Ulbling and Baumeister on top in thrilling Carezza PGS
Dec 16, 2021·Snowboard Alpine
The second FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup parallel giant slalom competition of the season took place on Thursday with Daniela Ulbling (AUT) and Stefan Baumeister (GER) taking impressive victories in first of back-to-back events scheduled for this week in the Italian Dolomites.
The 11th edition of the World Cup event on “Pra di Tori” slope went down in style, with the world’s best carvers pushing it to the limit all day long, especially during the afternoon’s finals. Similarly to last year, also this season the conditions in Carezza were perfect, with blue skies and firm snow allowing the riders to deliver their best throughout the competition.
In the women’s event it was Austria’s own Daniela Ulbling, who raced to her career’s third, and also her very first PGS World Cup victory. Coming off of very satisfying results in the opening weekend in Bannoye, where she finished in 5th and 7th place, Ulbling was unstoppable on Thursday in Carezza, besting the likes of Milena Bykova (RUS), Julia Dujmovits (AUT), and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) on her way to the big final.
Once there, Ulbling looked very confident despite racing against the two-sport super-athlete Esther Ledecka (CZE), who was competing in her first snowboard alpine race since last year’s Cortina d’Ampezzo event. Despite dominating early stages of the competition in Carezza, Ledecka didn’t have much luck in the big final, going down early in the upper part of the course. Ulbling took full advantage of Ledecka’s mistake and cruised down to cross the finish line with an easy win.
With Ulbling finishing on top, Ledecka consequently finished the competition in the second place, while Ramona Theresia Hofmeister rounded out the women’s podium in third place after edging out Tsubaki Miki (JPN) in the small final.
In the PGS as well as the overall snowboard alpine World Cup ranking it’s Hofmeister who leads the way, with Ulbling now jumping into second place following her superb performance in Carezza.
Over on the men’s side of the competition Stefan Baumeister was a man on the mission, stepping things up a notch in Carezza after his second place finish in PGS race in Bannoye last week. On Thursday Baumeister made his way through a handful of exciting and tight clashes to finally go against Dmitrii Loginov (RUS) in the big final.
The final heat of the day didn’t disappoint either, but Loginov couldn’t quite catch up on the pace set by Baumeister and while he was doing all he could to get in front of the German rider, he eventually would go out of the course, leaving Baumeister with his first win of the season. And with 100 points for the win in Carezza, Baumeister now jumped into the lead in PGS standing, while Sangho Lee (KOR) still stays atop the overall snowboard alpine World Cup ranking with three races so far in the campaign.
While trailing to Baumeister in the big final, Loginov had to settle for the second place on the day with Edwin Coratti winning the all-Italian small final matchup against Mirko Felicetti to round out the men’s podium in third place.
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup now travels across the valley to Cortina d’Ampezzo with next parallel giant slalom race scheduled to go down under the lights on Saturday, December 18.
QUICK LINKS
Carezza World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
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