The World Championships are over and the World Cup grind returns in Snowboard. The first post-World Champs SnowCross event took place before the Utah Worlds were even over!
This week’s action returns to Calgary, site of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games, and to PyeongChang, which hosted the OWG just a year ago:
● Halfpipe in Calgary:
The two World Champions have also dominated the World Cup scene this season. That would be Australian Scotty James and American sensation Chloe Kim.
Both have won two of the three World Cups held so far and Calgary is not too far away from Park City, so both could be there, but there are others ready to step up if they decide to stay away. The standings:
Men (after 3 of 5):
1. 2,000 Scotty James (AUS) ~ 2019 World Champion
2. 1,760 Yuto Totsuka (JPN) ~ 2019 World Champs silver medalist
3. 1,560 Jan Scherrer (SUI)
4. 1,410 Ruka Hirano (JPN)
5. 1,150 Ikko Anai (JPN)
Women (after 3 of 5):
1. 2,100 Xuetong Cai (CHN) ~ 2019 World Champs silver medalist
2. 2,000 Chloe Kim (USA) ~ 2019 World Champion
3. 1,460 Kurumi Imai (JPN)
4. 1,410 Verena Rohrer (SUI)
5. 1,250 Maddie Mastro (USA) ~ 2019 World Champs bronze medalist
The season conveniently finishes in North America, as the final World Cup event will be at Mammoth Mountain in California, about 6 1/2 hours driving time from Kim’s home in Long Beach!
Qualifying is on Wednesday and the final will be Friday (weather permitting). Look for results here.
● Parallel Giant Slalom in PyeongChang
On 24 February last year, Czech snowboard star Ester Ledecka completed a shocking double at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games, winning the Parallel Giant Slalom – in which she was a huge favorite – after winning the Alpine Super-G, in which no one expected her to medal, let alone win.
She skipped the Snowboard Worlds in Utah as it conflicted with the Alpine World Champs in Sweden and she finished 27th in the Super-G and 15th in the Combined. She’s not likely to return to PyeongChang, as the Giant Slalom is still to come in Are.
So who’s up next? The current Parallel Giant Slalom standings:
Men (after 3 of 7 in PGS):
1. 1,810 Ronald Fischnaller (ITA) ~ 2019 World Champs Parallel Slalom silver medalist
2. 1,590 Nevin Galmarini (SUI)
3. 1,520 Benjamin Karl (AUT)
4. 1,360 Andreas Prommegger (AUT)
5. 1,276 Tim Mastnak (SLO) ~ 2019 World Champs silver medalist
Women (after 3 of 7):
1. 1,900 Nadya Ochner (ITA)
2. 1,800 Ester Ledecka (CZE)
3. 1,650 Natalia Soboleva (RUS) ~ 2019 World Champs silver medalist
4. 1,450 Julie Zogg (SUI) ~ 2019 World Champs Parallel Slalom gold medalist
5. 1,279 Selina Joerg (GER) ~ 2019 World Champion
Russia’s Dmitry Loginov won both the men’s Parallel Slalom and Parallel Giant Slalom at the World Championships and German Stefan Baumeister won bronze in both in Utah.
Competitions will be held on both Saturday and Sunday. Look for results here.
