Russians Nadyrshina and Loginov seek home snow glory in World Cup opener
Dec 10, 2021·Alpine Snowboard
Home favourites Sofiya Nadyrshina and Dmitrii Loginov aim to begin their 2021/22 campaigns in style this weekend as the alpine snowboard World Cup season kicks off with women's and men's parallel giant slalom (PGS) and parallel slalom (PSL) events in Bannoye, Russia.
Following a breakout 2020/21 campaign in which Nadyrshina won her first World Cup races in both PGS and PSL, the 18-year-old is aiming for her first World Cup victory on home snow.
Nadyrshina finished second in the overall, PGS and PSL World Cup standings last season and this weekend she is poised to improve on her ninth and sixth placings in Bannoye last February.
Despite Nadyrshina's meteoric rise, however, defending overall and PGS World Cup champion Ramona Theresia Hofmeister of Germany will start as favourite in Saturday's PGS race.
Hofmeister has won the last two PGS World Cup events in Bannoye and declared herself 'in love with the races here in Russia' after her victory last season.
Switzerland's Julie Zogg won the PSL race in Bannoye last season and the 2019 PSL world champion will be one of the favourites to claim another victory this weekend.
In the men's races, Loginov is looking to repeat his Bannoye double of last season, when he won the PGS and PSL events to lead a dominant Russian performance that saw the home nation claim five of the six men's podium places.
Although Russia had it all their own way in Bannoye last season, Loginov's rivals from Italy and Austria are expected to put up a firmer challenge this weekend.
Italians Aaron March, the defending overall and PSL World Cup champion, and Roland Fischnaller, who topped last season's PGS standings and won PGS silver behind Loginov at the 2021 world championships, will be among the top contenders in both races.
Austrians Benjamin Karl and Andreas Prommegger, who won PSL gold and silver at the 2021 world championships, are also expected to challenge for the podium, especially in Sunday's PSL event.
The women's and men's PGS competitions take place on Saturday (starting at 13:00 local time, 9:00 CET) while the women's and men's PSL races will be contested on Sunday (starting at 12:30 local time, 8:30 CET).
WATCH LIVE
Saturday
Eurosport 2 (Europe), ORF Sport + (Austria), BNT3 (Bulgaria), CT Sport (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), VSPORT (Finland), L’Equipe (France), Arena (Hungary), ESPN Star+ (Latin America), V Sport+ (Norway), Polsat Sport News (Poland), RTV SLO 2 (Slovenia), Viaplay (Sweden), Streaming on https://skiandsnowboard.live/ (USA), FIS Freestyle Youtube channel
Sunday
Eurosport 2 (Europe), ORF Sport + (Austria), BNT3 (Bulgaria), CCTV Live (China), CT Sport (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), V SPORT Jaakiekko (Finland), L’Equipe (France), Arena (Hungary), ESPN Star+ (Latin America), V Sport 1 (Norway), RTV SLO 2 (Slovenia), Viasat Sport (Sweden), Streaming on https://skiandsnowboard.live/ (USA), FIS Freestyle Youtube channel
QUICK LINKS
Bannoye World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
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