Hofmeister and Kwiatkowski are queen and king of Blue Mountain
Jan 27, 2023·Alpine Snowboard
The top riders went all out on the second day of two PGS events at Blue Mountain (CAN) on Friday (27 January) ahead of a month-long break from the World Cup tour for the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships taking place in Bakuriani, Georgia from 19 February to 5 March.
A resurgent Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) stormed to a win in the women’s race to extend her lead at the top of the PGS rankings while also closing the gap to the top two on the overall tour. Oskar Kwiatkowski (POL), meanwhile, doubled his career win total by claiming a second-ever victory to climb to the top of the giant slalom standings and keep in with a shout of the top-four tussle for the overall title in the men’s tour. Just nine points separate second, third and fourth.
The women’s race saw the end of the streak of first-time World Cup winners in giant slalom this season. The top four qualifiers all advanced to the knockout phase with a huge, big-final showdown, between top qualifier Hofmeister who came out on top against PSL and overall tour leader Julie Zogg (SUI) who qualified third. The German cemented a 15th career win and extended her lead at the top of the PGS table. Now on a healthy 327 points, Hofmeister stays ahead of second-placed Ladina Jenny (SUI), on 245, who had a disappointing outing today after being knocked out in the round of 16 by Tsubaki Miki (JPN).
Hofmeister, a four-time overall crystal globe winner, is also keeping in touch with Zogg in the combined rankings, sitting third on 472 points. Zogg tops the combined table on 533 points after four podiums in her last five races including a second place today and two top spots in Bansko (BUL) last weekend. The anomaly was the 13th place yesterday but the improvement today in her least favoured discipline shows the Swiss is up for the challenge with just four individual races to go – two PGS and two PSL – this season.
Daniela Ulbing (AUT), who headed the overall standings prior to Zogg’s double victory, continues to pile on the points, placing second on 491 after a third-place finish in Canada today and sixth yesterday. The 24-year-old beat today’s fourth-best qualifier, Aleksandra Krol in the small final after the Polish rider had problems early on to leave the Austrian with a clear run.
“This day was really important,” said Hofmeister post-race, “and I’m really, really happy to be back on top of the podium. Yesterday it was okay, I got fifth place and now I’m back on the top.”
Standings after 5 of 7 races on the women’s PGS tour
1 Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) 327 points
2 Ladina Jenny (SUI) 245 points
3 Julie Zogg (SUI) 224 points
4 Aleksandra Krol (POL) 217 points
5 Daniela Ulbing (AUT) 201 points
Standings after 9 of 13 races on the women's overall tour
1 Julie Zogg (SUI) 533 points
2 Daniela Ulbing (AUT) 491 points
3 Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) 472 points
4 Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT) 399 points
5 Ladina Jenny (SUI) 389 points
Kwiatkowski overtook PGS tour leader Andreas Prommegger not only by claiming the win but due to the legendary Austrian having a disappointing outing in Canada, claiming a fifth yesterday and 12th today. The latter came after being knocked out in the round of 16 by Mirko Felicetti (ITA), the 2019/20 winner – albeit equal first with Benjamin Karl (AUT) in a first-ever tie in a World Cup big final. Karl replicated that win yesterday, this time solo, but was knocked out in the first round today by Sangkyum Kim (KOR).
Alex Payer (AUT) was the man undone in the big final by Kwiatkowski, who was third to the Pole’s second in the overall table coming into today’s race. Payer now tops the combined tour on 433 points ahead of another rider having a storming season, Maurizio Bormolini. The Italian is second on 407 after a not unexpected drop in positions in Canada – claiming 13th and 16th, respectively – in his unfavoured discipline. Two firsts in slalom this season keep him in the running though and today’s tie was a close-run thing with just 0.20s separating him and ‘big brother’ Roland Fischnaller who was knocked out in the semi-finals by Payer.
Special mention goes to Shiba Masaki (JPN), the crowd favourite attempting to claim a debut podium at age 36 and after 119 World Cup starts. Despite leading 42-year-old legend Fischnaller for most of the small final, the three-time Olympic medallist, including gold at Beijing 2022, pipped Shiba by just 0.21s to groans from the crowd.
“It’s amazing,” said Kwiatkowski following the event. “It’s my second time here. I love this place, this country and I’m happy about my riding today. This is my best season and I’m happy to prove my good riding to win a second time.”
Standings after 5 of 7 races on the men’s PGS tour
1 Oskar Kwiatkowski (POL) 334 points
2 Andreas Prommegger (AUT) 307 points
3 Roland Fischnaller (ITA) 244 points
4 Benjamin Karl (AUT) 235 points
5 Alex Payer (AUT) 208 points
Standings after 9 of 13 races on the men's overall tour
1 Alexander Payer (AUT) 433 points
2 Maurizio Bormolini (ITA) 407 points
3 Andreas Prommegger (AUT) 404 points
4 Oskar Kwiatkowski (POL) 398 points
The snowboard alpine circus now heads to the FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships taking place in Bakuriani, Georgia from 19 February to 5 March. The snowboard alpine races take place 19 February (PGS), 21 February (PSL), and conclude with mixed parallel slalom on 22 February.
A return to the World Cup tour sees Livigno (ITA) host both disciplines on 11-12 March. Races in Rogla (SLO) on 15 March and Berchtesgaden (GER) on 18-19 March round out the season.
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