Spectacular action at Krasnoyarsk test event

Medals in Parallel Slalom and Ski Cross in Krasnoyarsk

KRASNOYARSK – As the Winter Universiade 2019 gets ever closer, test events in Krasnoyarsk are heating up the frigid temperatures in Siberia. A spectacular crash and a super close finish in the Ski Cross surely sent the mercury rising!

The snowboarders, competing in parallel slalom, opened the competition, where 16-year-old Moscow girl Anastasia Malakhova emerged the best in the women’s field. This despite the fact that in two qualification runs, she was only tenth.

“Slalom is difficult for me, I like giant slalom more and moreover, the competition among athletes is becoming tougher,” she said. “It is getting more difficult to compete, but I have accomplished the task. The Sopka Cluster course is excellent, I would like to come back here for my training routine.”

Silver went to Sofia Batova and bronze to Ekaterina Kaganyuk, who had also won the bronze medal in parallel giant slalom a day earlier.

Alexey Zadorozhnyuk, Chief Referee of the snowboarding competitions called the upcoming Winter Universiade “the Olympic Games on a local scale”. He also explained that the test events are crucial because 99% of the judges sharpening their skills at the Sopka Cluster right now will also be at work during the Universiade. “That’s what the test competitions are being held for,” he said.

The men’s Ski Cross caused much excitement even as Kirill Gladkov from the Chelyabinsk Region won the event. “The Sopka Cluster course is interesting and allows you to show your technical abilities,” he said afterwards. “It is wide unlike many other courses, and more safe.”

Safe it is, but when you try to overtake from the inside, you can end up with a pile up that could put Formula 1 to shame. And that’s what happened during the race for the 5-8^th positions. Check it out.

The silver medal in the men’s Ski Cross was won by Artem Nabiulin from Leningrad and Evgeni Mozhayev from the Perm Territory. A round robin system was put to the test during the competition as Alexey Kurashov, President of the Russian Freestyle Federation explained.

“The Round Robin system will be tested during the Winter Universiade as well to understand whether it can be used in the future by the International Ski Federation in the future and in what format,” explained Kurashov. “It is necessary to evaluate, whether this system adds to visual appeal of the competitions.”

The full schedule of the Winter Universiade 2019 is available . Just over 40 days to go, as the action heats up even further. Watch this space.