Snowboarder Ramona Hofmeister made a perfect start to the World Cup season. Things didn’t go so well for the German men.
The three-time overall winner achieved her 16th success in an individual race in Carezza, Italy, and her 14th in the parallel giant slalom.
The 27-year-old prevailed in the final against Olympic silver medalist Daniela Ulbing from Austria. In the semifinals she eliminated world champion Miki Tsubaki (Japan). “It was pretty smooth and tricky”said Hofmeister, “But it worked reasonably well in terms of technique. The fact that it was enough to win is crazy, just amazing!“Cheyenne Loch and Melanie Hochreiter were already stuck in the round of 16.
Men leave early
Stefan Baumeister, who struggled with back problems in preparation, missed qualifying for the knockout duels by 0.07 seconds and finished in 19th place. The Italian Maurizio Bormolini won the day in the men’s category.