SNOWBOARD: Bagozza and Gong are first-time winners in Secret Garden

German Snowboard star Ramona Hofmeister

We’re late in the game in the Snowboard World Cup season for 2018-19, but surprises still come up, such as two first-time winners in the Parallel Slalom in Secret Garden in China.

In the Parallel Giant Slalom, the winners were Slovenia’s Tim Mastnak – his second victory this season – and Germany’s Ramona Hofmeister, who won her second straight World Cup event.

But in the Parallel Slalom, no one could foresee that the winners were Italy’s Daniele Bagozza and China’s Nalying Gong. For Bagozza, this was his third career World Cup medal and his first win, and for Gong, 20, it was her first World Cup medal!

The next Parallel event comes on 9 March in Scuol (SUI); summaries from Secret Garden:

FIS Snowboard World Cup
Secret Garden (CHN) ~ 23-24 February 2019
(Full results here)

Men’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Tim Mastnak (SLO); 2. Andrey Sobolev (RUS); Small Final: 3. Stefan Baumeister (GER); 4. Oskar Kwiatkowski (POL).

Men’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Daniele Bagozza (ITA); 2. Dmitry Loginov (RUS); Small Final: Roland Fischnaller (ITA); 4. Xuan Zhang (CHN).

Women’s Parallel Giant Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Ramona Hofmeister (GER); 2. Ester Ledecka (CZE); Small Final: 3. Selina Joerg (GER); 4. Aleksandra Krol (POL).

Women’s Parallel Slalom/ Big Final: 1. Nalying Gong (CHN); 2. Julie Zogg (SUI); Small Final: 3. Selina Joerg (GER); 4. Patrizia Kummer (SUI).