Hofmeister and Prommegger take top spots in day 2 of PGS at Pyeongchang
Feb 17, 2019·Alpine Snowboard
PyeongChang (KOR) - A truly thrilling competitive return to the scene of Snowboard competition at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games wrapped up in inspiring fashion on Sunday at Bokwang Phoenix Park, where Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister and Andreas Prommegger of Austria closed out the second day of the weekend’s races with PGS World Cup wins, and the host crowd was treated to the sight of Korea’s snowboarding hero Sangho Lee climbing on to the World Cup podium for the first time this season.
Once again the course in PyeongChang’s Bokwang Phoenix Park was perfectly prepared for competition, and once again the best carvers in the world put on a show for the enthusiastic Korean crowd, with tight racing and an exciting finish in both the ladies’ and men’s competitions.
Hofmeister’s road to the big final took her through three of her teammates on Sunday, as she dispatched Carolin Langenhorst, Utah 2019 PGS world champion Selina Joerg, and Cheyenne Loch in the that order before reaching a showdown with Saturday’s PyeongChang second-place finisher Sabine Schoeffmann.
Battling from the red course, Hofmeister had a charging run from start to finish in the big final, getting on the gas out of the gate and not relenting until her celebration in the finish, forcing Schoeffmann to once again settle for second and giving the 22-year-old German Hofmeister her second podium of the season and her first win in over a year.
“It’s so crazy,” said Hofmeister from the awards podium, “Last year I got bronze here in my first Olympic competition, and now today I’m back and on top of the podium in the same place. It’s just incredible.”
Third place in the ladies’ competition went to top qualifier Ester Ledecka (CZE), after she made a big mistake in her semifinal matchup against Schoefmann and ended up in the small final against Loch. Still, with the third place result, Ledecka now has podiums in six-straight events dating back to last year, and maintains her lead on the PGS World Cup standings while moving up to second on the parallel overall standings with 3,400 points, despite missing several competitions this season to focus on the Alpine Skiing World Cup.
Schoeffmann, meanwhile, maintains her lead on the overall standings with 3,880 points.
Over on the men’s side, Saturday’s third-place finisher Andreas Prommegger was able to make it two podiums in two days with the win on Sunday, while also making it three podiums in three total World Cup competitions on the PyeongChang course where he was victorious at the Olympic test event World Cup back in 2017.
Besting Andrey Sobolev and Dmitry Loginov of Russia in the 1/8 and quarter finals, respectively, Prommegger than beat Maurizio Bormolini of Italy to punch his ticket to a big final matchup with Sylvain Dufour (FRA), who would be competing in his first big final in over two years.
Dufour put up a strong fight against the Austrian who is operating at the top of his game this season, matching him turn for turn throughout the PyeongChang course, but as they swept across the line it was Prommegger ahead by .15 seconds, to give him his first victory in just over a year and, with 2,986 points, sole possession of the top of the World Cup parallel overall standings.
“First of all I want to say thank you to everyone who made for such amazing races and an amazing weekend here,” said the always-gracious Prommegger, “It was a perfect slope and perfect weather, and it feels great to be two times on the podium here.”
Dufour’s second place finish was his first podium result since early last season, and the 10th of his career for the 36-year-old veteran.
Meanwhile, PyeongChang 2018 Olympic silver medallist and Korea’s snowboard darling Sangho Lee was able to recapture some of his magic from last year’s Games to win the small final and claim the last spot on the podium in third place.
After a fifth-place finish on Saturday, Lee’s podium result on Sunday capped two days of inspired effort from the 23-year-old on the course where he had such a memorable performance a year ago, especially considering his struggles in World Cup competition so far this season, in which his best result before arriving in PyeongChang was a 12th place in Rogla (SLO) a month ago.
From PyeongChang, the FIS Snowboard alpine World Cup moves on to Secret Garden (CHN), future home of Snowboard competition at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, for their first look at what is to become the most important snowboarding venue in the world in three year’s time, with PGS competition slated for February 23rd and PSL on the 24th.
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