Snowboarding 2015 - 2018 Discussion Thread

[hckošice 14,739]

Sadowski Synnott and Corning victorious in slopestyle World Cup finale

 

Zoi Sadowski Synnott (NZL) and Chris Corning (USA) have triumphed in the 2016-17 season's slopestyle World Cup finale which was staged at the Snowjam.cz in Spindleruv Mlyn, Czech Republic today.

 

Just like in the last year's, Local Organisers led by former World Cup halfpipe rider Martin Czernik had put together a creative slopestyle course which not only attracted a strong and deep field but also a few thousands spectators who were roaring for each and every athlete dropping in.

 

And being supported by the stellar crowd riders were throwing down with the men stomping triple 1440 in succession over the single but pretty decent kicker and the girls also going big.

 

One of them was this season's breakthrough athlete Zoi Sadowski Synnott.

 

The last of the top-6 women finalists to drop in scored a 87.35 in her final run – which actually was a victory lap – to edge off Spencer O'Brien (CAN; 81.22) and last year's winner Silvia Mittermueller (GER, 73.40) to the respective second and third rank bringing home her career's first win.

 

The 16-year-old teenage slopestyle sensation threw down a half cab to 50-50 to backside 180 out, cab 180, 50-50 to backside 360, 50-50 to frontside 360, lipslide and a huge double wildcat indy therefore becoming the third Kiwi in history since Juliane Bray (Sapporo, 2001) and Christy Prior (Stoneham, 2014) to win a snowboard World Cup event.

 

With her second Word Cup podium in her first full season in the bags, Sadowski Synnott is now definitely one of the favourites to watch out for at next week's junior worlds staged on the very same venue:

 

“My last run was the best, I felt so comfortable. I liked the first part of the track – the rails. It was a great week here, and I'm really looking forward to the junior world,” the Sierra Nevada 2017 slopestyle Silver medallist said.

 

Over in the men's event, Corning topped the men's podium with a score of 92.34 earned for a half cab 50-50 backside 360 out, backside rodeo 720 nose, frontside 180 to 50-50 switch backside 360 off, 270 on 450 out, frontside 270 on and a massive backside triple cork 1440 melon to finish things off in his second run of the three run, best one count final which featured the best 10 men of the qualifiers and semis.

 

The 17-year-old therefore secured his career's second ahead of Fridtjof Tischendorf (NOR; 87.20) and defending Snowjam.cz champion Jamie Nicholls (GBR; 86.40).

 

Seventh ranked Redmond Gerard (USA; 72.22) claimed his first ever slopestyle World Cup title with 2,460 points ahead of Nicholls (2,040).

 

In the women's event, Jamie Anderson who sat out the grand finale in the Czech Republic took her career's fourth while Anna Gasser (AUT) and Mark McMorris (CAN), both also been absent from competition, had already secured the overall snowboard freestyle World Cup title prior to the final stop of the long season.

 

 

 

Full Results Men and Women

2016/17 World Cup Slopestyle Final Ranking Men and Women

2016/17 World Cup Freestyle Final Ranking Men and Women

 

 

[hckošice 14,739]

Samkova and Vaultier claim SBX World Cup title in thrilling showdown

 

2014 Olympic champions Eva Samkova (CZE) and Pierre Vaultier (FRA) have claimed the 2016-17 season's SBX World Cup title after holding their main rivals for the Crystal Globe at bay in the tour's ultimate race's finals which were staged in perfect conditions on the high speed course of Veysonnaz.

 

The Wallis scenery and under a blue bird sky were the perfect backdrop for the grand World Cup finale which hadn't been as close for a long time.

 

In fact, 2010 had produced the most thrilling end to a boarder cross season for quite a long time when Alex Pullin (AUS) had passed Pierre Vaultier – who had led the standings before the final race took place in Arosa – with the tiny mere of 60 points in the final standings.

 

This time, again in Switzerland, it was the Frenchman who was hunting for the Globe.

 

The 29-year-old from Saint Chaffrey had descended on the Swiss Alps with the confidence boost of being the new world champion and ready to keep the momentum of two consecutive wins.

 

And as if a Hollywood director would have given the ultimate race of the seven-stop tour a finishing touch, the main actors in the battle for the title met each other in the men's big final.

 

Vaultier and World Cup ranking leader Omar Visintin (ITA) – only separated by 20 points before going into the season's showdown – were finally racing head to head to find out who would be able to walk away with the precious trophy after Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT) had missed his shot for the Globe being eliminated in the semis.

 

When the gates finally dropped it was the Vaultier, the man with the most wins on the SBX tour, to win the hole shot leading the pack of six comfortably over the steep start section and through the first two turns.

 

Visintin on the other hand, was trying everything he could to catch the French racer in front of him being handicapped by a bad start gate choice due to his qualifier results.

 

However, just as in the rounds before, the 27-year-old from Merano found the line to squeeze through his rivals into third before things took its course into Vaultier's favour.

 

Being caught in the battle for position, Visintin went all in in the middle roller section but did risk too much on its final hip, overshooting the landing while taking out Kevin Hill (CAN) and best qualifier Lucas Eguibar (ESP), too.

 

“Actually, it wasn't the last chance to get Pierre, I could have tried it a bit later, too. But I was drafting and pretty fast, so I just sent it – but yeah, I was too fast. But hey, if you aren't going for it, you have lost anyway,” Visintin explained the moment which finally decided about the crown.

 

However, the South Tyrolean wasn't disappointed at all: “I'm super happy with the second rank in the standings as it means that I had a good season. I did compete in many finals, so I'm pretty happy with my riding.

 

Following the unsuccessful all-or-nothing manoeuvre of his competitor, Vaultier brought home his career's 20th win ahead of Alex Deibold (USA) and Alex Pullin therefore also securing his fifth SBX World Cup title (4,450) with Visintin (3,920) and Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT; 3,404.60) wrapping up the season as respective second and third overall.

 

“It's quite hard for me to explain what I feel,” the most successful boarder cross racer of all time said after the medal ceremony.

 

“I didn't expect the 2017 season to be that good for me. I had a bad start to the season. But then I got third in Bansko, Bulgaria and I just carried on from there. I have to say, this season turned out to be the best of my entire career; after more than ten years of racing, ten years after my first World Cup win back in Stoneham.”

 

In the women's event, things might not have been as close in the standings going into the final event of the World Cup season but the plot was only slightly different.

 

Again, the main protagonists in the showdown for the title – Eva Samkova and Michela Moioli – were set to go down woman vs woman with four more girls in the gates aiming to take home the win.

 

However, all eyes were on Samkova, who had underlined her claim for the title with the best qualifier time yesterday.

 

In fact, the Czech powerhouse just had to cross the line in fourth position to secure her career's first title. And things went just the way the 23-year-old from Vrchlabi wanted them to.

 

Thanks to a good start she led the pack all the way down to the last left turn where she indeed got passed by Charlotte Bankes (FRA) who earned her career's second win since La Molina 2015 but was able to defend the second rank ahead of Moioli finally getting her hands on the Crystal Globe with a total of 5,170 points.

 

“It's crazy, just crazy. Michela was really hard to beat today, and every girl in the final was riding so well. Even though I won the qualifiers with a big advantage, today was a totally different race.

 

I'm really glad that I made it because it was my dream to win the title when I started to compete in snowboard cross. And with the girls getting better and better it just gets harder and harder to win the Globe. So, winning it means even more to me,” Samkova said.

 

Moioli (4,490) and Belle Brockhoff (AUS; 4,060) who had missed the last individual race of the winter due to an ACL surgery finished the season as respective second and third of the ranking.

 

The FIS SBX World Cup season concludes tomorrow with the final SBX Team event and the decision for the first ever SBX Team World Cup title in Veysonnaz at 12 PM CET.

 

 

 

 

 

Full Results Men and Women

2016/17 World Cup Snowboard Cross Final Ranking Men and Women

 

 

 

[hckošice 14,739]

ITA1 and AUT1 prevail in season's final Team SBX event in Veysonnaz

 

However, the Team SBX title went to two other teams who came out fortunate of the final battle for the Globe.

 

In fact, the 2016-17 season was the first one ever to feature a three-stop tour of Team boarderX events and therefore the first ever in history in which the best teams would be awarded with a Crystal Globe.

 

That said, the ranking prior to the Veysonnaz race was crystal clear with Brutto and Moioli needing the win to having a chance to pass FRA1 on the home straight of the women's title race.

 

But the French team representatives Nelly Moenne Loccoz and Chloe Trespeuch, riding with the confidence boost of being the first ever team world champions, managed to secure the second rank ahead of CAN1 with Carle Brenneman and Tess Critchlow in today's finals and therefore the Crystal Globe with a total of 2.600 points and only 200 points more than ITA1.

 

In the men's event, things were also heating up the calculators.

 

After Haemmerle and Schairer had crossed the finish line in first position ahead of Jonathan Cheever and Mick Dierdorff of USA2 as well as Kevin Hill and Chris Robanske of CAN1 due to an amazing comeback hunt of Schairer from fourth to first, it was time to crunch numbers.

 

In the end, it didn't work out for the Austrian duo as AUT1 was sitting on 2,000 points and therefore 90 points less than today's ninth ranked team ITA1 consisting of Omar Visintin and Emanuel Perathoner today.

 

And as hindsight is easier than foresight, the Austrian squad could or should have played things a bit more tactical in order to stand atop of the overall ranking as the ranking is based on the each team's performance, regardless the rider's names behind it.

 

As it was obvious that ITA1 would definitely be one of the top ranked duos in today's bracket, it would have been smart to team up the strongest racers Haemmerle and Schairer as AUT2 which was sitting in second rank prior to the Veysonnaz race with 160 points more than AUT1.

 

But they didn't and as a result it was the South Tyrolean pair triumphing and writing history.

 

“It was the goal to win the title. We did very well in the first two races but were unfortunate today. But I'm happy that it worked out,” said Visintin.

 

However, the defeated squad wasn't too disappointed as Alessandro Haemmerle found the right words to get straight back into motivation mode for the next season - despite missing out the Crystal Globe so close:

 

“The win today was very important for me and Markus. We had only fourth place finishes in the last races, so it's nice that we were finally able to show what we can.

 

Winning the season's final race gives you an extra push to work even more during spring and summer for the next season in order to stand atop again.”

 

 

 

 

Full Results Men and Women

 

 

[NearPup 2,998]

 Ellie Soutter, who was due to compete at the World Junior championships in Snowboardcross, has died on her 18th birthday.