Visintin rolling back the years as SBX World Cup tour returns to Georgia
Feb 02, 2024·Snowboard Cross
Omar Visintin (ITA) may be among the elder statesmen on the Snowboard Cross circuit but he will be as energised as anyone when the FIS World Cup stops in Georgia for the first time since the 2023 world championships, when he raced to bronze in Bakuriani.
“I’m very excited, I’ve had some really good races in Georgia,” Visintin said ahead of the weekend’s double-header in Gudauri.
“Even if Gudauri is a new place for me, I can’t wait to be there and start racing. I have no idea what kind of course we will find there, but that is one of the interesting parts of snowboarding - you never know what to expect and have to adapt as fast as you can.”
One rider who has made every course a home away from home this season is Eliot Grondin (CAN). The standout Canadian extended his lead at the top of the FIS World Cup standings to 68 points following his win last time out in St Moritz, when main challenger Alessandro Haemmerle could only finish in 21st position.
Visintin stayed in touch with the top three by placing third in Switzerland, while Kalle Koblet (SUI) was second on home snow to move up to third in the standings.
“I think it is a mix of hard work and experience that allows me to fight for the podium even if at 34, I am the second oldest on tour (behind Nick Baumgartner, 42, who finished a season-high of fifth in St.Moritz),” Visintin, the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games bronze medallist, said.
Moioli playing it long
The race for the Crystal Globe is even closer on the women’s side, with Chloe Trespeuch (FRA), Michela Moioli (ITA) and Belle Brockhoff (AUS) separated at the top by only 31 points heading into the fourth stop of the season.
“The race is so tight but it’s too early to talk about the Crystal Globe,” Moioli said. “This season is really exciting; we have many more races to come so it’s still a faraway dream.
“Every race is different and many girls are super-strong this year. The Swiss girls are putting down great runs but we have Charlotte Bankes (GBR), we have Eva Adamczykova (CZE), Chloe - and many others.
“In the last weeks I had the opportunity to train with Charlotte and Belle and we did a really good job so I think that they are going to show their skills very soon, too.”
Moioli and Trespeuch maintained their consistent form with fourth and third places respectively in St. Moritz but were both upstaged by Adamczykova, who made a blistering return to competition in her first outing of the season.
The Sochi 2014 Olympic champion won the world championships in Bakuriani last March but was still performing in the later stages of a celebrity ballroom dancing competition on Czech TV when the others were racing in Les Deux Alpes and Cervinia in December.
“Eva is Eva - we all expected that she would perform very well in St. Moritz and she did it, so I’m super happy for her,” Moioli said . “She’s one of the strongest athletes on the tour and she’s really a great person, a great rider and it was a well-deserved victory.”
Quality not quantity
Moioli puts her own good form down to some more traditional snowboard cross training over the off-season.
“We worked really well during the summer, different to the previous year,” she said. “We tried to work better on the quality and not on the quantity of our training, and this really helped to preserve my health and my physicality."
“I also heard that it is a really beautiful place for free riding in Gudauri - so maybe I will have the chance to come back one day for that.”
The action in Georgia begins with qualifying runs on 2 February with men’s and women’s races held on 3 and 4 February.
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