Rogla ready for PGS World Cup finals
Mar 05, 2021·Alpine Snowboard
Fresh off of a successful 2021 FIS Snowboard Alpine World Championships competition earlier this week, Rogla is gearing up for another highlight event this weekend, as the parallel giant slalom tour is slated for the season’s fifth and final World Cup competition this Saturday, March 6.
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 stepping up under short-notice to host this past week’s World Championships PGS and PSL competition, which went down in an extraordinary fashion on Monday and Tuesday. On Saturday the Slovenian resort will serve as venue for elite snowboarding racing one more time, making for the ninth-straight season of World Cup competition at the venue.
The qualifications in Rogla are scheduled to take place at 10:00 CET with finals following up later in the afternoon at 14:00.
Starting on the women’s side of things it will be Germany’s Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, who will be heading home the crystal globe winner regardless of what happens in the race on Saturday. With 340 points from her four previous PGS competitions and a 110 point advantage over her teammate Selina Joerg, Hofmeister is untouchable, and she’ll be celebrating her second straight PGS World Cup title on Saturday no matter what.
But despite clinching the crystal globe already at the last PGS World Cup in Bannoye (RUS), don’t expect Hofmeister to slow down. The German rider finished in fifth place in PGS competition at the World Championships, while also snagging a silver medal in PSL event. Hofmeister likes to go fast, and it’s fair to expect she’ll be looking to finish the PGS season strong on Saturday.
However, Hofmeister will have a strong competition coming from Joerg and their German teammate Cheyenne Loch, as those two riders are sitting in second and third place, respectively, in the women’s PGS ranking. Joerg especially should be one to watch out for, as she’s coming fresh off of two World Championships medal performances including her second straight gold medal in PGS. Following her championships performance in earlier in the week, Joerg then announced that she would be retiring at the end of the season, making Saturday’s race the last PGS World Cup competition of her career.
Then also keep an eye on Russia’s Sofia Nadyrshina, who also claimed two World Championships medals this week, taking silver in PGS on Monday and then following that up with a gold medal in PSL on Tuesday, becoming the youngest World Champion in history of alpine snowboard racing in the process.
Going down the starting list let’s also not forget about Julia Dujmovits and Claudia Riegler of Austria, both performing exceptionally well this week in Rogla, as well as the Swiss duo of Ladina Jenny and Julie Zogg, with both athletes still keeping real chances to finish the PGS season in top-3.
Switching over to the men’s side things are shaping up to be extremely exciting as there is as many as 10 riders who, mathematically speaking, still could claim the title after Saturday’s competition.
Sitting in number one spot is Russia’s Igor Sluev with 214 points, who is followed by Benjamin Karl (AUT) in second with 208, Roland Fischnaller (ITA) in third with 186, Andreas Prommegger (AUT) in fourth with 168 and finally Dmitry Loginov (RUS) in fifth with 142. With only 100 more points up to grab on Saturday, the crystal globe will most likely be going to one of the afore-mentioned gentlemen.
While Sluev is leading the way following his win in Scuol (SUI) and a runner-up position in Bannoye (RUS), it’s probably his teammate Loginov, who is entering Rogla’s World Cup as a top contender for victory. Loginov is coming straight off of the gold medal performance in PGS as well as a bronze medal in PSL at World Championships earlier this week. Add to that the fact that he also won the previous two World Cup competitions in Bannoye a few weeks ago and it’s hard not to imagine him being in podium mix again on Saturday.
However, the rest of that top five mentioned above will all be dropping in on Saturday’s race highly motivated by a potential crystal globe win, with Fischnaller doing all he can to defend his title from last year, and Karl and Prommegger looking to carry the momentum from their respective gold and silver medal performances in the PSL World Championships race on Tuesday.
Then looking down the starting list, let’s not forget about the likes of Andrey Sobolev (RUS), Kim Sangkyum (KOR), Nevin Galmarini (SUI), Lukas Mathies (AUT), Aaron March (ITA), or Michal Nowaczyk (POL), who all performed remarkably well in the PGS world champs competition on Monday, and should be running fast once again on Saturday.
Finally let’s not forget about home nation’s Tim Mastnak and Zan Kosir, who might not be experiencing their best seasons here in 2020/21, but will be hoping to give the local fans’ something to cheer about with some good racing.
With a stacked-field of athletes on hand, a perfectly prepared course and, based on what went down just a couple of days ago during the World Championships in Rogla, a field of athletes riding exceptionally well, we’re sure that the Saturday’s World Cup event will wrap up the parallel giant slalom season on a high.
WATCH LIVE
Eurosport 1 (Asia), Eurosport 2 + player (Europe), ORF Sport + (Austria), BNT 3 (Bulgaria), CT Sport (Czech Republic), L’Equipe web (France), SLO 2 (Slovenia), streaming on Olympic Channel.
Live streaming will also be available on our Youtube channel HERE. Please note that due to broadcasting rights restrictions, live streaming may not be available in your region. Full list of countries with the live streaming available can be found HERE.
QUICK LINKS
Rogla World Cup data page (startlists, live timing, results)
