Bankes and Noerl repeat outstanding performances in Krasnoyarsk
Jan 09, 2022·Snowboard Cross
It was the second of back-to-back competitions here in Krasnoyarsk, Siberia (RUS) and also the last chance for the athletes to qualify for the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022, which start in less than 30 days.
While it was really cold on Saturday for the first race day with temperatures as low as -24 degrees, the weather gods were much kinder to us on Sunday for the second competition. All prepped and ready for the second show, athletes first had to qualify in the pre-heat qualification mode and at precisely noon, it was showtime.
Bankes in terrific shape
One wouldn’t believe it, but for the big final of women, it was the exact same athletes in the start gate as on Saturday’s race. Australia’s Belle Brockhoff, and the three podium winners of Saturday, Charlotte Bankes (GB), Chloe Trespeuch (FRA) and winningest SBX athlete up to date, Lindsey Jacobellis (USA).
And, we just have to spoil it right away – it was another race, but the absolute exact podium again. What are the odds?! And here is what happened:
It was once again Belle Brockhoff, who shot out of the start gate as the fastest one, clearly with a bit of motivational anger from the day before, as she did not make it to the podium. Clearly, this time she really wanted to get there; you could tell. But already on the first turn, Bankes took the inside line and made a frontside pass on the Aussie, securing the lead of the heat.
Brockhoff then made a mistake in the following turn, causing her to lose balance on her board and almost crashing, which thankfully she didn’t, but clearly that one cost her a lot of speed. That’s when Trespeuch and Jacobellis, who where originally behind her, took advantage of the situation and made an inside pass on Brockhoff, edging her into fourth position.
In the following roller section, Brockhoff really pushed hard to generate speed again in the hope to overtake Jacobellis, but entering into the next bank, she took a way too far line, which resulted in her losing the possibility to pass and also losing speed again.
As for the front of the heat, there was no more changes, Bankes absolutely took it home for the second time this weekend and, as spoiled in the beginning of our recap, the podium was exactly the same as on Saturday’s race, which after all does not happen all that often.
“I feel so great. I had a better day than yesterday as well. I am a lot happier with my riding today and I managed to feel really good when entering into the big final. I also had some really good starts today, so I feel super happy,” Bankes commented.
Martin Noerl repeats in great manner
For the big final of men, Saturday’s winner Martin Noerl from Germany, Canada’s Junior World Champion Eliot Grondin, Austria’s Jakob Dusek and Australia’s Adam Lambert met in the start gate.
Eliot Grondin got the start section perfectly, so he was able to get into the lead, whereas Dusek and Lambert were head-to-head battling for positions three and four and Noerl sat in fourth. It was the Austrian, who then took second position, but just before the jump, the heat got super close again with all four athletes taking-off almost at the same time. That’s when the German seemed to have won the most speed and therefore landed in first position.
Then, entering into the next turn with the speed from the jump, Dusek took the inside line and wanted to attack the German, who was still a tiny margin ahead and Lambert was in third position.
After the second roller section, Grondin made the passing move on the Australian and sneaked into third position. Although still pretty tight, the riders then got in this formation over the last jump and into the finish.
A very surprised back-to-back winner said after the race, when being asked, how he was able to generate all that speed for the win:” I don’t know, I had a super fast board and I was really surprised, because I thought today it would be more challenging to do the passes. I don’t know how, but in the end, it worked out somehow.”
Of course, with her third win in a row, Charlotte Bankes is keeping the World Cup leader bib and now has 409 points to her name. The rest of the ranking shifted slightly with today’s results, as now it is Chloe Trespeuch sitting in second with 310 points and Belle Brockhoff in third with 280 points.
On the men’s side this weekend’s double winner Martin Noerl grabbed the leader bib from Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle, but amazingly enough the two gentlemen have the exact same number of points, which is 286. Since Noerl had the better result today, he is taking over as number one. And in third rank it is Jakob Dusek with 270 points.
That’s it, that’s all folks. Thank you for the amazing experience of being in Siberia and the Krasnoyarsk region of Russia. Fantastic organization, great racing and partly really Siberian weather – what more could we have asked for?! We say “spasiba” to the entire team of Krasnoyarsk and are now packing up to get back to Europe for the last stop before the Olympics, which will be a night event in the famous winter sports resort of Cortina, Italy on January 29.
Stay safe and stay warm, everyone!
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