

In addition to Brignone and Gut-Behrami, the Swiss Corinne Suter, silver medalist in the discipline in Cortina d'Ampezzo, and the American star Mikaela Shiffrin, world champion in Are (Sweden) in 2019, dominated a Cup race world.

American Mikaela Shiffrin during the combined slalom of the Alpine Skiing World Championships in Méribel, February 6, 2023 © Jeff PACHOUD / AFP

Among these champions, beware of Shiffrin, who will want to make up for her infuriating failure during the combined, where she had missed one of the last gates of the slalom, while victory was within her reach.

© 2023 AFP