2021/22 FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup season preview
Dec 08, 2021·Alpine Snowboard
The 2021/22 FIS Snowboard World Cup season is finally ready to get underway on Saturday and Sunday, 11-12 December, when the world’s finest carvers will take to the slopes of Bannoye (RUS) for both parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom action to kick off what shapes up to be an extremely exciting Olympic season. Bannoye will be the first stop for the alpine snowboard season that is currently slated to see 16 competitions at 10 different venues across the parallel giant slalom, parallel slalom, and parallel team events.
With back-to-back competitions in Bannoye, the tour will then travel to Italy for the classic Dolomites races in Carezza and Cortina d’Ampezzo (ITA) on December 16 and 18, before heading into holidays break.
Heading into 2022 Scuol (SUI) will host the first competition in the new year on January 8, with one of the highlights of the season coming next in Bad Gastein on January 11-12. The World Cup tour will remain in Austria, with a pair of competitions wrapping up the final stretch before the Winter Olympic Games at the brand new World Cup venue in Simonhoehe.
February will see the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing with the freestyle and snowboard events taking place at Secret Garden. The snowboard alpine racers will start trainings on February 4, while PGS qualifications and finals are set for February 8.
Following a little break after the pinnacle event of the season in China, the World Cup tour will then travel to Moscow for the city PSL event under the lights on February 26.
Entering the final month of the 2021/22 World Cup season, March will see three locations with races in Rogla (SLO), Piancavallo (ITA) on March 5 and 12-13, respectively, before the season will wrap up in Berchtesgaden (GER) on March 19-20.
As in the previous seasons, when looking for favourites for the crystal globes as well as the Olympic medals in February, there is a handful of nations that year-in and year-out continue to deliver top-tier performances.
Women
Starting on the women’s side it’s hard not to begin with Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER), as yet once again the 25-year-old rider will be entering the first event in Bannoye (RUS) as the reigning PGS and the overall parallel World Cup champion. Last season Hofmeister scored six World Cup podiums including three victories as well as the silver medal in PSL at the World Championships in Rogla (SLO). Also this year it’s fair to expect that Hofmeister will be one of the main favourites at World Cup as well as during the pinnacle event of the season at the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing (CHN).
Going further down the list, there is 18-year-old Sophia Nadyrshina (RUS), number two on PGS, PSL as well as overall parallel World Cup ranking in 2020/21. With four spots on the World Cup podium this past campaign and a tremendous performance at the 2021 World Championships, where she became the youngest athlete in history of snowboard alpine to win the gold medal, the Russian young gun will be entering the new season hoping to push Hofmeister at every single race.
Another top dog in the women’s field is without a doubt the PSL specialist Julie Zogg (SUI). The 29-year-old from Walenstadt claimed her second consecutive PSL crystal globe last season, scoring four podium and winning the World Cup finals in Berchtesgaden (GER). While Zogg also delivered some satisfying results in PGS races, she finished in third place in the overall parallel standing and therefore it’s hard not to expect her to push her limits also in 2021/22.
Besides Hofmeister, Nadyrshina and Zogg, also keep an eye on Ester Ledecka (CZE), as one of the greatest snow-sports athlete in the history will be certainly looking to defend her Olympic title from PyeongChang. And while Ledecka will most likely spend most of her winter days racing at the alpine World Cup also this season, she’s definitely a favourite for the win at every race she enters.
Men
Moving on to the men’s part of the field, we’ll keep things similar and start our list with the reining parallel overall World Cup winner Aaron March. The 35-year-old showed an incredible consistency last season and came with an impressive clutch performance to take everything there was up for grabs at the final event in Berchtesgaden. March made his eight season of World Cup competition one to remember, as the Italian veteran claimed a huge win for his career’s second PSL crystal globe, while also taking his first parallel overall globe.
Next on our list is Andreas Prommegger (AUT), another World Cup veteran, who will be competing in his 18th campaign in 2021/22. With solid performances in both PGS as well as PSL races last season Prommegger finished just behind March in the overall parallel World Cup ranking, while also claiming the silver medal in PSL at the World Championships in Rogla. We strongly believe that also this year the 41-year-old rider from Schwarzach will be a major threat both at World Cup as well as at the OWG.
Wrapping up our top-3 from last season is Dmitri Loginov (RUS). Despite being only 21-years-old Loginov has already competed in five full World Cup season, while scoring some impressive results on the way to become one of the fastest men on tour. In 50 World Cup appearances the Russian snowboarded claimed nine podiums, including four victories, with two of those wins coming in 2021. However, his career’s highlights came at the big stage at World Championships. First in Park City back in 2019, Loginov claimed two gold medals in PGS and PSL and with his two gold medals at the Junior World Snowboard Championships, Loginov became the only athlete in FIS Snowboard alpine history to simultaneously hold the double Junior World Championships and double world championships titles. Then last season he defended his PGS World Championships title in Rogla, while finishing with a bronze medal in PSL competition. With such an impressive record it’s hard not to see Loginov among the favourites for gold at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing.
Finally, let’s not forget about the legends of alpine snowboarding Benjamin Karl (AUT) and Roland Fischnaller (ITA). Both Karl and Fischnaller have a long list of World Cup, World Championships and Olympic Winter Games achievements and it would be unreasonable not to mention the veteran duo among those, who will be giving their best in 2021/22.
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