Snowboard Alpine World Cup season set to kick off in Winterberg
Dec 09, 2022·Alpine Snowboard
It’s go time for the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup season, which starts in Winterberg, Germany on Saturday (10 December). Delayed by a week due to the original season-opener in Livigno, Italy postponed until March, the athletes are itching to get racing.
The event starts at 10.15am (CET) on Saturday with the parallel slalom team competition, followed by the individual women’s and men’s parallel slalom qualifications. The finals will take place on Sunday (11 December) with the action starting at 10am (CET).
The last time the competition was held in Winterberg, in 2019, it was Austria 1 courtesy of Daniela Ulbing and Benny Karl who came away triumphant in the team competition. Switzerland 1 (Patrizia Kummer and Dario Caviezel) and Germany 4 (Selina Joerg and Stefan Baumeister) placed second and third, respectively.
In the women’s competition, Kummer bagged top spot with compatriot Ladina Jenny in third, the pair split by Joerg in second. The men’s event saw Lukas Mathies (AUT) claim top spot with Baumeister second and Zan Kosir of Slovenia third.
Three-time overall World Cup winner, Ramona Hofmeister (GER), will be hoping for a good start on home snow as she looks to defend her overall title from last season and match the feat of Ester Ledecka (CZE) in securing a fourth consecutive overall title.
"My goal is always to be at the top,” the 25-year-old told Snowboard Germany. “But first and foremost I want to start the season with fun and as little pressure as possible.”
Her main rival Ledecka, meanwhile, will not start her season until the new year due to ongoing recovery from a collarbone injury sustained during training, which required an operation.
In the men’s edition, Baumeister, will be hoping to go one better than his 2019 showing of second as he joins his compatriot in starting the season on home snow. The 29-year-old came second in the overall standings last season to Republic of Korea’s first ever winner, Lee Sangho, and will be hoping to top the table come season’s end after being runner-up in the overall championships for the past two editions. Will it be third time lucky this time around? A win in the first race of the season in front of home fans would be the perfect way to begin.
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