Back-to-back Pitztal Europa Cups & Austrian champs open SBX season

Pitztal (AUT) - A huge, world-class field was on hand at the Pitztal Glacier in Austria this week for a pair of Europa Cup snowboard cross competitions, as well as the Austrian SBX national championships. Both Wednesday and Thursday saw Europa Cup competitions on the Mittelberg course, with the Austrian national championship title being awarded in conjunction with Thursday’s competition.

Day one of competition saw a strong start to the season for the German men’s squad, with a win for Konstantin Schad and a third place for Martin Noerl, while Lucas Eguibar of Spain was able to take second place on the day. Rounding out the big final in fourth was Adam Lambert of Australia.

On the ladies’ side of things, Wednesday’s race saw Charlotte Bankes begin a new phase of her career in impressive fashion, as the 23-year-old earned a victory in her first competition since switching nations from France to Great Britain this past the off-season. Behind Bankes in second was Swiss rider Lara Casanova, Meryeta Odine of Canada in third, and the Czech star Eva Samkova just off the podium in fourth place.

Day two of men’s competition in Pitztal saw a strong performance by the host Austrians, as they took four of the top eight positions. Leading the way was Luca Haemmerle, as the 22-year-old younger brother of Austrian top gun Alessandro claimed third place on the day and the title of Austrian national champion in the process.

First place overall went to Eguibar, as he stepped it up a notch from Wednesday’s race to earn a solid early-season win, with the USA’s Mick Dierdorff earning a runner-up result ahead of Haemmerle. In more good news for the US squad, 20-year-old Jake Vedder finished the day in fourth, continuing a strong start to the season that saw him earn the title of junior world champion this past September in Cardrona (NZL).

Thursday’s ladies’ competition saw the biggest name of the competition flexing her muscles, as Samkova made no mistakes on her way to victory. Behind the Sochi 2014 Olympic champion it was Casanova and Odine matching their results from the previous day’s event, finishing second and third, respectively, while Odine’s teammate Carle Brenneman finished fourth..

With only three Austrians in the ladies’ competition the OSV elected not to award the ladies’ national championship title at this time.

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Full Pitztal results