Slopestyle World Cup back on track in Seiser Alm
Aug 31, 2018·Freeski Park & Pipe
Seiser Alm (ITA) –
The slopestyle World Cup is back on track with the second competition of the season taking place this weekend in the beautiful Italian resort Seiser Alm, home of one of the best snowparks in Italy.
The World Cup competition that is scheduled from January 26 to 28 will be the first for the South Tyrolean resort, however the local organizers have already left their marks in the freeskiing scene.
Last year, one Europa Cup stop as well as the slopestyle Junior World Championships took place in the famous terrain park which boasts a continuous line of 1.5 km and over 70 different features and obstacles.
Over 100 freeskiers will be ready to drop in on Thursday in the best-of-two runs qualifications format. With some of the top athletes in the World Cup standing missing out on Seiser Alm due to the X Games invitation, the competition will provide a big opportunity for the young guns to step up their game and find themselves standing on top of the World Cup podium. Still, following two days of training, and taking into consideration a field of riders that is deep in its own right, we can easily expect the highest level of competition.
On the men’s side it’s good to keep an eye on well-established players like Russ Henshaw (AUS), Oscar Wester (SWE) and Jonas Hunziker (SUI). All three of those skiers have stood on the World Cup podium before, though none has yet ended up with the win. With a big chance up for grabs here in Seiser Alm, count on those athletes to give all they’ve got in the tank.
Then add to the mix the likes of Luca Tribondeu (AUT), Eirik Sateroy (NOR), and Colby Stevenson (USA) as well as the Italian Freeski Team with Christof Schenk and Ralph Welponer in squad, and suddenly it’s getting pretty hard to predict who will make it to the top.
In the ladies’ competition the number one name to watch out for looked like it was going to be Lisa Zimmermann (GER), before she was granted an alternate spot at the X Games and headed over to North America. Now it looks like it will be up to ladies like Silvia Bertagna (ITA) or current World Cup leader Tess Ledeux (FRA), who took a big victory in the first slopestyle World Cup of the season in Font Romeu. Ledeux’s teammate Colline Ballet Baz, Zuzana Stromkova (SVK), Kattie Summerhayes (GBR) as well as the strong Canadian Freeski squad with Sochi 2014 gold and silver medallists Dara Howell and Kim Lamarre, as well as Yuki Tsubota, will also all be among the favourites for the win in Italy.
The qualifications take place on Thursday at 10:15 CET while the finals are scheduled for Saturday at 11:30 CET.
LIVE SCORING:
Live brackets will be available here: LADIES & MEN
LIVE BROADCAST:
EUROSPORT - Livestream available on Eurosport Player
RAI - Italy (Livestream available on raiplay.it)
SFR SPORT 3 - France
NBC - USA (Livestream available nbcsports.com)
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