PGS finals come back to Rogla
Mar 15, 2022·Alpine Snowboard
Just three days aways from a highly successful World Cup weekend in Piancavallo (ITA), the snowboard alpine tour will be back in action again this Wednesday in Rogla (SLO) at one of the highlight events of 2021/22, as the parallel giant slalom tour is slated for the season’s sixth and final World Cup competition.
Rogla has been an outstanding host of FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup action since joining the circuit as a venue back in the 2012/13 season, with one of the more dynamic courses on tour and a strong and dedicated organising committee who are thoroughly invested in creating the best possible experience for athletes and fans alike. Furthermore Rogla hosted two FIS Snowboard Alpine Junior World Championships in 2016 and 2019 and last season the organisers in Slovenia put in an enormous amount of effort to jump in as last-minute host of the 2021 FIS Snowboard Alpine World Championships.
On Wednesday the Slovenian resort will serve as venue for elite snowboarding racing one more time, making for the tenth-straight season of World Cup competition in Rogla. And with parallel giant slalom crystal globes still up for grabs by a handful of athletes, a top-notch piste, and favourable snow conditions, all the pieces are in place for another thrilling showcase of top-tier snowboard racing action.
Leading the way in the women’s PGS standing is Sofiya Nadyrshina (RUS), who is sitting in top spot with 291 points and 56 points advantage over second Daniela Ulbing (AUT). But since the Russian athletes won’t be completing until the end of 2021/22 season, it’s Ulbing who all of a sudden is rising as top contender to claim the PGS World Cup title.
Ulbing needs at least a third place finish on Wednesday to move ahead of Nadyrshina, but it still might not be enough as Ladina Jenny (SUI), Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT) and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER) are all not far behind in the standings and will be doing everything to play their cards right in Rogla.
Other athletes such as Carolin Langenhorst (GER), Julia Dujmovits (AUT), Melanie Hochreiter (GER), Julie Zogg (SUI) and Aleksandra Krol (POL) also find themselves in position to contend for a place on the final PGS World Cup podium, which promises an extremely thrilling women’s competition to wrap up the 2021/22 parallel giant slalom campaign.
Over on the men’s side it all looks like the PGS crystal globe will go to Stefan Baumeister as the German rider has a comfortable advantage of 65 points over Sangho Lee (KOR) in the 2021/22 standing. Even if the Korean rider takes the win in Rogla on Wednesday, Baumeister would have to finish outside of top-10 to let the title slip out of his hands. And that’s very unlikely given Baumeister’s record in PGS World Cup this year that includes two victories and two runner-up positions.
While the battle for the PGS title will go between Baumeister and Lee, Tim Mastnak (SLO), Dario Caviezel (SUI), Mirko Felicetti (ITA) and Roland Fischnaller (ITA) will be all hoping for a good result in Rogla in order to jump into PGS top-3, as Dmitrii Loginov (RUS) won’t be able to increase his point count on Wednesday and thus defend his place on the podium.
Then of course also watch out for Beijing 2022 Olympic gold and silver medallists Benjamin Karl (AUT) and Tim Mastnak (SLO) or last year’s PGS finals winner from Rogla Zan Kosir (SLO). They might not be competing for title this week, but they will be certainly looking to make some noise in the final parallel giant slalom competition of the season. All in all, with almost 60 riders expected to drop in in Wednesday’s qualifications, also the men’s portion of the competition in Rogla shapes up to be an exciting one.
The qualifications in Rogla are scheduled to take place at 9:00 CET with finals following up later in the afternoon at 13:00.
WATCH LIVE
TV Broadcast: Eurosport 2 (Europe), ORF Sport + (Austria), BNT3 (Bulgaria), CT Sport (Czech Republic), TV3 Sport (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), V Sport 1 (Finland), L’Equipe (France), Arena 4 (Hungary), Rai Sport (Italy), V Sport + (Norway), Polsat Sport Extra (Poland), JOJ Sport (Slovakia), TV SLO 2 (Slovenia), Peacock (USA)
Streaming: Eurosport player, CBC Sports (Canada), Viaplay (Denmark, Sweden), www.skiandsnowboard.live (USA), FIS Snowboard Youtube
QUICK LINKS
Rogla World Cup FIS data page (start lists, results, etc.)
