Dujmovits and Auner storm to home win in Bad Gastein’s team event
Jan 12, 2022·Snowboard Alpine
Two days of the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup event in Bad Gastein (AUT) wrapped up in storybook fashion for the host Austrians on Wednesday afternoon, as experienced carvers Julia Dujmovits and Arvid Auner powered through some tough matchups to emerge victorious from the first parallel slalom mixed team event of the 2021/22 season.
Dujmovits and Auner presented a formidable pair for any of the other teams on hand, with Dujmovits finishing in 4th place and Auner leading the Austrian sweep for his career’s first World Cup triumph in Tuesday’s nighttime competition. Again on Wednesday the duo put together a determined performance to take Austria’s sixth win in seven team competitions in Bad Gastein.
As expected, the Austrians came out hot, dispatching Poland’s Aleksandra Krol and Oskar Kwiatkowski with relative ease in the 1/8 finals, before moving to all-Austria showdown with a pair of last year’s winners in Claudie Riegler and Andreas Prommegger in the quarters. However, despite the heavy pedigree of their Austrian teammates, Dujmovits and Auner would again prevail in impressive fashion and move on the semifinals.
In the semis it would be another interesting showdown, with Dujmovits and Auner up against yesterday’s runner-up Ramona Theresia Hofmeister and her partner Elias Huber of Germany. This time Auner built up a comfortable advantage through the first half of the heat, crossing the finish line one second ahead of Huber. But then Hofmeister risked it all and almost managed to catch Dujmovits in the lower parts of the course, finishing the race just 0.12 seconds behind the Austrian rider.
In the big final Dujmovits and Auner would face down the speedy Russian duo of Natalia Soboleva and Dmitry Karlagachev, with Soboleva fresh off her third place finish in the individual event. However, just as in semis it was Auner, who came with a clutch performance and built up a gap of solid 0.74 seconds, leaving Dujmovits with a relatively easy task of bringing home a huge win for the entire Austrian Snowboard Team.
With Austrians on top of the podium, Soboleva and Kalragachev consequently claimed the second place on the day, capping a solid performance from the Russian Team.
Hofmeister and Huber rounded out the podium in third place, after edging out the Swiss pair of Ladina Jenny and Nevin Galmarini in the small final matchup.
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup will remain in Austria for a couple more days, with another back-to-back competitions coming just 200km apart in Simonhoehe this Friday and Saturday, January 14-15.
QUICK LINKS:
Bad Gastein FIS data page (start lists, live-scoring, results)
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