Two-time Olympic Medallist Samková Wins Snowboard Cross
Alessandro Hämmerle and Eva Samková has made winning starts to their Snowboard Cross World Cup title defences at Zhangjiakou’s Secret Garden resort.
Samková was in dominant form all week at the test event for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, and having topped qualification she won all three of her races.
The Sochi 2014 gold medalist was one of two Olympic champions in the final – along with Italy’s Michela Moioli, the Pyeongchang 2018 winner plus world champion Charlotte Bankes from Britain.
The Czech Republic’s Samková hit the front early on and despite the best efforts of Bankes, who battled at the front, could not be caught.
Bankes was a creditable second, Moioli third and Pia Zerkhold from Austria fourth.
Austria’s Hämmerle was not so dominant in the men’s event yet still got the job done.
Hämmerle finished second behind Italy’s Omar Visintin in the quarter-finals and the duo would go on to do battle again in the semi-finals and final.
Hämmerle edged both of those encounters, with Visintin twice coming second.
American Nick Baumgartner was third the 39-year-old’s first World Cup podium since March 2017 – and another Austrian, Jakob Dusek, finished fourth in the final.
Montafon in Austria is due to hold the second leg of the Snowboard Cross World Cup season, on December 10.