Two giant slalom races, the athletes of the Austrian national team and a community gathered to celebrate the start of the 26/27 season
Every winter begins somewhere. For the World Cup, it begins in Sölden, where the first gates of the season are set and where, for a few days, the snow becomes the centre of everything.
This year we were there to experience it from the inside. What we found were days of celebration, events and encounters, with the community and, above all, with the athletes.
The weight of an opening weekend
The two giant slalom races brought the tension and emotion that only an opening weekend can carry. Months of preparation meet the first real measure of the season, and every start, every turn and every finish takes on a meaning that goes beyond the result.
Everything around the race
It is everything around the racing, however, that makes this stop so special. The people who travel to celebrate the beginning of winter, the conversations at the edge of the slope, the music that carries on after the last run: these are the moments that give the weekend its character, and the ones that stay with you long after the finish.
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Natyon Biomorph Turtleneck Thermal Jersey
Regular price
1 567,00 kr
Regular price
0,00 kr
Sale price
1 567,00 kr
(Liquid error (snippets/price line 115): Computation results in '-Infinity'% OFF)
Unit price
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With the Austrian national team
We were present with a series of meet and greets with the athletes of the Austrian national team, our hosts on home snow, alongside DJ sets and initiatives dedicated to the community. Meeting the athletes in this setting, away from the timing and the pressure of the gates, is part of what makes the opener so valuable: it is where a team stops being a name on a start list and becomes a group of people.
On the leaderboard
A special congratulations goes to Asja Zenere, Alex Vinatzer, Raphael Haaser, Leo Anguenot, Patrick Feurstein and Franziska Gritsch for their top 10 finishes. It is an excellent way to begin the 26/27 season, and a promising sign of what is still to come.
A season that has only just begun
Sölden is the first stop of a long winter. It sets the tone, but it does not decide the outcome. What it offers is the feeling that everything is possible again, and the reminder that the best moments of a season are rarely the ones that appear on the results sheet.
Here’s to a season that has only just begun.
“An opener is never just a race. It is the celebration around it, the people who come to be close to the athletes and the energy of a season about to begin.”
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