Sapporo (JPN): A German Sweep and First-time Successes

After the stages held in Switzerland and Italy, the top Paralympic skiers headed to Japan to participate in five technical events on the snow of Sapporo. It had been several years since the Paralympic alpine skiing World Cup circuit had visited the Asian archipelago, known for generously providing powdery snow in its mountainous regions at the beginning of the year. And the athletes were not disappointed, as after the first giant slalom contested on Saturday, February 10th, abundant snowfall forced the cancellation of the race on Sunday, granting them two days of free skiing in fresh and light powder snow. The serious competition then resumed on Tuesday with the first slalom of a series of three. Here are the noteworthy performances from this series of technical events.

German Sweep

The Japanese stage was particularly fruitful for several nations, with Germany leading the pack with no fewer than 11 podium finishes in the 4 events contested. Two women heavily contributed to this sweep: Anna-Lena Forster once again swept the board with 4 victories in the Women Sitting category, and Anna-Maria Rieder stood on the podium 4 times in the Women Standing category (3rd in GS, then once 3rd and twice 2nd in SL). In this same category, Andrea Rothfuss celebrated her first podium of the season by finishing 3rd in the second slalom contested. In the men's division, the German team could rely firstly on the young Christoph Gloetzner, who finished 3rd in the opening giant slalom in the Men Standing category. Then it was the duo of Alexander Rauen and his guide Jeremias Wilke who stood on the 3rd step of the podium in the Men Vision Impaired category at the end of the second slalom after temporarily holding 2nd place after an excellent first run. In the nation standings for this technical week, France and Italy followed with a total of 10 podiums each. For the French, Arthur Bauchet's dominance in the Men Standing category was confirmed as he won every race. The World Cup leader shared the podium in the opening giant slalom with his compatriot Jordan Broisin, who finished second after a completely wild second run that saw the second, third, and fourth places decided by only 4 hundredths of a second! Marie Bochet won the second slalom after finishing twice 2nd behind the category leader Ebba Aarsjoe (SWE) in the giant slalom and the first slalom. She finished her week with a third-place finish. Specializing more in speed, Hyacinthe Deleplace and his guide Roy Piccard secured another podium in the Men Vision Impaired category by finishing 3rd in the last slalom contested.

On the Italian side, the team relied on their leaders Rene' De Silvestro in the Men Sitting category and the duos Giacomo Bertagnolli - Andrea Ravelli and Martina Vozza - Ylenia Sabidussi in the Vision Impaired categories, men and women. Rene' showed consistency by finishing 2nd behind the winner Jesper Pedersen (NOR) in the giant slalom, 3rd, then 2nd in the first two slaloms, and finally powered through to win the last event thanks to an excellent first run that placed him nearly two seconds ahead of his closest competitor. Giacomo Bertagnolli and his guide Andrea Ravelli also improved steadily throughout the races, starting with a 3rd place in the giant slalom, then moving on to a 2nd place in the first slalom before experiencing a setback with a disqualification in the second run of the second slalom, ultimately winning the last race, holding off the pressure from the Austrian duo Aigner - Haberl. The female pair Martina Vozza and her guide Ylenia Sabidussi also experienced elimination in the first two days of competition before registering two more World Cup podiums, twice behind the Aigner sisters (AUT) Veronika and her guide Elisabeth, four-time victorious, and Alexandra Rexova (SVK) and her guide Hugo Rybar (SVK). Other smaller nations also shined in the Standing and Sitting categories. With their best assets, Sweden recorded five top 3 finishes thanks to Ebba Aarsjoe, untouchable - although she didn’t achieve a flawless record due to elimination in the second slalom - and Aaron Lindstroem, consistently strong in slalom, who achieved two 2nd places. In the Men Sitting category, it was indeed the Netherlands that dominated the discussions in Sapporo with four podiums, including two victories, for Jeroen Kampschreur and three other podiums for Niels De Langen (a 2nd and two 3rd places).

First-time Successes

Despite the established dominations at this point in the season, first-time achievements were also celebrated during the Japanese leg of the Para Alpine Skiing World Cup. Marek Kubacka (SVK) claimed his first victory in the Men Vision Impaired category, with his guide Maria Zatovicova (SVK), posting the best time in the second run of Saturday's giant slalom to gain a small advantage of four hundredths of a second over the leaders of their category Johannes Aigner (AUT) and Nico Haberl (AUT), who finished second. It was also the first podium for Adam Hall (NZL) this season. The New Zealander, 5th after the first run of the first slalom contested in Sapporo, recorded the 3rd best time on the second run to move up to 3rd place. The elder of his category then came close to repeating this success as he finished just off the podium in the other two slaloms, once again posting the 3rd best time in the last run contested. Less consistent due to frequent eliminations, the Italian Federico Pelizzari also celebrated his first World Cup podium of the season with a 2nd place achieved at the end of the second slalom.

After this stage in Asia, the Para Alpine Skiing World Cup will return to Europe, in Hopfgarten (AUT), on February 27th and 28th, to contest two other slaloms.