It's time to ski fast! The FIS Ski World Cup 2015 speed season will open with the men's races at Lake Louise, Canada, on November 29. The world's fastest ladies will follow the week after.
We present the title contenders and let you take a glance behind their masks...
As fate would have it, the speed dominator of previous seasons, Aksel Lund Svindal, winner of five out of six World Cup speed globes in the past three seasons, is recovering from injury.
Watching Lake Louise, Beaver Creek and Val Gardena will be painful. I love those races. And I'm always fast there.
But that won't be the case this year, says Svindal, who's back in the gym for rehab.
One of Svindal's main contenders, American Bode Miller, had back surgery last week, and won't return to racing until the January classics in Wengen and Kitzbühel. Compatriot Ted Ligety broke his left wrist just a few days ago too, and also needed surgery.
Meanwhile, Canadian Erik Guay, a staple at the top of the speed standings, is recovering from a knee operation:
My knee is coming along and getting stronger by the day.
"I'll start skiing December 7 if all goes to plan. If it goes well then I'll meet up with the team in Italy around December 12, to build towards a World Cup start either in Santa Caterina or Wengen. World Champs aren't out of the question and I would love to be race-ready by then," says Guay.
In the absence of so many stars, the stage is set for challengers to deliver a season of their dreams. So we asked Aksel Lund Svindal and Erik Guay to give us their best bets on who they think will be on top?
"It's always hard to tell. Matthias Mayer, Hannes Reichelt, Kjetil Jansrud, Dominik Paris, and Christof Innerhofer. They're for sure names to look out for. It'll be interesting to watch!", says Svindal.
"It's a bummer about Aksel but it opens the door for others. Maybe Jansrud, or Reichelt? It's a tough one to call," notes Erik Guay.
Leading the list of the fastest guys for 2015 seems to be Norwegian Kjetil Jansrud, who landed two Olympic medals in Sochi, and Hahnenkamm 2014 winner, Hannes Reichelt of Austria.
Add to the mix the Italians in their new red devil suit, led by Christof Innerhofer and Dominik Paris, the 24-year-old Olympic downhill champion Matthias Mayer from Austria, and the Canadians, spearheaded by Jan 'Panda' Hudec.
On the ladies' side, all eyes will be on Lindsey Vonn, who plans her comeback in the season's first downhill training run at Lake Louise on December 2. The place is also known as 'Lake Lindsey', since Vonn has won there a whopping 14 times.
The ladies eager to steal the glory from Vonn include 2014 overall World Cup champion Anna Fenninger, downhill gold medalists Tina Maze and Dominique Gisin.
Others are betting on Lara Gut, the talented Swiss racer who seems ready to rock. And let's not forget Liechtenstein's Tina Weirather, who is looking for revenge following injury in the middle of last season.
Check back soon for an update on Lindsey Vonn's return to racing and make sure to follow us on Facebook!
