Snowboard Cross season opener a thriller
Dec 21, 2018·Snowboard Cross
Cervinia (ITA) - The 2018/19 FIS snowboard cross World Cup season opened on Friday with the first of this weekend’s back-to-back competitions in Italy, with US legend Lindsay Jacobellis extending her all-time lead with her 30th career World Cup victory, and Germany’s Martin Noerl earning the first win of his career in a snowy day of racing in Cervinia.
Already one of the longest and most demanding courses on the snowboard cross World Cup tour, Cervinia was playing extra-difficult on Friday, as heavy snow throughout the day slowed the riders down and caused some issues with visibility. However, despite the added challenges, the world’s best buckled down and persevered in what was an exciting and unpredictable competition.
In the six rider ladies’ final Jacobellis would line up against some faces expected, and some not so much, with the likes of Sochi 2014 Olympic gold medallist Eva Samkova (CZE) and 2017/18’s third-overall ranked rider Charlotte Bankes (GBR) representing the experienced, and 18-year-old Austrian Sina Seigenthaler, riding in her first career World Cup competition, representing the newbies. It would, however, be experience that would prevail on the day in the ladies’ competition.
Throughout the heats leading up to the big final we saw riders who looked like they had their situation well-under control eventually faltering, making mistakes, and falling or dropping back as the heats played out over the marathon Cervinia course, and having the hole shot was not always proving to be an ideal place to be on Friday.
When Jacobellis got out front at the start of the big final, though, one had a sense that things would be different, as the 33-year-old looked composed and determined from the outset. While Samokova, Bankes, and Nelly Moenne Loccoz jockeyed for position behind her, Jacobellis held her line essentially from top to bottom, with Samkova coming in as runner-up and Bankes (earning her first World Cup podium as a member of team GBR after switching from France in the off-season) finishing third.
“It goes to show that qualifying isn’t everything,” said Jacobellis, who came into Friday’s finals ranked 11th after qualifications, “I knew that I was fast up top after yesterday and that I would just have to take it one heat at a time today and be executing the whole way down. The features aren’t as big and pronounced here as at some other courses, so every little bit counts. You have to make sure you’re making all the landings and making speed everywhere here, because the new snow slows everything down. Definitely years and years of riding helps me fine-tune all of those little details.”
Unlike Jacobellis, Noerl did come into Friday’s finals looking hot after Thursday’s qualification round, as he clocked the fastest run in the time-trial the first time in his career.
And though conditions had changed drastically from Thursday’s qualifiers to Friday’s finals, Noerl was able to make good on his promise from the day before, riding consistently and confidently through what were oftentimes chaotic heats in the men’s competition.
In the big final the Noerl found himself lined up against something of an unexpected field, as though last season’s Cervinia winner Omar Visintin (ITA) once again made it through to the big final, the other competitors held just two World Cup podiums between the four of them.
Out of the gate in the big final, Visintin was able to grab the hole shot, holding on through the top half of the course, before Noerl pulled out of the draft to make his move. Once out front the 25-year-old would make no mistake, holding off Visintin and grabbing the first World Cup win of his career.
"It went really well today. I still can not put it in words. I was really scared to fly out in the first round after qualifying. But then I realized that it is running again. Also thanks to the boards - they were simply the best on the mountain today. I was able to make good use of that,” said Noerl, visibly moved, and who now wears the yellow jersey of the World Cup leader for the first time in his career after the victory. "This is of course amazing and makes the day perfect."
With a runner-up result, Visintin once again made the host Italian squad proud, while Hanno Douschan of Austria earned his second career podium with a third-place finish.
The FIS snowboard cross World Cup is right back in action tomorrow in Cervinia, with a long day of qualifications and finals on the programme. Qualification heats in Cervinia are slated to begin at 10:00, followed by finals at 11:40CET.
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