Eguibar wins on home soil and Trespeuch back on top
Mar 07, 2020·Snowboard Cross
The competition in Sierra Nevada was nothing short of excitement and with a Spanish win in front of the home crowd and some Spanish sun, the show was perfect!
Because of the cancellation of the qualies the day before finals due to strong wind gusts, the qualies were held on the same day as finals in a single run format, which saw the fastest top 16 women and top 32 men advance into the finals.
While it was still pretty windy at the qualies, came showtime for finals, the wind was calmer and the sun was shining in Spanish style – perfect conditions for the athletes to bring down some incredible heats.
Chloe Trespeuch back on top of the podium
World Cup leader Michela Moioli, who was also the fastest in the quali, Australia’s Belle Brockhoff, Chloe Trespeuch from France and “Ms. Moustache” Eva Samkova were the four women who made it into big finals of the day.
While Eva Samkova was the fastest out of the start gate, one could tell that Michela Moioli was not going to give up easily, so she positioned herself in second, while Trespeuch was third and Brockhoff fourth.
The pack of three kept really close for quite some time, Moioli coming closer and closer to Samkova, but also the French athlete came into second position for a quick moment. It was a super tight heat until one of the turns, were Samkova could get a little bit in front and Trespeuch managed to position herself into second, edging Moioli into third.
After one of the roller sections going into a turn, Samkova did not manage to make a clean landing, causing her to crash and taking her out of the fight for a podium spot. Trespeuch then got by, taking top spot.
Moioli was in second and fighting for the win until the very last minute, especially in the last roller section, where she was able to generate some speed, but in the end it was not enough and Trespeuch brought down a clean win of the day. Moioli came in second and Brockhoff took the third podium spot.
Trespeuch is quite familiar with the podium in Sierra Nevada, as she took home a silver medal here at the individual competition at the FIS Snowboard World Championships in 2017 and a gold medal in the team event.
“I am really happy with my result, especially because I had a tough beginning into the season and also today I had quite a bad qualification. But the course was so much fun and it was fun fighting with the girls. And since I won the silver medal here in 2017, I think it just shows that I like this place and this place likes me,” a smiling Trespeuch commented.
Lucas Eguibar on fire in front of home crowd
As for the men, a highly motivated Lucas Eguibar, who won all of his heats of the day, Germany’s Paul Berg and the Austrian duo Alessandro Haemmerle and Jakob Dusek faced each other in the big final.
The Spanish home hero shot out of the gate, positioning himself in front of the pack just before the first turn, having Paul Berg jut behind him in second and the two Austrians in third and fourth almost side by side. Haemmerle then took the chance in one of the turns to pass his team mate and get in third.
Eguibar took of in front and was a few board lengths ahead of his competitors, showing already from the beginning that he really wanted to win this race. There was more passes and changes in the back, as then Dusek overtook Haemmerle, getting into third.
Only in one of the banks, Dusek took the higher line, where he lost some speed, whereas Haemmerle took the lower line and on the other hand generated enough speed to pass his colleague.
And Haemmerle fought truly until the very finish line, pressing every roller in the last section as hard as he could to win enough speed to also pass Berg, which he finally did, literally on the finish line. It was a photo finish for the books, which showed that Haemmerle managed to pass at last, edging Berg into spot number three and Dusek off the podium.
And Lucas Eguibar crossed the finish line first, coming into the finish area, where the Spanish crowd just went wild, cheering and screaming out of joy for their hero.
“I was so focused from the very first heat on, because I really wanted to win. I put all my energy into every round and then managed to win. My team and everybody did a really great job today, so I am really happy,” Eguibar said after the race.
World Cup leaders
With only one more competition left this season, it is time to take a look at the World Cup leaders. Moioli, taking second today, managed to keep her leader bib on. She has now a total of 4.400 points, which is 900 more than Belle Brockhoff with 3.500 points and in third rank is Eva Samkova with a total of 2.710 points.
That means, that the fight for the crystal globe is still open and we will have to be patient until the very end of the season to see, who is going to be the lucky one to stand on the very top of the podium in Veysonnaz at the World Cup finals.
On the men’s side, Alessandro Haemmerle managed to win back the leader bib with his second spot on the podium. He has a total of 2.960, which is only a minimal margin of 10 points ahead of Italy’s Lorenzo Sommariva, who finished fifth today. Sitting in third rank for now is Omar Visintin with a total of 2.130.
But the respective ranks after that are also within a very tight range, so one can really expect a tight fight for the World Cup ranks at the finals in Veysonnaz, as nothing is decided yet.
It is time to pack things up and leave from the South of Spain to the Southwest of Switzerland for the grand final of this World Cup season. Finals are slated to go down on March 15 at 11:00 CET.
QUICK LINKS
Sierra Nevada data page (results, brackets, etc.)
Sierra Nevada Photos (© Sierra Nevada)
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