Payer (AUT) counts on home comforts in Simonhöhe PGS

There is no time for rest on the FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup tour. Just two days after a parallel giant slalom race in Rogla, Slovenia the best of the best again take to the slopes in another PGS.

The race in Simonhöhe will be the second Alpine Snowboard event in Austria this season. However, this one means a lot more to Alexander Payer (AUT).

“My connection to the mountain is quite special,” the 34-year-old World Championship bronze medallist said. “I grew up five minutes from there. It is the place where I learned to snowboard, to ski, where I spent countless hours in training and working in my dad’s shop.

“It is like my happy place. Whenever I come home from the World Cup, or wherever we go, first thing I do is see if anything is new, mostly it’s not [laughs]. It’s like home. To me, it does not feel like home, it is home. It is not just a regular World Cup event for me.”

A PGS winner here in 2022 but yet to make the podium this season, Payer knows every single detail of what is a fast and challenging course.

“I know every tree, every helper, every course preparation guy, everyone working on the course. It is quite a special feeling; you can say there is no place like home.

Payer may have a leg up on the competition but he will have to fend off a strong field, particularly compatriot Benjamin Karl (AUT) who has won three PGS races in a row this season.

Another teammate, Andreas Prommegger (AUT), should be in the mix as well. He has three podiums this season, two in PGS.

As has been the case for most of the season, the Italian men will be the closest challengers. They have taken five of the 12 PGS podium slots this season, with Maurizio Bormolini (ITA) leading the way after winning the season’s first PGS race in Carezza, Italy.

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Payer is not the only rider with an affinity for these slopes. “I am happy that we are back at Simonhöhe,” Melanie Hochreiter (GER) said. “I celebrated my first World Cup podium there [in 2022]. I want to be on the podium again. Two years ago, I was on the podium on both days. It would be cool to do it again this year.”

Hochreiter echoes Payer’s thoughts on strategy.

“The slope is flatter and easier than other slopes in the World Cup,” she said. “You have to give your best and push yourself to the limit. But you can't make any mistakes because every little mistake can be too much on this flat slope.”

Hochreiter – and the rest of the field – will have to fend off compatriot Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (GER). She won four of the first five races this season, including two PGS wins to kick off the year, to take an overall lead in the standings.

“Ramona is really fit - physically and mentally,” Hochreiter said. “She is really fast in training but in the race, she is almost unbeatable. She trusts in her abilities and can push herself to the limit on every run without making mistakes. She is in top form.”

Hofmeister is not invincible, though. She has come up short of victory in the past three races, with one major rival emerging in the form of Miki Tsubaki (JPN).

The 20-year-old has beaten Hofmeister three times already this season and arrives in Simonhöhe off the back of her first win of the season, in Rogla.

RACE SCHEDULE

The weekend begins with a public bib draw on Friday at 18:45 CET. IT will happen before a local ice hockey game in Klagenfurt. The racers will then go through qualifying on Saturday 27 January. The advancing men and women will compete in the knockouts starting at 12:45 CET on Saturday.

Then on Sunday they will hit the mountain again to represent their countries in a mixed team PGS race. The finals begin at 12:15 CET.

QUICK LINKS

Men’s Rogla results
Women’s Rogla results
2023/24 FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup calendar~
2023/24 Women’s overall standings
2023/24 Men’s overall standings
FIS Alpine Snowboard photos
FIS Snowboard YouTube