Mastnak and Ochner starting the season in style
Dec 13, 2018·Alpine Snowboard
Carezza (ITA) - The 2018/19 FIS Snowboard alpine World Cup opened in thrilling fashion on Thursday, with Nadya Ochner (ITA) claiming the maiden victory of her World Cup career on home soil and Tim Mastnak (SLO) earning his second career win, at the Carezza parallel giant slalom World Cup.
The ladies’ competition looked like it was going to be the continuation of the Ester Ledecka fairytale for most of the day on Thursday, as the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic gold medalist and three-time reigning parallel crystal globe winner was the fastest through qualifications,l ooking strong through every heat as she made her way to a big final showdown with Ochner.
However, Ledecka is coming off of two heavy weeks on the World Cup tour already, as the athlete who famously won both snowboard PGS and ski super G gold medals in PyeongChang spent the first half of December competing on the FIS Alpine circuit.
Whether fatigue played a factor in Ledecka’s big final performance or not, it was inarguably a masterful display by Ochner, as the Italian faced down the most intimidating athlete on tour in Ledecka. With all the pressure of the home crowd on her shoulders she was able to overcome the challenge with a no-holds-barred big final run that gave her her first career victory.
“To get my first victory on home soil is incredible,” an emotional Ochner said from the finish, “Having my friends, family, and fans here, and knowing also there’s a lot of people watching on TV is incredible. I haven’t really realized it yet…but I won and it’s great.”
With her runner-up result Ledecka continues a streak of four straight podiums at the season-opener in Carezza, and, as it goes along with a top-10 finish at the Lake Louise (CAN) Alpine ski downhill event earlier this month, the 23-year-old is proving that her intentions to compete in both disciplines this season may just be a successful one.
Third place on the day went to Romana Theresia Hofmeister (GER), in what is an incredible story of its own. Hofmeister has been struggling with back problems all off-season, and had only completed two days of on-snow training before Thursday’s event. In fact, she was only cleared to compete on Wednesday night, making her podium result on Thursday truly inspiring.
In the men’s competition, Slovenia’s Mastnak looked to be on a mission throughout the day. After qualifying in fourth, Mastnak went on to best Sebastian Kislinger (AUT) in the semifinals - averting what could have been an Austrian sweep of the podium - before going toe-to-toe with one of the most experienced and decorated riders in the world in Benny Karl. Mastnak beat the burly Austrian by .73 seconds to claim his second career win.
In fact, the win made it two-in-a-row for Mastnak, as he took his first career World Cup win at his last PGS competition of the 2017/18 season in Scuol (SUI).
“Yeah, I kind of started the season where I finished off last year,” Mastnak smiled from the finish area, “So that’s pretty cool. And at Carezza I’ve never been good before, so I’m really happy with the win today.”
The runner-up result for Karl was his 35th career podium, but his first since he won in Rogla almost a one year ago, and gives the four-time world champion a strong start to his 15th full World Cup season.
Third place on the day went to Kislinger, as he came out on top of an all-Austrian small final after his teammate Andreas Prommegger slipped out on a turn in the middle of the Carezza course and was forced to settle for fourth.
From Carezza, the FIS Snowboard alpine World Cup tour immediately turns around and jumps over the pass to Cortina d’Ampezzo for a night competition only two days from now, with qualifications beginning at 13:00 and finals under the lights at 17:00 on Saturday, December 15th.
QUICK LINKS:
Ladies’ video highlights BIG FINAL / SMALL FINAL
Men’s video highlights BIG FINAL / SMALL FINAL
