Krol takes her maiden win, Baumeister back in yellow in Simonhoehe
Jan 14, 2022·Alpine Snowboard
A jam-packed January rolled in to the brand new World Cup venue in Simonhoehe (AUT), with the first of back-to-back competitions scheduled for this weekend going down in impressive fashion as Aleksandra Krol (POL) stormed to her first career World Cup victory in women’s competition, while Stefan Baumeister reached for his second top spot this season over on the men’s side, taking the lead in PGS standing in the process.
After hosting two successful European Cup events in the previous years, Simonhoehe has been added into the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup calendar for 2021/22, completing a highly interesting stretch of back-to-back-to-back events in January. And with the competition in Simonhoehe action as the final test of parallel giant slalom racing before the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing, the anticipation to see the world’s best athletes on the brand new course was simply sky-high.
For the fourth time in seven day, top snowboard racers checked in to fight for World Cup points and spots on their Olympic teams, and with perfectly prepared race course and nice sunny weather, all ingredients were in place for another thrilling contest.
In the women’s competition Aleksandra Krol (POL) came with an impressive performance, upsetting all the favourites and eliminating one big name after another to claim her very first World Cup victory. 13 years since her World Cup debut in 2008, and with only two top-3 finishes up to this point in her career, Krol was simply unbeatable on the day despite facing some tough competition in her heats. Krol edged out the likes of Jessica Seiser (SUI), Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) and Melanie Hochreiter (GER) on her way to big final, where she faced Julia Dujmovits (AUT).
After finishing on the podium in both competitions in Bad Gastein (AUT) earlier this week, it was Dujmovits who came into the big final matchup as the favourite to win Friday’s competition on home soil. But as in the previous rounds, also in the big final Krol just took off straight from the start and quickly gained substantial advantage over Austrian rider. And while Dujmovits did her best to close the gap, she risked it too much in the middle section, lost her balance and missed the gate. That left Krol with an easy task of bringing the victory down to the finish line, what the 31-year-old did, wrapping up an exciting women’s event with the biggest achievement of her career.
Second place on Friday was Dujmovits’ third consecutive spot in the World Cup top-3 and with her recent form the Austrian veteran is slowly emerging as one of the athletes who should contend for medals at the upcoming Games.
Sofiya Nadyrshina (RUS) and Melanie Hochreiter (GER) finished in ex aequo third place, after the duo crossed the finish line of the women’s small final matchup with the exact same times.
In the PGS World Cup ranking Nadyrshina still leads the way, now with 291 points and with only one PGS event in Rogla left in 2021/22, the Russian rider is one step closer to claim her first World Cup crystal globe.
Second in the standing is Daniela Ulbling (AUT) with 237 points, while Ladina Jenny (SUI) sits in third place with 222 points.
Things were equally exciting over on the men’s side, where Stefan Baumeister claimed his second victory of the season after a long and exciting day of racing from the fastest snowboarders on the planet. Baumeister kicked things off by besting Dario Caviezel (SUI), Aaron March (ITA), and finally Nevin Galmarini (ITA) on his way to the big final.
There, in the big final he would be matched up against Tim Mastnak (SLO), who was looking for his first victory since 2019. And while Mastnak was coming into this final heat as top qualifier and pushed Baumeister to the final millimetres, it was the German rider who crossed the finish line in first place and took the win.
Mastnak finished the competition in second place for his first top-3 finish in 2021/22, while Roland Fischnaller (ITA) completed the men’s podium in third place, after coming victorious against Nevin Galmarini (SUI) in the small final matchup.
With 100 points for his win on Friday, Baumeister also jumped into leading position in PGS standing and he will be coming into final competition in Rogla later in March wearing the yellow bib and hoping to claim his first World Cup title. After five events Baumeister leads the way with 374 points, with Sangho Lee (KOR) following behind in second place with 309 points ,and Dmitrii Loginov (RUS) rounding out top-3 in third place with 252 points.
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup action in Simonhoehe continues tomorrow with the second team event of the season scheduled to go down at 9.15 CET.
QUICK LINKS:
Simonhöhe World Cup data page (startlists, live timing, results)
Results: WOMEN / MEN
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