Roland Fischnaller snatches Crystal Globe from Oskar Kwiatkowski in dramatic fashion

Roland Fischnaller snatched his third parallel giant slalom Crystal Globe in dramatic fashion at the final event of the season in Rogla.

The Italian was trailing both Oskar Kwiatkowski of Poland and Austria’s Andreas Prommegger in the discipline standings, needing to make up 90 points to take the title.

But with Kwiatkowski finishing outside the top 40 in qualification, Fischnaller suddenly had an outside chance to leapfrog both into first – only a win would do.

The 42-year-old also needed Andreas Prommegger to slip up, and the parallel slalom world champion suffered a shock exit in the last 16 to home favourite Zan Kosir.

That would be sufficient to put the Austrian above Kwiatkowski in the parallel giant slalom standings, but not enough to rule out Fischnaller who comfortably made it past Tim Mastnak of Slovenia in the quarter final.

Fischnaller confirmed his fourth podium of the season when compatriot Edwin Coratti crashed out in the semis, and Mirko Felicetti trailed his fellow Italian by 0.32 in the final.

Coratti’s tight small final victory by two hundredths of a second over Sangho Lee made it an Italian 1-2-3 on the podium, atop which a disbelieving Fischnaller stood clutching his seventh crystal globe.

In the women’s event, Austria’s Sabine Schoeffmann claimed her first parallel giant slalom victory of the season but couldn’t stop Ramona Theresia Hofmeister picking up the title.

German boarder Hofmeister could only be caught by Switzerland’s Ladina Jenny in the season’s standings

But Jenny was eliminated in the last 16 which put her at risk of slipping from second with Aleksandra Krol, Lucia Dalmasso and Schoeffmann all within range and through to the quarters.

The Austrian eased past another contender for the discipline’s second place and eventual bronze medallist Miki Tsubaki in the semi-final, before finishing 0.05 seconds ahead of Czechia’s Ester Ledecka to take the gold.

The final individual parallel slalom event of the season takes place on Saturday 18 March in Berchtesgaden, where Maurizio Bormolini and Julie Zogg will hope to defend their leads in the race for the overall World Cup title.

Sportsbeat 2023