Snowboard Alpine debuts in new Chinese venue to open season

Nov 29, 2024·Snowboard Alpine

The VISA FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup will mount the slopes of Inner Mongolia as the tour makes its first ever stop in a new venue. Mylin Valley Ski Resort will host the first event of the World Cup season for the first time. Defending champions and hungry upstarts will battle it out for the first podium of the season.

Hofmeister heads a loaded field in Mylin

Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) is already the hunted on the women’s side before the first run. The dominant German swept the crystal globes last season and is primed to defend her titles with a hopefully hot start in China. The change in hemisphere is no issue for the champ.

“Whether in Europe or China, if the venue is new or not, it makes no difference for me where we start the season. I had good training days in the last weeks and am looking forward to the first race,”– Hofmeister said

Hofmeister spent the offseason with her family, playing with her Insta-famous dog Chili and traversing European mountain ranges as she indulged in her winning season. Despite winning it all, make no mistake, Hofmeister is hungry for more.

“You can never get enough of winning. And there are medals to grab this season that are still missing in my trophy collection at home,”– Hofmeister said.

The German will be chasing titles in new venues like Mylin and Yanqing in China as well as a new venue in Canada later this winter. She will also be working towards her first gold at the world championships, which occur at the end of this season in Switzerland.

Hofmeister will have tough competition to remain atop the podium. Ester Ledecka will return to Snowboard Alpine after spot duty last season. Ledecka got the better of Hofmeister in two head-to-head matchups to claim victories last season. The rivalry will write new chapters starting in Mylin this weekend as the Czech star will be in the start list and is ready to ride.

“I’m very excited to start the season on the snowboard. It’s always a great way to start a season with the pure feeling of carving and head to head racing,”– Ledecka said.

The two favourites will face tough tests from the Austrian team led by Sabine Payer (formerly Schoeffmann) (AUT). Youngster Tsubaki Miki (JPN) announced her position among the contenders last season with a second-place finish in the overall standings and will continue to be a thorn in Hofmeister’s side.

Karl says age is just a number

Speaking of the Austrian team, Benjamin Karl (AUT) returns to defend his overall crystal globe title on the men’s side. Karl cruised to the title, his fourth career overall globe but first in twelve years. The 39-year-old is still pushing for more and to grow the sport, starting this weekend in China.

“I want to bring the sport to a next level,” Karl said. “And I want to tell the people who are 40 or over, that there's no reason to complain about their age. I want to show them that anything is possible. No matter what age.”

The World Cup’s return to China is further proof of the growth of the sport as it reaches more corners of the globe. The opportunities on new ground push the evergreen to keep competing.

“We have hoped since the Olympics that China is making races in a regular way. We are all happy and proud that we have a whole series here in China. And for 400 points (available to win), it‘s a lot we can achieve here. We see in the snowboard areas around here, everybody is snowboarding, it is so cool to see,”– Karl said.

Karl believes he is faster than last season and he may need to be to fend off the field. His Austrian teammates including Andreas Prommegger (AUT) will be gunning for the top spots.

The Italian men are also a force to be reckoned with. Maurizio Bormolini and Daniele Bagozza (ITA) both ended in the top five of the overall standings last season and will look to move up this season.

The men and women will compete in a PGS event on November 30 at 14:30 local time to start the season. They will race time trials in qualifying before going head-to-head in a knockout round. Then they will take the slopes again in a parallel slalom competition on December 1 at 14:30 local time with the same format.

RACE PLAN FOR SATURDAY 30.11.:

•⁠ ⁠Qualifying start time: 9:45 LOC - 2:45 CET

•⁠ ⁠⁠Finals start time: 14:30 LOC - 7:30 CET

FACTS & FIGURES

Ramona Theresia Hofmesiter (GER) has won four of the last five women’s overall crystal globe titles.
3/3 - Ester Ledecka (CZE) picked up three victories in three starts in individual events in 2023-24.
Ledecka has 24 career Snowboard Alpine victories.
Mylin will be the first FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup event in China since Secret Garden 2019.
12 years - Time between Benjamin Karl’s overall crystal globe wins.

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