Snowboard Alpine tour moves on to Italian Dolomites
Dec 18, 2021·Alpine Snowboard
The FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup has rolled into Italy this week for the annual back-to-back parallel giant slalom competitions in Carezza and Cortina d’Ampezzo set to go down on December 16th and December 18th, respectively.
The Carezza/Cortina double up has been a highlight feature of the alpine snowboard season dating back to 2015/16, with both venues providing a top notch racing slope, enthusiastic fans, and some of the most beautiful backdrops in snowboarding.
The alpine SB season opened up past weekend in Russia with back-to-back days of PGS and PSL competitions in Bannoye, where both the host Russian and the German teams were able to earn three podiums apiece and Korea’s Sangho Lee walked away as the individual leader with a win in the men’s PGS competition and a runner-up result in the PSL.
Hofmeister atop women’s overall standings once again through two races
The women’s PGS win in Bannoye went to Russia’s own Sofiya Nadyrshina, as the 18-year-old earned the third victory of her World Cup career and her first podium on home soil. Last season’s Rogla 2021 World Championships PGS silver medallist, Nadyrshina showed in Bannoye that she’s well prepared to keep the success rolling on the big course in 2021/22.
Runner-up behind Nadyrshina in Bannoye on the weekend was the two-time reigning parallel overall crystal globe winner Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER), who once again finds herself atop the overall standings in the early going after also earning a fourth-place PSL finish in her weekend at Bannoye.
Third place for the women in the PGS event in Russia was Hofmeister’s German teammate Caroline Langerhorst, who was able to earn the third World Cup podium of her career and her first PGS podium since the 2016/17 season.
With all of that being said, the biggest name on the start lists for Carezza and Cortina this week will be making her season debut, as everyone looks forward to the return to snowboard competition of the two-sport super-athlete Esther Ledecka (CZE).
Thursday’s race in Carezza will be Ledecka’s first on the FIS Snowboard World Cup since she claimed the victory in Cortina just over one year ago, and the 26-year-old is gearing up once again to appear in both Snowboard and Alpine Ski events at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games after her historic performance at the PyeongChang 2018 Games.
No rider on the women’s side of things has more podiums at either Carezza or Cortina than does Ledecka, who has two victories and two runner-up results in Carezza over the years and an incredible four wins in six attempts at Cortina. Though it’s been 12 months since she last pulled out of the start gate for parallel giant slalom action, the 26-year-old has proven time and again that she’s capable of magic every time she straps on a snowboard.
With last season’s number three and four finishers on the PGS World Cup standings - Selina Joerg and Cheyenne Loch of Germany - both retiring at the end of last season, there’s a bit of space for some other riders to step up this season. Look to the likes of Julie Zogg and Ladina Jenny of Switzerland, Julia Dujmovits and Daniela Ulbing of Austria, and Milena Bykova and Natalia Soboleva or Russia to also be competitive in both events this week.
Fischnaller and Karl enter Italian races as historical favourites
On the men’s side of things it’s a tale of two very different races when trying to predict the likely top racers for the Carezza race versus the Cortina one.
Obviously it’s the above-mentioned Sangho Lee who’s running the hottest so far this season, with his two podiums in Bannoye being the fourth and fifth of his World Cup career. Lee’s PGS win in Bannoye was his first-ever World Cup victory, and while he’s never hit the podium in Carezza, he does own a Cortina second-place finish from two seasons ago. It appears the PyeongChang 2018 silver medallist is heating up just in time for his next Olympic appearance at Beijing 2022, so perhaps this is the season he grabs his first piece of the Carezza top-3 as well.
The Carezza race over the years has been very much a mixed bag, with eight different riders taking wins in the 11 races dating back to the 2011/12 season. However, one rider does stand out above all others, and that’s the defending Carezza winner Benjamin Karl (AUT), who has three Carezza victories and and five total podiums at the venue. Karl grabbed his only two podiums of the 2020/21 season at the Italian races last season, so look for him to jump-start his 2021/22 campaign at these venues this week after struggling somewhat in Russia.
Andrey Sobolev (RUS), with a win and three total podiums in Carezza, Andreas Prommegger (AUT), Nevin Galmarini (SUI), and Zan Kosir (SLO) are a few of the other riders with some past successes in Carezza to watch out for this week.
And then, of course, there’s the ageless Italian legend Roland Fischnaller.
The two-time reigning PGS crystal globe winner on the men’s side of things, Fischnaller has two victories at Carezza over the years, although his last one at the venue came back in the 2014/15 season. Last year in Carezza he finished just off the podium in fourth.
However, it’s in Cortina where the Fichnaller’s record really shines, as the 41-year old has a podium in all seven editions of the event - three straight runner-ups through the first three races to be held at the venue, and then four straight victories dating back to the 2017/18 season.
To call Fichnaller the “King of Cortina” would be putting it mildly, and though he finished 22nd last weekend at the Bannoye PGS race, history tells us he’s essentially a sure-thing bet for a podium or two in this week’s races.
Beyond Fischnaller it’s something of a coin-flip for others to bank on, though the Austrian Benny Karl does have three third-place finishes in Cortina over the years. Russia’s Sobolev, Dmitry Loginov and Igor Sluev have all hit the Cortina podium, while the likes of Bannoye PGS winner Lee Sangho (KOR) and the runner-up Stefan Baumeister (GER) also looked strong in Russia to start the season.
Competition in Carezza with begin on December 16th with qualifications at 9:00 CET, followed by finals at 13:00. Action in Cortina d’Ampezzo, meanwhile, will begin on December 18th with qualifications at 15:00, to be followed by night racing under the lights at 19:00.
WATCH LIVE
Thursday (Carezza)
Eurosport Player (Asia), Eurosport 2 (Europe), ORF Sport + (Austria), BNT3 (Bulgaria), CBC Streaming (Canada), CCTV Live (China), CT Sport (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), VSPORT (Finland), L’Equipe (France), Arena 4 (Hungary), RAI Sport 1 (Italy), ESPN Star+ (Latin America), V Sport+ (Norway), Polsat Sport News (Poland), JOJ Sport (Slovakia), RTV SLO 2 (Slovenia), V Sport Hockey (Sweden), Streaming on https://skiandsnowboard.live/ (USA), FIS Freestyle Youtube channel
Saturday (Cortina d’Ampezzo)
Eurosport 2 (Asia + Europe), ORF Sport+ (Austria), BNT3 (Bulgaria), CBC Streaming (Canada), CCTV Live (China), Viaplay (Denmark), VSPORT (Finland), Arena 4 (Hungary), RAI Player (Italy), ESPN Star+ (Latin America), V Sport (Norway), JOJ Sport (Slovakia), V Sport Hockey (Sweden), Streaming on https://skiandsnowboard.live/ (USA), FIS Freestyle Youtube channel
QUICK LINKS
Carezza World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
Cortina World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
)
