Italian Dolomites set for Seiser Alm Legends slopestyle showdown

Seiser Alm (ITA) - The FIS Snowboard World Cup gets right back to action this week in one of the most beautiful settings on tour, as we return to the Italian Dolomites for the 2018/19 season’s fourth slopestyle competition of the season, which is set to take to the exciting course at the Seiser Alm Legends event from January 24-26.

This week will be the third time that Seiser Alm will play host to the FIS Snowboard slopestyle World Cup at its award-winning terrain park, and the venue here is considered to be one of the best parks in Europe, boasting a continuous line of 1.5 km and containing over 70 different features and obstacles.

The slopestyle course at Seiser Alm, meanwhile, boasts three ultra-creative rail sections to begin with, followed by three perfectly shaped kickers, on which over 80 riders are slated to drop in on Thursday’s qualifications. The best-of-two runs qualies will then send the top six ladies and top 10 men through to compete in Saturday’s finals, which are slated beginning at 12:30 CET.

With some of the top athletes in the World Cup missing out on this year’s Seiser Alm event due to the X Games invitation, the weekend’s competition will provide a big opportunity for some young guns to step up their game and, possibly, find themselves standing on the World Cup podium.

That being said, one look down the entry list for this week’s action will tell you that this isn’t going to be a throwaway contest, by any means, with an exciting roster of talent on hand and ready to get busy in the Dolomites.

In the ladies’ competition, the top pair on the scene in Seiser Alm will be Switzerland’s Isabel Duerungs and Sina Candrian, who are fresh off a second and third-place results at the heavy-hitting Laax Open slopestyle World Cup last weekend, respectively. Then there’s Loranne Smans (BEL), who has proven she can be amongst the best in the world after a third-place finish at the Quebec City big air World Cup last season, and Carla Somaini (SUI) who’s coming off an eighth-place finish in Laax last weekend.

As well, there will be some talented youngster like Annika Morgan (GER) and Sommer Gendron (CAN) on hand and looking to make some noise, after the pair finished second and third, respectively, at the Cardrona 2018 Junior World Championships back in August.

Fresh group of riders looking to upstage veterans in men’s event

With more than 50 riders set to drop in on the men’s side of things in Seiser Alm, there’s shaping up to be a hard-fought battle for top spot on Saturday.

Reigning world champion Seppe Smits (BEL) will be one to watch this week, as the veteran rider claimed the win the last time the World Cup hit the venue back in 2016/17, as well as Kreischberg 2015 world champion Ryan Stassel (USA), who has shown some strong riding this season and will be looking to climb back on the podium for the first time in two years.

Throw in riders like Niklas Mattsson and Mans Hedberg of Sweden, and Nicolas Huber and Mortiz Thoenen of Switzerland, and the more veteran of the World Cup riders will be well-represented this weekend.

Those veterans will have to deal with a batch of new blood riders dropping in at Seiser Alm, with many of them born in the year 2000 or later and several of those riders on hand for their first-ever World Cup competitions here in Italy.

The Canadian development squad has some intriguing riders here in Italy, including Jack Macdougall, Mateo Massitti, and Cardrona 2019 junior big air bronze-medallist William Buffey. Meanwhile, Niek van der Velden of the Netherlands, Will Healy from the USA, and Naj Mekinc of Slovenia are all coming off strong showings in Laax last week and looking to make some more noise in Seiser Alm.

Anyway you slice it, it’s gearing up to be a fun weekend of riding at the Seiser Alm Legends slopestyle World Cup, and one not to miss.

QUICK LINKS:

-      Seiser Alm data page (start lists, programme, live scoring, results)
-      Official Website
-      World Cup leaderboard
-      Teaser video

-      TV Broadcast info