Moioli and Noerl speed to victory in Cortina
Jan 29, 2022·Snowboard Cross
That was one fantastic final World Cup event before heading to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. What a great night event on Saturday evening in the well-known Italian resort Cortina d’Ampezzo. Underneath the dolomites and under the floodlights, it was the first night event since Moscow in 2018 and we can definitely say: Yes please, we want more of that!
Moioli grabs another homesoil win
The women’s last big final heat of the night consisted of home hero Michela Moioli, 2021 World Champion Charlotte Bankes (BGR), Chloe Trespeuch from France and Pia Zerkhold from Austria. The tall French athlete managed to shoot out of the start gate super fast and then also over the first couple of elements of the start section, so she was able to take the lead with Moioli tight behind her on her tails.
Bankes did not have the perfect start, so she was even behind the young Austrian, who managed to get into the big final for the second time this season and also in her career (the first time was at the season opener Olympic test event in Secret Garden (CHN).
Trespeuch was in the lead and that was something that Moioli would not allow, you could tell that she wanted one thing and one thing only – the win. In one of the following turns, Moioli chose the inside line, really coming neck-and-neck with Trespeuch. The two then went into the roller section, still head-to-head, but then the French was in the inside line for the next turn and Moioli seemed to have gone a little bit too high on that bank turn, which gave Trespeuch the possibility to get ahead with some margin.
In the meanwhile, Bankes managed to pass the 23-year-old Austrian and secure the third spot for the time being. At the front of the heat, Trespeuch and Moioli approached the jump that then was followed by some double elements and again some jumps, which was a really dynamic section.
It was, when entering the next left turn that the Italian took the inside line, sneaking past the French and then for the final section of the course, these last few meters of rollers, Moioli was pumping and pumping and giving it her all, only to cross the finish line first in the end. Bankes had sneaked up on the two leading ladies from behind and even made it to a photo finish with Trespeuch for second place, but it was the French who then claimed her third second spot in a row now.
“It’s really unbelievable winning right before the Olympics and winning at home in front of my family and friends and everybody who came here. I am really happy for that. Thank you so much! See you in Beijing,” an excited and touched Moioli said.
Three wins in a row for Noerl
On the men’s side, the following four gentlemen delivered one hell of a great show at the last big final of the day: World Cup leader Martin Noerl (GER), home hero Lorenzo Sommariva, who managed to get into a big final only once this season, together with teammate Michela Moioli at the mixed-team event in Montafon (AUT), Alessandro Haemmerle from Austria and Cameron Bolton from Australia, who has made an appearance at the big final for the first time this season.
Noerl and Haemmerle got through the quite tricky start section pretty good, getting in front of the heat, whereas Sommariva had a mistake already a few seconds into the course and struggled to get over the following elements, which left Bolton sitting in third.
There was just something about Noerl’s board and his style of riding that kept him in front throughout the entire time. Maybe in one bank, Haemmerle had the chance to just think about passing the German, but could not manage to do so. It did get tighter after the section with the doubles and the jumps, where also the men generated a lot of speed going into the next turn, where Noerl and Hammerle were neck-and-neck. Almost a little bit too much of speed for Haemmerle as he entered the turn on the backside, where he lost some speed for the final part of the course.
This left Noerl the chance to take the win home in an incredible manner and with the third win in a row this season. This is probably pretty good timing for such a confidence boost, just before the Olympics, we would say.
World Cup leaders
As for the World Cup leaders, Charlotte Bankes with her third spot today earned a lot of valuable points to keep the leader bib, giving her a 79-point-margin to runner-up Chloe Trespeuch, who has now 390 points. With Belle Brockhoff (AUS) not competing on Saturday’s competition and Moioli earning 100 points for her win, she is now in third rank and owns 376 points.
On the men’s side of things, Martin Noerl, who entered the competition with the exact same number of points as Alessandro Haemmerle, is now in the lead with 386 points, which means 20 points ahead of Haemmerle. In third place, it’s still Jakob Dusek from Austria, who didn’t make it out of his eight final heat on Saturday in Cortina. He has 284 points.
And now the time has finally come to pack up the bags with lots of Olympic gear and start the journey to THE major event of the year: the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022. We are super excited to see what’s in store for the medal battle. The women’s Olympic event will be going down on February 9, followed by the men on February 10 and the Olympic premiere of the mixed-team event will be happening on February 12.
You can be absolutely sure that we will update you on all things Olympic on our website, as well as on all of our social media channels. We don’t want you to miss out one single bit.
Safe travels everyone and see you underneath the five rings!
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