Riegler and Prommegger prevail in season's first team event

Claudia Riegler and Andreas Prommegger have won the 2017-18 season's first parallel giant slalom team event which was staged in Lackenhof / Oetscher, Austria today.

It was the first of three team events this season which will provide the first ever Team Crystal Globe.

And with riders kicking off the race for a brand new title, Mother Nature was on its best behaviour with a blue bird sky making it for a perfect competition day on the Distel slope. And as the snow conditions were more grippy and less icy compared to yesterday's uncomfortable weather in Lower Austria athletes were able to compete on a perfectly prepped slope today.

The experienced mixed Riegler/Prommegger did get along best with the slightly crooked and wavy course coming out victorious of an all Austrian final against their younger teammates Sabine Schoeffmann and Alexander Payer.

Both duos therefore rounded out an almost perfect raceboard weekend for the hosting nation before travelling to Bad Gastein, another Austrian tour stop, next weekend.

In yesterday's single PGS event, Austria's Julia Dujmovits and Alexander Payer had placed second and third respectively.

“This win is pretty important for me as I had a slow start to the season, although I traditionally need some time to get into the racing rhythm, too,” said Prommegger after the race before adding:

“But this season, I already started to brood as I wasn't really satisfied with my set-up yet. In addition, it wasn't easy to ride today on this very demanding slope. That said, it is kind of a relief for me that we did so well today.”

Riegler, with 44 years of age the second oldest competitor in today's field, put the focus on the fact that both, she and Prommegger, had just earned their first ever team event victory.

“That's something special for me. It's always fun to team up with Andreas. It's been a fantastic wrap up of the Lackenhof World Cup stop.”

And with the second home soil event just around the corner the 2015 World Champion was already hungry for more: “Of course, we are trying to do our very best in the race for the Crystal Globe. now”

German racers Selina Joerg and Patrick Bussler secured the third rank on the podium beating Polish underdogs Aleksandra Krol and Michal Nowaczyk in the small final with the latter ones celebrating their career's best result finishing in fourth position.

The Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour will continue next weekend with a parallel slalom and parallel slalom team event slated on the Bucheben slope in Bad Gastein on January 12 and 13, 2018.

Results