The best German snowboarder is second in Winterberg.
Snowboarder Ramona Hofmeister missed the hoped -for home win on the way to the highlight of the season. The 28-year-old had to be satisfied with the parallel slalom in Winterberg in the last single race in front of the World Cup with second place. In the final, Hofmeister was 0.05 seconds slower than the World Cup third Sabine Payer from Austria. With this, she was no longer able to expand her personal record of six seasonal successes.
“I am completely satisfied,” said Hofmeister on ZDF: “I am very happy to be able to stand on the podium in front of a home crowd at the season finale. It was an exciting fight, I’m not disappointed at all.”
Overall, it was Hofmeister’s eighth podium this winter – reason enough for optimism in the title fights. The first World Cup decision in the Swiss St. Moritz is on Thursday with the parallel giant slalom, Hofmeister’s stronger discipline.
On the way to the final, she switched off the Austrian Carmen Kainz, her teammate, former world champion Claudia Riegler, and Elisa Caffont (Italy) in Winterberg. Cheyenne Loch failed in the round of 16 on Riegler. In the men’s race, which Matthew Pink (Austria) won, Stefan Baumeister and Elias Huber also ended with strong competition in the first Ko round.
“I can quickly tick it off, the slope here has nothing to do with the World Cup,” said Loch. Huber had “mixed feelings: At first there was trouble”, his opponent Andreas Prommegger (Austria), at least three times world champion, but was “a hard nut”. Baumeister thought himself against the former world champion Roland Fischnaller (Italy), “but then I saw that I was back”.
A team competition will take place in Winterberg on Sunday (10.30 a.m.).