Austria’s dramatic team win delights Bad Gastein home crowd
Jan 11, 2023·Alpine Snowboard
Just two hundredths of a second separated alpine snowboard icon Andreas Prommegger (AUT) from Stefan Baumeister (GER) after the first run of the mixed team parallel slalom big final in Bad Gastein on Wednesday (11 January) with Germany 1 just edging Austria 1 ahead of the deciding women’s run.
A resurgent Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) initially looked to have the better of Daniela Ulbing (AUT) – queen of this slope and current leader in the overall and PSL rankings – until the final few gates when the defending individual champion took a tumble leaving the way clear for the Austrian to cross the finish line first.
For the second time in 24 hours, Ulbing, who also claimed the PSL title yesterday, a repeat of the feat on the same course last year, raised her arms aloft, her reaction quite the contrast to Hofmeister. The German clutched her head in her hands, aware she’d let slip an opportunity to return to the top step having struggled so far in 2022/23 in her quest for a fourth consecutive overall title.
“I did recognise it was close with Ramona in the final,” said Ulbing. “She put a lot of pressure on me but I really enjoyed today’s races.
“It’s always great to race in Bad Gastein, at home, but winning is special and winning in team is really cool.”
Prommegger agreed: “Bad Gastein is always a special event for me. The crowd is very nice. I love the hill and I love riding with Dani. It was so much fun and today. It was tough riding and tough conditions but we did it.”
Prommegger and Ulbing will be pleased to have avenged the result of the first team event of the season, in Winterberg, Germany in December, when the pair were relegated from first to second after Prommegger was adjudged to have straddled a gate.
An opportunity for the home nation to claim two positions in the top three – courtesy of an appearance in the small final by Alex Payer and Sabine Schoeffmann, the individual winners in the opening PSL race of the season in Winterberg – was dashed after the Swiss duo of Dario Caviezel and Julie Zogg bagged third spot.
Caviezel set them on course for the win with an explosive launch from the start gate, piling the pressure on his rival in the second half of the race. Payer, who was second yesterday, was able to close the gap but his partner Sabine Schoeffmann fell, leaving Zogg to cross the line first.
The semi-finals were equally as dramatic as each pair hustled for the big final spots. Caviezel again flew out the starting gate, resulting in a half-a-second lead heading into the women’s race but Ulbing pulled back Zogg, winning the tie by just two hundredths of a second.
In the second semi-final, the midway split was 0.27s in favour of Austria but a resurgent Hofmeister, who struggled early season with a back injury, got Germany back in front to take the win by 0.04s.
The winners of the team event in Winterberg, Ladina Jenny and Gian Casanova of Switzerland 2 – who both claimed their first ever World Cup wins – were knocked out in the quarter finals by just 0.18s this time around by Payer and Shoeffmann.
The pair finished seventh this time out just ahead of Italy’s in-form Maurizio Bormolini, winner of the men’s PSL race yesterday, and team-mate Elisa Caffont. Their compatriots, Aaron March and Lucia Dalmasso finished fifth after a storming run by Baumeister left the Italians unable to recover.
Oskar Kwiatkowski and Alexandra Krol made history in the season-opener, claiming Poland’s first ever podium place in the team competition with third. The duo were unable to make the semi-finals this time around, knocked out by Caviezel and Zogg by just 0.15s.
Just one World Cup team event remains, the third and final edition taking place in Berchtesgaden, Germany on 19 March.
The closeness of the riding also bodes well for an exciting mixed team competition at the 2023 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships taking place on 22 February. The women’s and men’s parallel giant slalom competition will be on 19 February, followed by parallel slalom on 21 February.
Bad Gastein FIS World Cup team results 2023
1 Austria 1 Andreas Prommegger and Daniela Ulbing
2 Germany 1 Stefan Baumeister and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister
3 Switzerland 2 Dario Caviezel and Julie Zogg
4 Austria 2 Alex Payer and Sabine Schoeffmann
QUICK LINKS
Bad Gastein World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
Full results: TEAM EVENT
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