Team 21: Spain

Vincenc Villarula

Diego Ruiz

Women

Laura Orgue

What You May Have Missed Last Season:

On the World Cup, the Spanish were incredibly quiet most of the year. But like a couple of teams (see Canada, Sweden), they had a proportionally  impressive Olympics. Vincenc Villarula finished in 31,  a heart-breaking .1 behind Jean-Marc Gaillard and a top 30 placing. Meanwhile in her three races, Laura Orgue bagged placings of 38, 27 and 36. As for the ageless Diego Ruiz,  he didn’t have such a hot Olympics, but seeing as the 33 year old is now a three-time Olympian, we’ll cut him some slack.

On the plus side, the team has benefited from not having a complete nut-job skiing for them, as Johann Muehlegg apparently was.

What You Should Know For This Season

Spain has been hurting on the World Cup ever since Johann Muehlegg took an FIS-enforced break from the sport after his little incident with something called ‘darbepoetin’ at the Salt Lake City Games. While Muehlegg is German-born, he waved the Spanish flag while winning in Salt Lake in 2002 by over two minutes with brutal technique, in one of the ugliest ski suits ever seen on a race course. Check out those sparkly arm pieces. He later tested positive and had to return his medals.

Should have been pretty obvious to just about everyone…

Who You Should Watch

Laura Orgue has been knocking on the door of the top-30 for the last couple of years. She finished in the top-40 in all three Olympic races, which could mean the 24-year old could squeeze off a few points. At least in distance races, she could become a points-getter – her sprinting could be generously listed as ‘needs improvement’.