SNOWBOARD CROSS. Dominique Maltais (CAN) underlined today who is currently the top gun in snowboard cross racing when the 2006 Olympic Bronze medalist clinched the women's SBX World Cup opener in Schruns/Montafon, Austria.

Dominique Maltais (CAN) Photo: FIS

Facing tough weather conditions throughout the whole day, the World Cup title defender edged off Raffaella Brutto (ITA) and Belle Brockhoff (AUS) to second and third who both nailed their career's first World Cup podium finishes.
 
Nelly Moenne Loccoz (FRA) came in fourth in the women's final which delivered some thrilling and exciting passes and change of the leadership.
 
Especially as Moenne Loccoz, who gunned out the start into the leading position and Maltais fought back and fore for the victory.
 
In the end, the Canadian top gun had the better end when she passed the French rider in the last roller section.
 
“I gave everything in my last run because I knew that she (Moenne Loccoz) would be very fast. The plan was to pass her in the roller section and this is what I did. It might have been a hard manoeuvre but this is part of the game,” said Maltais.
 
With the next race coming up in just one week in Telluride, USA, Maltais now experiences a real motivation boost.
 
“This is a fantastic result for sure but my main goal this season is the home race at the World Championships in Stoneham and Sochi. However, this was the perfect mind-set for it.”
 
While Maltais took it all, Moenne Loccoz ended up with nothing as she crashed over the last kicker in second position thus missing her first victory again.
 
“It was a close race but I'm not disappointed. I'm happy to be able to race at all as I heard my left ankle last month in Hintertux, Austria.”
 
Also all smiles were Raffaella Brutto and Belle Brockhoff who both had their problems with realising the hard facts: a top-3 result.
 
“I'm super happy. I was fourth several times before but today the summer training did pay off. I can't believe it at all,” summed up Brutto while the race from down under drew a similar line.

FISsnowboard.com
Saturday 8 December 2012

Omar Visintin wins Snowboard Cross World Cup opener in Montafon

Omar Visintin (ITA) celebrated his career's first World Cup win in Schruns/Montafon, Austria, today.
 
In the men's final of the 2013 season's first snowboard cross competition of the FIS Snowboard World Cup, the rider from South Tyrol edged off local hero Markus Schairer (AUT) to the second spot. Nick Baumgartner (USA) rounded out the podium as third while reigning World Champion
 
Alex Pullin (AUS) finished in fourth and thus last position of the four men final.
 
“It's just unbelievable. I don't get it yet,” said the young gun after his coupe.
 
The 23-years-old talent nailed his first ever triumph by powering out of the start gate first and kept hold to the leading position ever to the end of the course.
 
“I was expecting to being able to bring home a top result. But winning was and still is a dream. A dream which finally came true.”
 
With his win, Visintin continued a nice streak for Team Italia.
 
Two years ago Luca Matteotti had also claimed his first ever World Cup victory in the Vorarlberg region.
 
In December 2012 Visintin's team mate came in first in Lech.
 
Local hero gets second
 
Today, however, the track built by Adners Forsell (SWE) couldn't have been any longer as runner-up Markus Schairer was about to close the gap, already breathing down Visintin's neck.
 
In the end, it didn't work out for the 2009 World Champion anymore, but nevertheless, the rider from St. Gallenkirch, situated some five kilometres away from venue host Schruns, wasn't disappointed at all.
 
“It would be presumptuous to ask for the first rank after this race,” explained Schairer, who was actually pretty stoked with his outcome.
 
“It was fantastic. It's extremely hard to race in front of your home crowd. I'm super happy that it worked out like this.”
 
Ladies' race postponed
 
The ladies' time trials as well as final heats had to be postponed to Saturday due to the bad weather conditions and the small time window.
 
The event will kick off with the qualifiers on the Seebliga at Hochjoch at 9:35 AM.
 
The finals start at 11 AM. The Team SBX event will take place as scheduled at 1:30 PM.

FISsnowboard.com
Friday 7 December 2012