Exciting showdown for the PSL World Cup titles in Winterberg

The third and last parallel slalom of the 2017-18 season will take place in Winterberg, Germany this weekend.

Like the last three years, the family friendly ski resort in North Rhine-Westphalia will hosting the season's final of the Alpine Snowboard World Cup circuit and therefore the dramatic decision on who will take home the coveted crystal globes in the PSL as well as Team Parallel World Cup.

While Olympic Champions Ester Ledecka (CZE) and Nevin Galmarini (SUI) have already sealed the Alpine Snowboard Overall World Cup title, the race for the PSL title couldn't be more exciting.

As there have been only two events in this discipline this winter so far, the field of riders hoping to get their hands on the crystal globes is pretty big.

In the women's event, Sabine Schoeffmann (AUT) is currently leading with 1,260 points but has decided to not enter the event on the Poppenberg slope.

Following her horrible crash in the Bansko PGS (BUL) prior to the Olympics when the 25-year-old fractured her left fibula and also suffered several torn ligaments, last year's Winterberg winner is focusing on the World Cup to celebrate a comeback where she hopes to win the title alongside her boy friend Alex Payer.

Both are currently in front with 1,800 points followed by their teammates Claudia Riegler and Andreas Prommegger (1,600) and keen to come out victorious of this all-Austrian title battle.

But as Schoeffmann wants to take it easy and therefore skips the single race on Saturday, Russian athletes Ekaterina Tudegesheva (1,250) and Natalia Soboleva (1,100) are the top favourites for bringing home the title.

In addition, Olympic PGS Bronze medallist Ramona Hofmeister (1,020), Julie Zogg (SUI; 900), Daniela Ulbing (AUT; 900), Michelle Dekker (NED; 720) and Julia Dujmovits (AUT; 720) are also within reach with this weekend being very special for the latter one.

2014 Olympic PSL Champion Julia Dujmovits, who finished third in Winterberg last year, has announced to retire from competitive snowboarding following this season's final.

In the men's event, Dmitry Loginov, an 18-year-old former Junior World Champion from Russia competing in his second World Cup season has managed to break away a bit from his competitors (1,600) having earned a win and a third rank finish in the two PSL events of this winter so far.

His main rivals for the title are veterans Roland Fischnaller (ITA; 1,200) and Andrey Sobolev (RUS, 1,090).

The final parallel slalom of the season will start with qualifiers on Saturday, 17 March, at 7:45 CET with finals slated to take place at 11:10 CET.

The Team PSL is scheduled for Sunday, 18 March, at 9:35 CET.

Live timing links can be found here. Live TV info can be checked here.