Krasnoyarsk welcomes SBX athletes for its World Cup premiere
Jan 07, 2022·Snowboard Cross
The Christmas and New Year’s break is officially over and we are now entering the “hot phase” of the season, as it is only exactly 29 days until the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will kick-off. Wow, 29 days! This means that athletes are heading into the very final stage of the Olympic qualification period, which started on July 1, 2020 and lasts until January 16, 2022. So, this next stop is the final chance to book their Olympic ticket.
But let’s see, where we are at with the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup so far. Until now, we can tick four competitions off our list: The Olympic test event in Secret Garden, China, one individual and one team-event in Montafon (AUT) and one pre-Christmas competition in Cervinia (ITA).
The World Cup tour continues
For the first time ever, the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup will have a stop in Russia’s Krasnoyarsk resort, which is located in Siberia and is the capital of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, which is the second largest region of the Russian Federation.
Back-to-back races will be held at quite chilly temperatures on January 07-09, where last year’s FIS Youth World Championships took place in an extraordinary matter. So, it is exciting to see the Siberian resort host an SBX World Cup for the very first time ever.
The organizing committee has really prepared a fantastic course and if you don’t think too much about the freezing temperatures (it is Siberia after all), you can tell that it is going to be a fantastic show here in Russia with an action-packed pair of races, where athletes will fight for the last Olympic spots available. This is going to be one to watch for sure!
Women’s World Cup standings so far…
On the women’s side, so far World Champion Charlotte Bankes (GBR) has showed that she is in an incredible shape by claiming one second spot and one win this season, earning her the leader bib.
Sitting right behind her is Michela Moioli (ITA), who closed the year off with a win on home soil in Cervinia and one third spot at the season opener in China. We also want to mention that together with Lorenzo Sommariva they won the mixed-team event in Montafon, showing that Italy’s racing is strong. It will be Moioli’s 60th World Cup start in Krasnoyarsk and as it getting caliente as we approach the Olympics, the 2018 Olympic Champion will surely bring her game up a notch.
And in third place of the World Cup standings, it’s Australia’s Belle Brockhoff, who showed some really strong racing, claiming one second and one third spot on the podium so far. The mixed-team event World Champion (together with teammate Jarryd Hughes) has stated that her one and only goal at the Olympics is a gold medal, so let’s lean back and see how she will be getting ready to reach this goal in the upcoming weeks up until day X.
Men’s World Cup standings so far…
Runner-up in the men’s category is three-time crystal globe winner Alessandro Haemmerle from Austria. He is the one to be caught when four gentlemen shoot out of that start gate, because if it’s not an unfortunate crash, like in Cervinia, where the Austrian still ended up winning the small final, Mr. Haemmerle has been on top of the podium in two out of three races so far.
Team mate Jakob Dusek, who claimed his maiden World Cup victory in Cervinia at the last race of the year 2021, is sitting in second rank. He had also made it into the big final in China, however earned the bittersweet fourth spot. But this achievement, together with the win in Italy, caused him to end up in second rank. And one thing we know for sure is that after his first career win, this gentleman will be on fire.
And then we have truly a veteran of snowboard cross currently in third position of the World Cup ranking. Age is just a number – that is what 40-year-old Nick Baumgartner has truly proven this season so far, battling it into every round of both competitions, Secret Garden, where he ended up third and in Montafon, where Baumgartner almost caught Haemmerle on the finish line. Nothing but much respect for the American for showing up on the circuit in such an incredible shape.
We can’t wait to see more of his tireless energy going into the following competitions, although he is sitting the Siberian experience out to train at home and, in any case, he already did qualify for the five rings within his team, so the American can rest assured that he will be going to Beijing 2022. It’s expected that we will see him back in the gate at the last World Cup stop before the Olympics in Cortina.
Well, we are beyond excited to witness the final Olympic qualification battles here in Krasnoyarsk, Russia.
Time trial qualifications for Saturday’s race are scheduled for January 7 at 10:35 LOC for men and at 13:25 LOC for women, which you can follow via FIS App or via live timing on our website.
For Sunday’s race a pre-heat mode is foreseen as qualification mode, the starting time still needs to be confirmed. We will give an update on all of our channels, as soon as the starting time will be confirmed.
Finals are slated to go down on January 8 and January 9, both at 12:00 LOC/ 6:00 CET.
WATCH LIVE (subject to change):
Saturday, Jan 8 at 12:00 LOC/ 6:00 CET:
ORF Sport+ (Austria), V Sport + (Finland, Norway), Ziggo Docu (The Netherlands), Polsat Sport Extra (Poland), Joj TV (Slovakia), Teledeporte (Spain), Peacock (USA)
Live streaming: FIS Snowboard Youtube Channel (geo-restricted; check countries, where streaming is available HERE), Eurosport Player (Europe), CT Sport Web (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), skiandsnowboard.live (USA)
Sunday, Jan 9 at 12:00 LOC/ 6:00 CET:
ORF Sport+ (Austria), CT Sport (Czech Republic), V Sport + (Norway), Ziggo Docu (The Netherlands), Polsat Sport Extra (Poland), Joj TV (Slovakia), Teledeporte (Spain)
Live streaming: FIS Snowboard Youtube Channel (geo-restricted; check countries, where streaming is available HERE), Eurosport Player (Europe), CT Sport Web (Czech Republic), Viaplay (Denmark), skiandsnowboard.live (USA)
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