...that is why the organizers of the Kreischberg event used the motto "Beach at the Mountain" when the 2000/2001 Nokia Snowboard FIS World Cup stopped there this weekend. The event gave a taste of what can be expected for the 2003 FIS Snowboard World Championships and it might be described as just "pure excitement together with a lot of fun."
Despite the lack of snow, not only did they set up a spectacular slope for two days of snowboard cross racing — which was then removed and prepared for head-to-head duels in parallel slalom today — they really brought the beach to the mountain.
Inside a huge party tent next to the slope, a 120-meter-square swimming pool was built and heated to about 28 degrees centigrade, surrounded by a real beach. Those who did not bring their swim suits had the opportunity to change to beachwear right on-site. Apart from various pool activities such as "Pool Gladiator," "Shark Diving" and surf contests, live music from Route 66 and Beach Fire was presented and DJ Ronni heated up the dance floor. However, most of the riders — with just a few exceptions — decided to stay away from the beach party and instead concentrated on the slope.
Mathieu Bozzetto from France, winner of the first race in Ischgl, looks like he recovered from his knee operation and added another win today. "More and more bumps and holes appeared from round to round so it was pretty tough," he said, "and you really had to work hard with your legs. Today you did not only have to keep the speed and prevent mistakes. It was also important to watch exactly where to go if you did not want to pump into a hole. I was blasted whenever I finished a run — good it is over."
Dieter Krassnig from Austria met Bozzetto for the final duel and was behind by 57 hundredths of a second in the first run. The Frenchman was also leading in the second run but ran into a banner and fell, almost taking the whole construction with him. Krassnig smoked the slope to close the gap but then also made a mistake and Bozzetto picked it up again for the win. "I was very confident and this even improved the further I got," the Austrian stated. "The course was very technical and I trained on this hill already in between Christmas and New Year. I just lost it on the pitch but second place is fine for me. Maybe I can take revenge at the World Championships."
German rider Markus Ebner met Richard Richardsson from Sweden in the consolation round and managed to claim 3rd place. "I was a bit scared that I still had the snowboard cross races in my legs but I felt just great this morning so even the soft snow did not hurt too much. Bozzetto is by far the best slalom rider and I wanted to check it out in the semi finals. I only missed two hundrets of a second to beat him but the luck was on his side today. I wished the World Championships started tomorrow, it is such a great feeling after this weekend so I am really looking forward to take revenge."
Nicolas Huet from France still leads the parallel standings, although he didn't get any further than the quarter finals and ended up in 5th place. Bozzetto now sits in second position, ahead of Dejan Kosir of Slovenia, who finished ninth today.
With France's Karine Ruby not qualifying for the finals today and two-time ISF World Champion Katharina Himmler dropping out in the round of 16, the womens' race was an unexpected one today. US rider Rosey Fletcher, who just arrived in Kreischberg last night from the Grand Prix at Breckenridge, made it her race instead.
"The more people went down the course the better it got," she said, "it was just like luge. Kreischberg did a great job preparing the course, especially with the amount of snow over here. When we got here at midnight, the disco was going awful and Anton Pogue and Chris Klug wanted to see it. Maybe it was my advantage that I did not sleep a lot and took it a bit more relaxed."
Slovakia's Jana Sedova claimed 2nd place and seemed to be surprised. "I usually do not like the dual, so it was nice I made it to the podium. It was really fun racing today, although I am not used to such soft snow from training."
French rider Isabelle Blanc won the consolation round over Sara Fischer from Sweden and finished 3rd. "I would have loved to do even better while Karine Ruby was not in the finals," last year's parallel champion said. "Third place is fine but I just did not take the opportunity I was given." However, she moved up to 2nd in the overall while Ruby still keeps the lead. Fletcher is now 3rd.
Those who stay tonight will check out the "Beach on the Mountain" before they move on to Schoenried in Switzerland for the giant slalom and a parallel slalom which were rescheduled after a halfpipe comp was cancelled due to lack of snow.
— Britta Semmler, MountainZone.com Correspondent
