Schoeffmann and Fischnaller triumph in Cortina night PSL

Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT) and Roland Fischnaller (ITA) have won the last race of the Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour prior to the Christmas break which took place on Saturday under the lights on the Tondi slope of Cortina d'Ampezzo.

And with that, also the three day full-on race trilogy came also to an end which had kicked of the carving specialists season with a parallel giant slalom in Carezza as well as a parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom in the famous Italian ski resort of Cortina which seems to be the perfect spot for an Austrian couple.

Following yesterday's PGS win of her boyfriend Alexander Payer (AUT) Schoeffmann made it a family affair in Italy bringing home her career's third beating strong Swiss racer Julie Zogg, who had just sneaked in the knock out rounds as 16 best qualifier, in the women's final.

“I'm really happy about the win. Three races in a row are pretty exhausting although I didn't really recognise it physically. It was more a mental thing. But bringing home an eighth, fourth and first place finish is very good.

That together with Alex's yesterday's win made it a perfect week; especially as it was the first time it didn't rain when I won. I hope the season continues like this”, she said.

Natalia Soboleva (RUS) rounded out the podium in third position with reigning PSL World Champion Daniela Ulbing (AUT) taking fourth.

This season's so far dominating athlete Ester Ledecka (CZE), whose winning streak ended with the loss against Zogg in the 1/8 finals, finished in ninth position and still leads the Overall World Cup ranking with 2,290 points ahead of Schoeffmann (1,820).

Italians make home crowd proud

In the men's event, Roland Fischnaller finally clinched the top spot in Cortina after he had placed second in all three races staged in Cortina before.

“I really wanted that win after finishing second here three times in a row. It’s nice as my family and friends were all here. It was a really good day. My self confidence was high after yesterday's second. So I could take it easy and risk a lot at the same time. And it worked out,” Fischnaller stated.

And by beating his teammate Edwin Coratti in an all Italian final, he also got redemption for the loss against his friend in Winterberg back in 2016.

It was the last time Coratti had been able to meat his personal level of performance as he tore his Achill tendon six months later and has been struggling hard to comeback from this heavy injury ever since.

One year after claiming his career's first in March 2016, he returned to the World Cup circuit but has the knock out rounds ever since. Until today.

“t was an amazing race. 600 days without any good racing result due to my injury makes this podium very special,” he said with relief.

Dmitry Loginov (RUS) won the battle for third and therefore the duel with his fellow countryman and two-time Olympic Champion Vic Wild securing his career's first podium finish in his eleventh start.

Thanks to the 2015 World Champion's 13th World Cup win, Fischnaller also took over the Overall World Cup lead with 2,250 points with today's seventh ranked Nevin Galmarini (SUI; 1,660) sitting in second.

The Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour continues after the holidays in Lackenhof, Austria which celebrates its debut as a World Cup host with back-to-back parallel giant slalom races on January 5 and 6, 2018.

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