Cortina stages last SBX competition before Olympics
Jan 28, 2022·Snowboard Cross
We are back in Europe and warmed up after our last stage in the slightly colder area of Krasnoyarsk, Siberia (-25 C). It was a fantastic event with back-to-back races at the 2021 FIS Freestyle and Snowboard Junior World Championships venue with a very strong performance by double winner Charlotte Bankes (GBR) and a little surprise on the men’s side with Martin Noerl claiming also a double win and stealing the leader bib from Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT).
On the women’s side we saw two times the same athletes on the podium with Charlotte Bankes on the very top, Chloe Trespeuch (FRA) in second and Lindsey Jacobellis (USA) making it back to the podium in third.
On the men’s side, then World Cup leader Alessandro Haemmerle had a crash on the first day and was out of the competition pretty early on. It was a little surprise, when Martin Noerl managed to choose the fastest line on both days and crossed the finish line first on both days. It was the 28-year-old’s second and third career victory and he has now four podium spots to his name with the last having claimed in 2018.
Cortina d’Ampezzo – a resort like no other
Cortina d’Ampezzo, a resort well known to host winter sports event, just recently the FIS Alpine Ski World Championships were held here in 2021 and it will also be the host of the 2026 Olympic Winter Games. Due to the lack of space and time we will not go into detail of all the winter sports events already held in this amazing area. Though this time around, the resort will be staging the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup for the very first time.
Cortina was added at a little later stage than the official calendar announcement, and to everybody’s special excitement, as a night event under the floodlights! There is just a special flair to it to be racing under floodlights. The last SBX night event was held as a city event in Russia’s capital, Moscow in 2018 with Eva Samkova (CZE) and Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT) claiming victories.
Speaking of Eva Samkova, the Sochi 2014 Olympic Champion and PyeongChang 2018 bronze medallist, sadly, will not be competing in Cortina, or the Olympic Winter Games. The Czech athlete suffered a really bad injury on both of her ankles during the mixed-team event in Montafon back in December. Ever since, Samkova has given her all and everything during rehab to make it back to the track in time for the major event of the year, however, unfortunately, she did not succeed. We wish “Ms. Moustache” all the best and she sure will be missed during the Beijing 2022 experience.
Other than that, we are expecting a full field here in Cortina for the very final World Cup stage before the Olympics. All big names and nations are enrolled and will surely go full send with this last opportunity to race before it’s time for the five rings. Nevertheless, it should be mentioned that this competition is no longer an Olympic qualifying event. All nations have already nominated their squad, which will represent their country at the Olympics. While it is not an Olympic qualifying event, it is still a World Cup and that means that valuable points for the World Cup standings can be collected.
On the women’s side, Charlotte Bankes is exactly 99 points ahead of runner-up Chloe Trespeuch from France. Will Bankes be able to defend the yellow jersey? With three World Cup victories so far, the 2021 World Champion has shown that she is in an incredible shape. But who knows, what Trespeuch will get out of her sleeve to beat her at the final competition just before the Olympics?
On the men’s side, as mentioned, it was Martin Noerl, who managed to sneak into first position ahead of Alessandro Haemmerle at the World Cup standings. Interestingly enough, both athletes have 286 points on their account, so equally the same. Both athletes also have grabbed two wins this year. But with Noerl claiming a fourth place in Montafon (AUT) and Haemmerle a fith place in Cervinia (ITA) at the previous competitions, this ranks Noerl higher and therefore the German is the new World Cup leader.
Jakob Dusek from Austria is super tight on their tails, as he has a total of 270 points with his excellent performance this year so far (maiden victory in Cervinia (ITA) back in December and a second place in Krasnoyarsk on the second day).
So, it will be a chase for the leader bib for sure and an exciting event to watch! Make sure to tune in and do not miss the show!
Qualifications are set for January 29 before the race at 11:30 CET for the men and at 14:20 CET for women, however the timing is still to be confirmed at the last team captain’s meeting on Friday night. You can follow the qualification via FIS App or via live timing on the FIS Website.
The last World Cup finals before the Olympic Winter Games are set for January 29 at 19:00 CET.
Get hyped!!!
WATCH LIVE (subject to change):
Saturday, Jan 29 at 19:00 CET:
TV: ORF Sport+, V Sport + (Finland), Ziggo Docu (The Netherlands), V Sport 1 (Norway), Joj TV (Slovakia), Peacock (USA)
Livestreaming: FIS Snowboard Youtube channel (geo-restricted, please see countries where the livestream is going to be available HERE), Eurosport player (Europe), CBC Sports Streaming (Canada), CT Sport Web (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), L’Equipe Web (France), Rai Web (Italy), skiandsnowboard.live (USA)
QUICK LINKS:
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