Zogg grabs first PGS win, Fischnaller secures the title
Feb 22, 2020·Alpine Snowboard
The fifth PGS race of the 2019/20 FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup tour went down on Saturday in PyeongChang (KOR), with Switzerland’s Julie Zogg taking her very first PGS World Cup win on the women’s side of the event, while Italy’s Rolland Fischnaller stormed to victory in men’s competition to secure the PGS World Cup title.
It was the second consecutive season that saw the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup return to this truly special venue that hosted the parallel snowboard competitions at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. And once again this season, the Korean event didn’t disappoint as an action-packed day of snowboard racing went down in style.
Despite the windy conditions in the morning, fortunately for all the athletes and fans in PyeongChang, the weather soon settled down, allowing everyone to enjoy a thrilling head-to-head showdown on a technical and icy course at Bokwang Phoenix Park.
In the women’s event Julie Zogg raced to her career’s PGS World Cup victory. Zogg, who is leading the PSL World Cup ranking, came in hot on Saturday, winning her matchups against Weronika Biela (POL), Daniela Ulbling (AUT), her teammate Ladina Jenny (SUI) and finally Nadya Ochner (ITA) in the big final.
In the big final Zogg started the race with a tiny, but costly mistake just after the second gate and soon she was losing over 0.7 sec by the first intermediate time. But Zogg didn’t give up and started a desperate chase after Ochner, just to catch the Italian rider a couple of meters ahead of the finish line. And her big effort paid off, as Zogg managed to dive into the finish line ahead of Ochner by the slightest of margins of 0.03 sec. It was a third victory in 2019/20 for Zogg, after the Swiss rider finished on top of the podium in two PSL races in Bannoye (RUS) and Piancavallo (ITA).
Nadya Ochner finished the competition in second place for her first top-3 finish in the current World Cup campaign, while Zogg’s Ladina Jenny (SUI) rounded out the women’s podium in third place, after edging out the PGS yellow bib Ramona Theresia Hofmeister in the small final.
In the women’s PGS ranking Hofmeister put another step to clinch the PGS title at the end of the season. With just two more races to go in the 2019/20 Hofmeister has 4300 points, with second in the ranking Jenny having 2470 points. In the most probable scenario Hofmeiste will secure her first World Cup title at the next race in Blue Mountain (CAN).
Things were equally exciting over in the men’s competition, where the experience paid off just one more time for the Italian veteran Roland Fischnaller, who stormed to victory on Saturday, coming victorious against the double World Champions Dmitry Loginov in the final matchup of the competitions.
After winning his heats against the likes of Aaron March (ITA), Benjamin Karl (AUT), and Andrey Sobolev (RUS), Fischnaller was matched against Loginov in the big final. And while Fischnaller confidently cruised through the course, Loginov couldn’t quite ride his lane without issues and soon he would throw the towel in, leaving Fischnaller with a relatively easy win.
By taking his third PGS World Cup victory of the season, Fischnaller clinched his career’s first PGS World Cup title to go along his three PSL crystal globes from 2013, 2016 and 2018. Fischnaller is also leading the way in the overall Parallel World Cup ranking with a substantial advantage over Stefan Baumeister (GER) - 5910 to 3075 points. With just two more PGS races, as well as three more PSL events to go in 2019/20, it’s very likely that Fischnaller will raise the crystal globe above his head not once, but twice this year.
Second place on the day went to Loginov, who snagged his first top-3 finish of the season, while his teammate Andrey Sobolev (RUS) completed the men’s podium in third place, after he won the small final matchup agains Alexander Payer (AUT).
The FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup will now travel to Canada, where back-to-back PGS races are scheduled to take place next weekend, February 29 - March 1, in Blue Mountain.
QUICK LINKS
PyeongChang data page (startlists, live timing, results)
Women’s video highlights: BIG FINAL / SMALL FINAL
Men’s video highlights: BIG FINAL / SMALL FINAL
