Hofmeister and Karl victorious in Carezza
Dec 17, 2020·Alpine Snowboard
The second FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup parallel giant slalom competition of the season took place on Thursday with Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) and Benjamin Karl (AUT) taking impressive victories to celebrate the 10th edition of the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup competition in Carezza (ITA).
And, the 10th edition of the event on “Pra di Tori” slope went down in style, with the world’s best carvers pushing it to the limit all day long, especially during the afternoon’s finals. This year the conditions in Carezza were perfect, with blue skies and firm snow allowing the riders to deliver their best throughout the competition.
In the women’s event it was Germany’s own Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, who raced to victory for her first PGS win in the current World Cup campaign. Coming off a third-place finish last week in Cortina, Hofmeister was unstoppable on Thursday, besting the likes of Haerim Jeong (KOR), Sofia Nadyrshina (RUS), and her German teammate Selina Joerg on her way to the big final.
Once there, last year’s PGS and parallel overall crystal globe winner Hofmeister looked supremely confident, and despite the best effort from Ladina Jenny (SUI), it was Hofmeister who managed to clearly get ahead of her rival early in the race, maintain the fast pace and cross the finished line in first place, for her second podium in 2020/21.
“I’m so happy to be back on the podium and to share it with Selina again”, said Hofmeister, “Thank you Carezza for hosting this incredible event. It’s a perfect slope here and we had a perfect day of racing today. I’m just so happy.”
With Hofmeister in first and Jenny consequently in second, Joerg rounded out the women’s podium in third place after coming victorious in an all-German small final matchup against Cheyenne Loch.
In the PGS World Cup standings Hofmeister now jumped into first place and leads the way with 160 points. Also with two podiums so far this season is Joerg, who sits in second spot with 140 points, while Carezza’s runner-up finisher Jenny following behind in third with 125 points.
Over on the men’s side Benjamin Karl stormed to his first World Cup victory of the season while leading 1-2 punch for the Austrian Snowboard Team, with Andreas Prommegger finishing the competition in second place.
The Austrian duo met in the big final after a both making their way through a handful of exciting and tight clashes in the previous rounds.
The final heat of the day didn’t disappoint either, with the two Austrians going head-to-head in what was probably the most thrilling matchup of the entire competition, as just when it looked like Prommegger was about to bring this one down, Karl stole the win with a heroic dive into the finish line.
“The feeling is great,” said Karl, “To win the title you have to collect victories so I’m really happy now. It’s always tight racing against Andreas and I think here in Carezza there were parts where he was in front, and then other parts where I was in front. In the end I managed to win, but it was great fighting and great racing.”
Third place on the day went to Zan Kosir (SLO), who capitalised on a mistake from last week’s winner Roland Fischnaller in the small final and claimed his first World Cup podium since March 2019.
In the PGS standing Karl took over the lead on top with 160 points after two competitions. Fischnaller dropped to second place with 150 points, while Prommegger rounds out the top-3 with 116 points.
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup is now heading for a holiday break and will return in the new year, with the next competition scheduled to take place in Scuol (SUI) on January 9, 2020.
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