Val d’Isere, France – Sweden’s Anja Paerson is out for a record tally of medals while Norway’s Aksel Lund Svindal will be seeking to repeat his feat of two golds.

But while the two Scandinavians will be highly fancied, the medals at the 2009 alpine ski world championships will be hotly contested in a season which has produced many potential winners.

Lindsey Vonn of the United States, whose all-round strength has again propelled her to the top of the World Cup standings, goes to Val d’Isere with high hopes of going at least one better than two years ago in Are, Sweden when she won silver in downhill and super-g.

“The downhill and super combined are important for me and I will just have to see how it goes in the slalom and super-g,” she said after winning the super-g in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany on Sunday.

Vonn, whose medals in Are came before an injury to her right knee forced her to miss her final two events, said in a recent interview the world championships would be something of a trial run for next year’s Vancouver Olympics.

“Hopefully it will go well, but it’s not going to be the end of my life if I don’t win a gold, but it’s definitely my goal,” she said.

If Vonn is a good bet for a gold, the men’s disciplines in the February 2-15 championships are wide open.

Croatian Ivica Kostelic leads the overall standings ahead of France’s Jean-Baptiste Grange and Austrian Benjamin Raich, and all three could do well in the technical disciplines.

Raich will be part of a strong Austrian challenge with slalom specialists Reinfried Herbst, Manfred Pranger and defending champion Mario Matt also in the frame.

Last season’s World Cup slalom winner Manfred Moelgg of Italy is also returning to form, as witnessed by his victory Sunday in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, while Julien Lizeroux joins Grange in providing a challenge for France before home fans.

The 10 disciplines produced seven winners in Are, and at least five of these will be back to defend their titles.

Daniel Albrecht, super combined gold medallist in 2007, who is still in an induced coma following his downhill training crash in Kitzbuehel on January 22, will be missed by a Swiss team which nevertheless looks well equipped to mount a strong challenge.

The nation now has high hopes for a victory in the blue-riband downhill after Didier Defago won the downhill classics in Wengen, Switzerland and Kitzbuehel.

Team-mates Didier Cuche and Ambrosi Hoffmann could stand in his way, while World Cup leader Michael Walchhofer is among a number of other top contenders.

An ankle injury has prevented Bode Miller of the United States of producing his best form so far this season but the reigning World Cup champion cannot be written off.

The Swiss also have exciting prospects in 17-year-old Lara Gut, Dominique Gisin and Carlo Janka who have all chalked up World Cup wins this season as the traditional alpine ski nation emerges from the shadows of neighbour and rival Austria.

Germany are meanwhile banking on Maria Riesch, who will start as favourite in the slalom, for a first individual medal for the nation for eight years. Defending slalom champion Sarka Zahrobska of the Czech Republic seeks a third successive world championship medal in the discipline after gaining bronze in Bormio in 2005.

Paerson will challenge in all disciplines, with the Swede returning to the form which gave her a hat-trick of golds in 2007.

She has more than proved she has championship-winning mentality after earning a total of five Olympic medals, including a slalom gold, and seven world championship golds.

She is now only four medals behind the all-time record holder Christl Cranz of Germany, who won 15 in total at world championships.

Svindal, 2007 downhill and giant slalom champion, won downhill and super-g races in December and was second in the super-g in Kitzbuehel to demonstrate he is back in contention after returning from serious injury which wiped out virtually all of the previous season. (dpa)