Snowboard Alpine season to resume in Bad Gastein, Austria
Jan 09, 2023·Alpine Snowboard
The snowboard alpine circus heads to Bad Gastein (AUT) following the festive break with the second parallel slalom (PSL) and parallel team events (PRT) of the 2022/23 FIS World Cup. Taking place on Tuesday (10 January) and Wednesday (11 January), respectively, Austria’s Sabine Schoeffmann and Alexander Payer will be hoping for a repeat of the happy household they created after the partners won their respective women’s and men’s PSL’s in the season-opener in Winterberg, Germany in December.
A repeat of the dramatic team event from Germany would entertain neutral fans after Switzerland 2’s Ladina Jenny and Gian Casanova not only both claimed first-ever World Cup wins but did so after Andreas Prommegger of Austria 1 was adjudged to have straddled a gate and was therefore relegated to second alongside Daniela Ulbing, after initially being given the win. Poland also bagged a first ever World Cup parallel team podium courtesy of Oskar Kwiatkowski and Aleksandra Krol.
What would please home fans though, is if their compatriots could offer a repeat of last season’s dominance at the iconic venue in which there was an Austrian lockout on the men’s PSL podium and a top spot in the women’s edition courtesy of Ulbing.
Arvid Auner was the best of the men, with Benjamin Karl second, Payer third, Lukas Mathies fourth and Prommegger sixth. Only last season’s overall champion Lee Sangho (KOR) could muscle in on the act in fifth.
Auner also bagged top spot with Julia Dujmovits for Austria 4 in the team event, with Natalia Soboleva and Dmitry Karlagachev of Russia claiming second. Germany 1 came out on top in the small final with Elias Huber and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister beating Switzerland 2’s Nevin Galmarini and Ladina Jenny to third place.
The final weekend of the season in Berchtesgaden, Germany on 19 March hosts the third and final team event of 2022/23 so nations will be looking to grab big PRT points here in Austria.
Three more PSL stops follow in Bansko, Bulgaria (22 January), Livigno (12 March) and in Berchtesgaden (18 March).
The next PGS, the third competition of seven, is in Scuol, Switzerland on Saturday (14 January), before the double header, alongside the PSL, taking place in Bansko on 21 January. Canada’s Blue Mountain hosts two PGS on 26 and 27 January, with Livigno, Italy (11 March) and Rogla, Slovenia rounding out the PGS season.
A break in February sees the Snowboard World Championships take place in Bakuriani, Georgia from 19 February to 5 March with the Snowboard Alpine disciplines taking place 19 February (PGS), 21 Feb (PSL), and concluding with mixed parallel slalom on 22 February.
Current snowboard alpine rankings
Gloria Kotnik is perhaps the surprise early season table topper in the women’s rankings courtesy of a first ever podium in the women’s World Cup, a top spot in the PGS in Cortina d’Ampezzo in December.
The Slovenian mother-of-one who claimed an Olympic bronze medal in the PGS at Beijing 2022, finished 31st overall last season but currently has 132 points overall, 38 points ahead of Switzerland’s 2019 world champion, Julie Zogg, who sits second in the PSL on 80 points.
Krol replicates the number two ranking – but in the PGS discipline – and sits third overall (138 points).
Schoeffmann tops the PSL list and is fourth overall with 129 points.
Last season’s dominant force, Hofmeister, who is aiming for a fourth consecutive overall title, has had a slow start to the season due to a back injury. But with a second place in the PGS in Cortina d’Ampezzo in the last race before the break and additional time to receive treatment, the German will be one to watch.
In the men’s competition, the old guard are battling it out for overall ranking supremacy heading into the resumption of competition post festive season. Prommegger currently leads the way with 198 points, 180 of those coming from first and second places from an Italian job in a PGS double header in Italy in December.
Fellow icon, Italy’s Roland Fischnaller sits second to Prommegger in both overall (180 points) and PGS (160) rankings. The head-to-head will no doubt continue to absorb fans for the rest of the season.
Prommegger’s compatriot Payer sits atop the PSL rankings (100 points) and third overall (152) with Switzerland’s Dario Caviezel currently fourth overall (102).
Last season’s World Cup champion, Lee Sangho has had a start to forget, currently sitting 17th overall, with a ninth-place finish in the PSL in Winterberg in the first individual race of the 2022-23 season the South Korean’s best result so far.
Bad Gastein schedule
10 January PSL
6.30pm CET
11 January PRT
12.45pm CET
Current standings
Standings after 3 of 13 races on the overall tour (women)
1 Gloria Kotnik (SLO) 182 points
2 Julie Zogg (SUI) 144 points
3 Aleksandra Krol (POL) 138 points
Standings after 3 of 13 races on the overall tour (men)
1 Andreas Prommegger (AUT) 198 points
2 Roland Fischnaller (ITA) 180 points
3 Alexander Payer (AUT) 152 points
Standings after 2 of 8 races on the PGS tour (women)
1 Gloria Kotnik (SLO) 150 points
2 Aleksandra Krol (POL) 120 points
3 Michelle Dekker (NED) 114 points
Standings after 2 of 8 races on the PGS tour (men)
1 Andreas Prommegger (AUT) 180 points
2 Roland Fischnaller (ITA) 160 points
3 Dario Caviezel (SUI) 102 points
Standings after 1 of 5 races on the PSL tour (women)
1 Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT) 100 points
2 Julie Zogg (SUI) 80 points
3 Daniela Ulbing (AUT) 60 points
Standings after 1 of 5 races on the PSL tour (men)
1 Alexander Payer (AUT) 100 points
2 Tim Mastnak (SLO) 80 points
3 Stefan Baumeister (GER) 60 points
