After recent disappointing performances in Sierra Nevada, snowboard crosser Martin Nörl has come back impressively. At the World Cup in Veysonnaz, the man from Landshut achieved his second success of the season. It was bitter for Jana Fischer, who had her sights firmly set on the semifinals, but then dropped out shortly before the end.
Nörl also regained the lead in the overall World Cup, which he had lost to Lucas Eguibar last weekend. The Spaniard failed in Veysonnaz in the round of 16, which allowed Nörl to overtake again in the overall standings.
“I didn’t think things would go so well here, I’m super happy about it“, said Nörl shortly afterwards, exhausted but happy about his sixth World Cup victory. Before the season finale from March 24th to 26th in Canada, the World Cup runner-up now has every chance to defend his title in the overall World Cup. His lead over the now second-placed Italian Omar Visintin is 39 points.
Early end for Berg
Only Nörl and Paul Berg had qualified among the German men for the competition on Thursday (03/16/2023) in Valais (Switzerland). In his round of 16, Berg faced, among others, the newly crowned world champion Jakob Dusek from Austria. But after just a few meters, the 31-year-old’s race was over after he touched the board of the man in front of him in the second turn, went off course and retired.
Nörl delivers tactically clever races
Things went much better for Nörl. After a suboptimal start, the runner-up world champion bit into his run and then cleverly tacticed his way to the top and into the quarter-finals in the slipstream. There he had no problems after a strong start and confidently advanced to the semi-finals. In a very tight semi-final, the man from Landshut delivered another good race and just finished first.
And it was to get even better: In the final run, Nörl used all his experience. At the beginning he held back, only to use the decisive centimeters in a corner halfway through the race and overtake his opponent on the inside lane. That should be just enough for victory in front of the Spanish youngster Alvaro Romeo and the Italian Lorenzo Sommariva. “I had incredibly fast boards. Somehow I always wriggled my way down“, Nörl drew a first conclusion after the race.
Fischer just before the finish in bad luck
For the women, Jana Fischer once again held up the flag in the German team. Last weekend she made it to the semi-finals in Sierra Nevada and equaled her best World Cup result to date with sixth place.
The 23-year-old from Titisee-Neustadt was also initially well on course in Veysonnaz. Until shortly before the end, Fischer was in second place in her quarterfinals, before she collided with the Italian Sofia Belingheri on one of the last waves and both fell. Fischer was able to give the all-clear shortly afterwards, but that did little to change the bitter exit. After all, the 2019 junior world champion had the eighth best result in qualifying.
Victory again went to Charlotte Bankes. The Briton drove to her fifth World Cup victory in a row and thus also extended her lead in the overall World Cup. Czech World Champion Eva Adamczykova and Josie Baff (Australia) came in second and third, just behind them. Fischer was tenth in the end.