Snowboard alpine World Cup rolls on to Rogla
Jan 17, 2019·Alpine Snowboard
Rogla (SLO) - The FIS Snowboard alpine World Cup returns to action this weekend at one of the most exciting venues on tour, with parallel giant slalom competition set to go down on Saturday, January 19th in Rogla (SLO).
A World Cup host since the 2012/13 season, Rogla has quickly proven to be a fan-favourite event, and with a strong Slovenian team that includes Gloria Kotnik, Tim Mastnak, Roc Marguk, and four-time Rogla podium winner Zan Kosir, expectations in Rogla are sure to be high for a strong home-field performance again this time around.
The alpine snowboard World Cup is coming off a pair of entertaining races last weekend in Bad Gastein (AUT), where the host Austrians had an exception showing at their home event, scoring two podiums in the ladies’ competition with a win for Claudia Riegler and a third-place finish for Sabine Schoeffmann, as well as a third-place result for Benjamin Karl. Throw in a victory for Karl and Daniela Ulbing in the team event the next day, and you’ve got quite the weekend for the Austrian carvers.
Karl comes into competition in Rogla as the hottest athlete on tour, with podium results in every competition entered so far this season and sole possession of the parallel overall World Cup leader’s bib, as well as the lead in the PGS World Cup. And, with a victory and a third-place podium at last season’s back-to-back Rogla World Cups, all signs suggest the possibility of a strong competition this weekend for the 33-year-old.
On the ladies’ side, it’s Ester Ledecka (CZE) maintaining her lead atop the PGS and parallel overall World Cup standings, despite not competing last weekend in Bad Gastein. However, that lead is once again in jeopardy this weekend, as the multi-sport dynamo will be competing on the Alpine ski World Cup in Cortina and not on her board in Rogla, where she has won four times in the past.
With Ledecka not in the picture, look to Riegler and Schoeffmann to continue their strong January, as both were able to score runner-up results at last year’s competitions in Slovenia. Another favourite should be Ramona Hofmeister (GER), who won the second of last year’s Rogla races and comes into competition fresh off a fourth-place finish in Bad Gastein.
On the men’s side, the Austrians have another ace-in-the-hole with Andreas Promegger, who won the first of last season’s Rogla races before Karl finished off the Austrian sweep. While Promegger started the 2018/19 season with two fourth-place finishes before falling to 32nd in Bad Gastein, recent social media posts by the veteran suggests he’s feeling back up to his high standards.
Others to watch out for include Germany’s Stefan Baumeister, who comes into Rogla fresh off a win in the PSL and a fourth-place result with Hofmeister in the team event at Bad Gastein, and Radoslav Yankov of Bulgaria, who has three runner-up results in Rogla to his credit in the past four races there.
Competition in Rogla gets underway on Saturday at 10:00 CET with qualification runs, followed up quickly by direct knock-out head-to-head finals beginning at 14:00.
QUICK LINKS:
Rogla (SLO) PGS World Cup data page (extended start lists, live timing, results)
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