Ledecka and Payer triumph in Cortina PGS fog battle
Aug 31, 2018·Alpine Snowboard
Ester Ledecka (CZE) and Alexander Payer (AUT) have come out victorious of the season's second parallel giant slalom event of the Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour which took place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy today.
Only one day after kicking of their new World Cup season in the South Tyrolean ski resort of Carezza, the racers were up for some more head-to-head duels in the second of three races of the international series scheduled within only three days.
But battling for precious World Cup points, they were not only facing some strong competition from their fellow athletes but also from the weather as clouds and fog came in every here and there with a 30min break right before the semi finals.
But the long waiting and partly bad visibility didn't affect Ledecka who is arguable the strongest winter sport athlete right now as she is not only dominating the alpine snowboard circuit at the moment but also as she is playing a good role in the Alpine Ski World Cup.
Today, the reigning World Champion and World Cup leader who had already triumphed in yesterday's Carezza PGS was on fire again keeping the momentum from South Tyrol.
Storming down the Tondi Normale slope through the fog, the top qualifier celebrated a safe back-to-back win beating Germany's Selina Joerg in the women's final.
“Today was special, foggy, always on and off. But I had pretty much luck with the weather in my runs. So I cannot complain. It was great racing on a hill I really do like, “Ledecka stated.
And given the fact that she also won the PSL in Cortina last year, she is for sure the odds-on favourite for tomorrow when the first parallel slalom of the season is slated to take place under the lights on today's slope: “I'm looking forward to tomorrow's night race,” she said with a smile.
While there is currently no podium foreseeable which doesn't feature Ledecka, runner-up Joerg was happy to finally be on one again.
It was the first time in two and a half years for the second fastest of the qualification runs to race in the top-3 since her third rank finish in Winterberg, Germany back in March 2015.
No wonder, she stated: “Finally making it to a big final again is amazing. Last year, I didn't make it on the podium once, so I'm happy that everything worked out today. It was hard to remain focused during that long half an hour break when the fog came in but I was able to do so.”
In an all Austrian battle for third it was former World Champion Claudia Riegler who crossed the finish line ahead of her younger teammate Sabine Schoeffmann.
Payer with a first
In the men's event, Alexander Payer earned his career's first dominating the final men's run against local favourite Roland Fischnaller (ITA).
However, his first victory on the World Cup tour came out of the blue for the 28-year-old as he normally is a better slalom rider.
“I'm feeling great. I'm normally not the best in giant slalom but today I did a good job. The course worked in my favour as I was able to do some good round carving turns,” Payer said.
Sylvain Dufour (FRA) rounded out the podium in third position with new World Cup leader Nevin Galmarini (SUI) placing fourth.
The Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour will continue tomorrow with the season's first parallel slalom slated to take place under the lights on the Tondi Normale slope of Cortina d'Ampezzo.
The finals are scheduled for 19:20 CET with Live TV time information available here.
Results
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