Snowboard Alpine tour returns to PyeongChang
Feb 20, 2020·Alpine Snowboard
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup returns to action this weekend, with the penultimate stop of the PGS season set to hit the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games venue at Bokwang Phoenix Park this Saturday, February 22.
After a historic event last season, when the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup revisited an Olympic venue post-Games for the first time, Phoenix Park is gearing up to host it’s second consecutive World Cup competition, and the 2019/20 season’s fifth PGS race.
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup will return to the site of one of the greatest Olympic moments of all time, where Ester Ledecka (CZE) won PGS gold at PyeongChang 2018 to become the first athlete ever to win two gold medals at the same Games in two different sports.
Featuring some of the best racing snow on earth and a perfect pitch for PGS, the venue at PyeongChang’s Phoenix Park is second to none. And now, almost four weeks since the last World Cup event in Piancavallo (ITA), it will be exciting to see who will kick off the final phase of the 2019/20 World Cup season on a high note.
Entering the women’s competition on top of the PGS and the overall parallel World Cup ranking is Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister. The 23-year-old rider from Bischofswiesen won the second race in PyeongChang last year to back up her 2018 Olympic bronze medal at the Phoenix Park venue.
So far in the 2019/20 campaign Hofmeister has six World Cup victories to her record, and has finished outside of the podium only once at the season’s opening competition in Bannoye (RUS). Taking into account her recent form and the fact that she knows how to perform at Phoenix Park, it’s hard not to see Hofmeister as the biggest favourite for the win in the women’s competition.
But as many times before already this season, there will be a big group of athletes ready to upset Hofmeister on Saturday, including her biggest rivals in the PGS World Cup - Julie Zogg (SUI), Ladina Jenny (SUI), Selina Joerg (GER), and Natalia Soboleva (RUS).
Also throw in the mix Austria’s Claudia Riegler and Daniela Ulbing, Germany’s Caroline Langenhorst, Switzerland’s Patrizia Kummer, or Russia’s Milena Bykowa, and the women’s event shapes up to be a thrilling one.
Over on the men’s side of thing it will be the Italian veteran Rolland Fischnaller, who will be competing this weekend with the yellow PGS World Cup leader bib on his chest. The 39-year-old racer from Brixen has two victories and one runner-up position in four PGS races staged in 2019/20, and should be counted on for another solid performance in PyeongChang this weekend.
In the overall ranking Fischnaller has a comfortable advantage over the second and third in the standings Austria’s Benjamin Karl and Italy’s Edwin Coratti, who hold 1760 and 1700 points, respectively to Fischnaller’s 3160.
Beside afore-mentioned Fischnaller, Karl and Coratti, also keep an eye on Korea’s own Sangho Lee, who swept across the finish line just behind gold medal-winner Nevin Galmarini (SUI) to earn Olympic silver at this venue back in 2018, as well as Italys’ Mirko Fellicetti - with that duo founding out the PGS World Cup top-5 up to this point of the season.
Last, but not least let’s not forget about another strong Austrian, Andreas Prommegger, who earned a top-3 finish in both races in Korea last season, including a huge win on the second day of competitions. Prommegger also won the last PSL race in Piancavallo (ITA) at the end of January, so it’s fair to expect him to be motivated to push for a spot on the podium also this Saturday.
The competition in PyeongChang will get underway on Saturday, February 22 with the qualification rounds set for 10:00 local time and the finals following up at 14:00 local time.
WATCH LIVE
Eurosport player (Europe & Asia), ORF Sport + (Austria), BNT 3 (Bulgaria), L’Equipe Web (France), RTV SLO2 (Slovenia), NBC Sport Gold (USA).
Live streaming will also be available on our Youtube channel HERE. Please note that due to broadcasting rights restrictions, live streaming may not be available in your region. Full list of countries with the live streaming available can be found HERE.
QUICK LINSK:
PyeongChang World Cup data page (startlists, live timing, results)
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