BORMIO, Italy (AFP) - American Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn are preparing for a nervous five days of racing which could, however, see both simultaneously crowned the king and queen of the prestigious World Cup.
The last time skiers from the US dominated the alpine circuit at the same time in the men's and women's categories was in 1983, when Tamara McKinney joined compatriot Phil Mahre in keeping the Europeans at bay.
In what could be seen as a sign of things to come, Miller has already surpassed Mahre's US record of 27 victories in the World Cup during a season that has seen the former bad boy of the slopes back to his winning best.
And with fellow all-rounder Benjamin Raich now virtually out of contention following another racing setback on Sunday, Miller is being tipped to outshine Swiss speed event specialist Didier Cuche across the four individual events from Wednesday to Saturday on his way to a second overall crown.
Vonn meanwhile is hoping to keep the nerves at bay as she bids to secure a first World Cup overall crown, having already secured the women's downhill title.
The 23-year-old American, formerly known as Kildow, is battling with German sensation Maria Riesch, who won the super-combined crown Sunday when she finished behind Sweden's Anja Paerson in Crans Montana.
Each victory is worth 100 points, with 80 awarded for second place and so on and with four individual races spread over Wednesday to Saturday - the team event bringing the season to a close on Sunday - Riesch still has a chance of closing her 157 point deficit to Vonn.
The German is respectfully aware that to beat her rival, and friend, will not be easy.
"Lindsey is untouchable," said Riesch, who only has a 21-point lead over third placed Nicole Hosp, the reigning overall champion from Austria.
"She (Vonn) has won the downhill globe and is going to win the overall. She can well leave me with the combined."
With ten World Cup downhill wins to her name Vonn has recently became the most successful American in the discipline ahead of Picabo Street and he retired Daron Rahlves, who have nine each.
Miller might not have matched Vonn's rate of success so far this season, but he has shown - following a disastrous Olympics campaign in Turin in 2006 - that he is once more a force to be reckoned with.
Miller sat out a slalom at Kranjska Gora at the weekend because of back pain, with Cuche also failing to race. Raich crashed out after only 15 seconds of racing the slalom, virtually ending his bid for the big crystal globe.
Manfred Moelgg claimed his first career win on Sunday, meaning he closed the gap on slalom leader Jean-Baptiste Grange of France to just 21 points.
After storming to a huge lead in the technical event, Grange will be under pressure to deliver when he duels with Moelgg for the slalom crown on Saturday.
Raich could be reduced to being a simple bystander by the time Miller and Cuche face off in Wednesday's downhill on the steep, and feared Stelvio course here - where Miller claimed his first win of the current season, in January.
While Cuche has performed solidly in the speed events this season, Miller has collected most of his World Cup points from the four disciplines, winning the two-discipline super-combined title on the way.
With a super-G scheduled for Thursday, a giant slalom for Friday and the slalom on Saturday, the smart money would be on Miller finishing high up in the speed events and doing enough in both technical disciplines to keep Cuche at bay.
Those with a penchant for following Miller's exploits will remember that the American won two world titles on the Stelvio course in 2005, when he outshone the fancied Austrians to win the downhill and super-G world titles.
That year, he also won his first overall crown.
