Scuol ready for first PGS competition in 2020
Jan 08, 2020·Alpine Snowboard
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup is set to return to action after the holiday break with parallel giant slalom competition scheduled to go down on Saturday, January 11 in Scuol (SUI).
After the Lackenhof (AUT) World Cup was canceled due to warm temperatures and lack of snow in the region (though there are hopes for a reschedule of the event in the coming weeks thanks to efforts by the local organising committee and the Austrian Ski Federation), the first parallel event of 2020 will be taking to the slope of Swiss Alps resort of Scuol located in the beautiful region of Engadin.
Known as the “Home of Hardbooters” and the local resort of the reigning PyeongChang 2018 Olympic gold medallist and 2017/18 parallel overall crystal globe winner Nevin Galmarini, Scuol’s first turn as World Cup host came in the form of highly successful competitions two season ago, while last season the resort played host to the PGS World Cup finals.
Though the resort’s favourite son Galmarini won’t be competing on home soil this season as he recovers from injury, the venue is nonetheless primed and ready to get the second part of the 2019/20 alpine snowboard World Cup season underway this weekend.
The best women and men of snowboard carving will be back in action following some ups and downs during the first portion of the season. After a perfect start into 2019/20 with back-to-back races in Bannoye (RUS), followed by a successful night event in Cortina, the snowboard alpine circuit was beset by unfavourable weather. First, the competition in Carezza (ITA) was cancelled mid-competition, when snow soft conditions and course deterioration made it impossible to run the finals in a safe and fair manner. Then, the event in Lackenhof was called-off due to lack of snow.
But despite all the challenges in Carezza and Lackenhof everything looks to be back on the right track in Scuol, with perfect snow conditions following recent snowfalls and mild winter temperatures and a bluebird skies in the forecast for the weekend.
Entering Saturday’s competition on top of the corresponding women’s and men’s PGS World Cup standing will be Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) and Rolland Fischnaller (ITA), who will try to continue their winning ways on Saturday, with both athletes going for a PGS hat-trick after the pair took wins in Bannoye and Cortina d’Ampezzo in December.
In the women’s event expect strong showings from Selina Joerg (GER), who sits in the PGS World Cup ranking just behind her teammate Hofmister in second place, as well as as the veteran Claudia Riegler (AUT), Swiss favourite Ladina Jenny and Natalia Soboleva (RUS), with those three placed on third, fourth and fifth place in the standing, respectively.
Over on the men’s side of the event keep en eye on Sangho Lee (KOR), Mirko Felicetti (ITA), Radoslav Yankov (BUL) and Benjamin Karl (AUT), with all riders impressing with solid showings so that have them placed in PGS top-5 so far in the 2019/20 campaign.
The competition is Scuol is set to get underway with the qualification and elimination rounds beginning at at 10:00 CET on Saturday, and finals following up immediately after at 14:00.
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