Almaty set to host double World Cup event
Feb 27, 2020·Freestyle
Entering the final stretch of the 2019/20 season, the FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup tour has moved to Almaty, where the aerials competition is slated to go down at Oi Qaragai Lesnaya Skazka Mountain Resort on Friday, while the dual moguls event is set to return to Shymbulak Mountain Resort on Sunday.
Oi Qaragai ready for its World Cup debut
The penultimate competition of the 2019/20 aerials World Cup season will hit the brand new venue in Oi Qaragai, located just an hour-drive from the former capital of Kazakhstan and the largest city in the country - Almaty.
While Oi Qaragai doesn’t boast as impressive elevation as its “neighbour” Shymbulak (where the highest lift reaches up to almost 3200 meters above the see level), it is a family friendly resort that offers 13 km of trail runs and is famous in the region for its mild climate, sunny weather and regular snow supplies throughout the season.
And, now, Oi Qaragai is also home to a world-class aerials venue, which will be put into test by the best of the best this Friday.
The aerials competition in Kazakhstan is shaping up to be a real heater, as the season is moving towards its close with a hotly-contested battle for the World Cup titles.
After last week’s competition in Minsk it was China’s Xu Mengtao, who moved atop the women’s World Cup ranking following her runner-up result in Minsk (BLR), and she now leads the field with 325 points. But Xu won’t be competing in Oi Qaragai on Friday, as the Chinese aerials team opted out not to send their athletes to Kazakhstan, which means that Xu’s chances to defend her last year’s title has dropped significantly.
But the current runner-up in the World Cup standing Laura Peel will be on hand on Friday. Peel has been on fire lately, finishing second in Moscow (RUS), and then winning the competition last weekend in Minsk. Peel has been slowly, but steadily catching up on Xu in the World Cup ranking, and with just two more competitions to go in the season, she’s only six points behind the Chinese superstar.
With Xu and her teammate Kong Fanyu not competing in Oi Qaragai, as well as the Belarusian duo of Aliaksandra Ramanouskaya and Hanna Huskova out with injuries, the most likely scenario is that Laura Peel will secure her very first aerials World Cup title already this weekend.
But before we get there, let’s not forget about other athletes, who will be looking to jump on the podium this weekend. With many of top favourites not on hand in Kazakhstan, expect the likes of Ashley Caldwell (USA), Megan Nick (USA), Abbey Willcox (AUS), Winter Vinecki (USA) or the local fan favourite Zhanbota Aldabergenova (KAZ) to fire up the women’s competition.
Sitting in the first place in the aerials men’s World Cup ranking is Maxim Burov, who regained the yellow World Cup leader bib following his fourth place finish in Minsk. Burov is leading the way with 273 points, while Pavel Krotov (RUS) and Noe Roth (SUI) are tied for second place with 254 points.
But also the Russian aerials team won’t be present on site in Oi Qaragai, meaning that with a solid result in Kazakhstan Roth will most likely once again regain the World Cup leader position. The 19-year-old skiers won’t secure the crystal globe on Friday, but if he only manages to land on the podium this weekend, the chances are very high that he will celebrate with the crystal globe in his hands in just over than a week in Krasnoyarsk.
When looking for other favourites for the win this weekend, also count on Roth’s teammates Pirmin Werner and Nicolas Gygax, as well as Pavel Dik and Maxim Gustik of Belarus. Finally let’s not forget about our top-3 from last weekend, Justin Schoenefeld (USA), Lewis Irving (CAN), and Christopher Lillis (USA). In such circumstances they may not only contend for a place on the overall aerials World Cup podium, but they will obviously be more than keen to repeat their performance from Minsk and sweep Friday’s podium for North America just one more time.
The competition in Oi Qaragai is scheduled to begin with qualification rounds at 9:05 local time, and the finals following up at 13:30.
Moguls World Cup comes back to Shymbulak
Right after the world’s best aerialists wrap up their event in Oi Qaragai, the action will move over to the next valley, where the season’s third dual moguls World Cup event will take place at Shymbulak Mountain Resort.
Shymbulak is one of the most modern and luxurious mountain resorts in Central Asia and, with the start section located at 2570 meters above the sea level, the venue at Shymbulak boasts the highest elevation on the entire FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup tour. The highest peaks of the surrounding resort, meanwhile, reach over 3200 meters above sea level, and the enormous big mountain terrain surrounding the resort gives Shybulak all ingredients to soon became a new hot destination for ski enthusiast from all around the World.
Looking back at the successful moguls competition held at Shymbulak during the 2017 Winter Universiade, as well as last year’s World Cup finals, we’re sure that the Saturday’s will deliver an extraordinary showcase for freestyle skiing. And with plenty of sun and warm spring temperatures in the forecast for the upcoming days, the dual moguls event is expected to wrap up another action-packed FIS Freestyle Ski World Cup weekend on a high.
Also the moguls World Cup season is slowly coming to a close with only four more competitions left in 2019/20, including those in Shymbulak this Sunday.
On top of the respective women’s and men’s World Cup standings, it’s our usual duo of France’s Perrine Laffont and Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury who will be entering the competition in Shymbulak with the yellow bibs on their chests.
Laffont is having a tremendous 2019/20 campaign, and the 21-year-old is looking to clinch her third consecutive World Cup title. With seven victories in eight events so far, Laffont is once again the de facto favourite to take top spot also in Shymbulak. Laffont needs just one more solid performance to clinch the 2019/20 World Cup title, so don’t forget to tune in this Sunday to see if the French skier can reach for the crystal globe hat-trick.
On the men’s side, similarly to last eight previous seasons, Kingsbury has been the dominant force, winning seven competitions and finishing in the runner-up spot twice. And, similarly to Laffont, Kingsbury also can secure his World Cup title this weekend, given that second in the ranking Ikuma Horishima (JPN) would lose points again.
However, even with that motivation aside, Kingsbury has yet to stand on top of the podium in Shymbulak, and knowing his ultra-competitive attitude, we can expect the “King of Moguls” to showcase his best skiing on Sunday as he looks for a win on yet another venue.
Beside the afore-mentioned duo of Laffont and Kingsbury, let’s not forget about some other great skiers that will be dropping bangers this weekend. The host Kazakh team will be represented well by the likes of Yulia Galysheva (- who took victory on home soil in Shymbulak last season - and Dmitriy Reikherd, who is fresh off of a second-place finish in Tazawako (JPN) last week.
Jakara Anthony, Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN), Junko Horishino (JPN), and Hannah Soar (USA) are all skiing exceptionally of late on the women’s side of things, while in the men’s event also keep an eye on Ikuma Horishima (JPN), Benjamin Cavet (FRA) and Matt Graham (AUS), just to name a few of those expected to contend for a spot on the podium in Kazakhstan.
The event in Shymbulak will kick off at 11:55 local time with preliminary rounds, while the finals are set to go down at 13:30.
WATCH LIVE
Aerials
Eurosport (Asia), Eurosport 1 (Europe), Eurosport player, Belarus 5 (Belarus), Qazsport (Kazakhstan), NBC Sports Gold (USA).
Dual Moguls
Eurosport (Asia), Eurosport 1 FRA + Eurosport player (Europe), YLE Areena (Finland), Qazsport (Kazakhstan), live streaming on SVT Play, NBC Sports Gold (USA).
Live streaming will also be available on our Youtube channel - AERIALS & MOGULS. Please note that due to broadcasting rights restrictions, live streaming may not be available in your region. Full list of countries with the live streaming available can be found HERE.
QUICK LINKS:
Almaty World Cup data page (startlists, live timing, results)
)
