On October 13th, not only the season's first parallel slalom will take place at SnowWorld Landgraaf, Holland, but also the sole indoor event of the 2012 LG Snowboard FIS World Cup tour.
About 100 riders are expected to show up at the ninth ever event to be eld in the so-called “World Cup fridge”. They will battle it out for the first World Cup points in the race for the coveted Crystal Globes. Qualifiers are scheduled for 9:30 AM while the finals will start at 2 PM.
Eurosport 2 and Orange Sports (FRA) will broadcast the head-to-head duels of the finals live.
Top field ready to go
It's pretty likely that one will get the chance to watch last year's Landgraaf winners Andreas Prommegger (AUT) and Ekaterina Tudegesheva (RUS), who laid foundation to the first Russian World Cup title in Holland last year, competing in the knock out duels.
In addition, fans can get psyched to witness a more than unexpected comeback as Jasey Jay Anderson is about to hit the slopes again. The Vancouver Gold medalist, who had announced his retirement from active competition sports after the 2010 World Cup finals, is getting back to business.
Besides the 36-years-old all three so far most successful athletes of the Landgraaf races, Amelie Kober (GER), Siegfried Grabner (AUT) and Benjamin Karl (AUT), are willing to draw on their last year's good results. While Grabner and Karl have been winning the indoor event twice so far, Kober, the German flagship athlete, has been smiling three times from the podium's top spot already. However, this week's competition will be a special one for the 23-years-old as Kober was able to undergo the full summer preparation again after the Bavarian had given birth to her son Lorenz about one year ago.
Besides Kober and last winter's dominating race board lady Tudegesheva, the event will also feature the likes of the other top-5 World Cup athletes such as Fränzi Mägert-Kohli (SUI), Marion Kreiner (AUT), Claudia Riegler (AUT) and Isabella Laböck (GER). In addition, reigning Parallel Giant Slalom World Champion Alena Zavarzina (RUS) is also back on track after her long injury break (torn ACL).
On the men's side, the odds-on favorites for victory are Benjamin Karl (AUT), who successfully defended the small and big Crystal Globe last season as well as his fellow countryman Andreas Prommegger. However, Roland Fischnaller (ITA) and Aaron March (ITA) are also in the focus of interest due to their last season's great performance at SnowWorld finishing second and third respectively.
Time schedule Parallel Slalom Landgraaf, Holland – all local times:
Thursday, October 13th, 2011:
Qualifiers Ladies and Men at 9:30 AM
Finals Ladies and Men at 2 PM
