Ledecka and Kosir triumph in PGS return to Pyeongchang
Feb 16, 2019·Alpine Snowboard
PyeongChang (KOR) - The first of two parallel giant slalom races to take to the storied slopes of the 2018 Olympic venue at PyeongChang’s Bokwang Phoenix Park went down on Saturday, with Ester Ledecka (CZE) and Zan Kosir (SLO) taking the wins in an entertaining day of racing.
Saturday’s competition marked the first time that the FIS Snowboard alpine World Cup has returned to an Olympic venue in the years following a Games, and the race did not disappoint. With Ledecka repeating her Olympic gold medal-winning performance for a win in her first snowboard World Cup race since December, Zan Kosir two-upping himself on the course that he won his second Olympic bronze on last season to claim his first World Cup victory in over four years, Korea’s own Sangho Lee and Haerim Jeong putting down their best results of the season, and many more exciting moments, it was truly a special return to a special venue.
Despite spending the first month and a half of 2019 on the Alpine Ski World Cup tour, you knew Ledecka wouldn’t miss the first competition back at the venue that earned her the status of one of all-time great Olympians last year.
Ledecka put on a dominant performance on Saturday, qualifying in first and then beating some of the best in the business in Julie Zogg (SUI), Gloria Kotnik (SLO), and Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT) on her way to a big final showdown with the recently crowned Utah 2019 PGS world champion Selina Joerg.
Despite racing a strong final run on the red course, Joerg was no match for Ledecka on the day, as the 25-year-old Czech racer was able to best her German counterpart by nearly 3/4s of a second in the big final, making for her second victory and third podium in three 2018/19 races and putting her back on top of the PGS World Cup leaderboard with 2,800 points.
“I feel good. It was a great race,” said Ledecka from the awards podium, “A very well-prepared course, so thanks to everybody for that, and thanks to all the fans for such a great atmosphere. It’s fun to be here.”
Joerg’s runner-up result was her second podium and sixth top-10 result in seven parallel and parallel team World Cup competitions thus far in 2018/19, moving her up to third place on the PGS standings and putting into second on the parallel overall World Cup rankings.
Third place in Saturday’s race went to Schoeffmann, who had a difficult task in getting to the small final after qualifying in 13th position, making good on her work once she got there by taking down Caroline Langenhorst (GER) to earn her fourth podium of the FIS Snowboard alpine season and to take the lead of the ladies’ parallel overall World Cup rankings.
The men’s competition was a slightly more unpredictable affair. Though Kosir, with three Olympic medals and 97 career World Cup starts, is one of the most established riders on tour, he hasn’t seen a World Cup podium in over two years and, as mentioned, hasn’t earned a win in four.
However, on Saturday the 34-year-old was back in top form, qualifying in second and then taking down top names like Edwin Coratti (ITA) and Andreas Prommegger (AUT) before meeting one of the less-heralded members of the strong Austrian team in Lukas Mathies in the big final.
After going more than two seasons without a top-10 result, Mathies has looked much better in 2018/19, and on Saturday he battled gamely against a highly-motivate Kosir. However, a mistake near the top of the course would have him fighting from the back against the Slovenian rider, as Kosir would sweep across the line for the win and Mathies would have to take some solace in earning his first podium in over five years.
“Great conditions today,” said Kosir, echoing Ledecka sentiments, “It’s nice to be on the podium with these guys here after a race like this.”
Third place on the day would go to Prommegger, as the veteran of 241 World Cup starts earned his first podium of the season in strong small final showing against Aaron March (ITA).
The FIS Snowboard alpine World Cup gets right back at it tomorrow with the second of this weekend’s back-to-backs, with qualification heats beginning at a 10:00 local time, followed by finals at 14:00.
QUICK LINKS
Ladies highlight videos BIG FINAL / SMALL FINAL
Men’s highlight videos BIG FINAL / SMALL FINAL
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