Alpine World Cup Finals head to St. Moritz

With just weeks to go until the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships take place in Panorama, Canada, para-alpine skiers will take to the slopes of St. Moritz, Switzerland, for the 2014-15 World Cup Finals from Monday (2 February).

The competition, which will feature slalom and giant slalom races, is one of only three high-level meetings that remain before Panorama 2015 starts on 28 February, alongside the Europa Cup Finals in Sella Nevea, Italy (16-18 February), and a NorAm Cup in Kimberley, Canada (23-26 February).

Amongst the athletes looking to put the finishing touches to their Worlds preparations is Canada’s Mac Marcoux and guide brother BJ.

After winning downhill in the men’s visually impaired in Tignes, France, on Wednesday (28 January), giant slalom Paralympic champion Marcoux will return to the technical events to face Russia’s slalom Paralympic champion Valerii Redkozubov and guide Evgeny Geroev.

Redkozubov swept the board in the first World Cup races in La Molina, Spain, in early January.

Also chalked to compete is 2011’s Slovakian slalom world champion Jakub Krako and guide Martyn Motyka.

The women’s equivalent races will feature the latest outing for the USA’s Danelle Umstead, guided by her husband Rob. Great Britain’s Millie Knight and guide Jen Kehoe will also compete.

There is a stellar line-up in the women’s sitting with Austria’s giant slalom world champion Claudia Loesch, German Paralympic champion Anna Schaffelhuber and Canada’s double 2013 Worlds bronze medallist Kimberley Joines all going for the podium.

Equally as gripping will be the men’s events where Japan’s slalom Paralympic champion Takeshi Suzuki will go up against Austria’s double Sochi 2014 medallist Roman Rabl. New Zealand’s Corey Peters, a Paralympic giant slalom silver medallist, could also feature.

Five of the top 10 finishers from the slalom at Sochi 2014 will compete in the men’s standing. Highlighting the incredibly strong field, which also extends to the giant slalom, is double Worlds and Paralympic medallist Russian Alexey Bugaev, 17.

His teammate Alexey Alyabyev has had a great start to his season with seven Europa Cup podiums, whilst the Austrian duo of Thomas Grochar and Martin Wuerz and Canada’s Matt Hallat could also be in the frame.

France’s Marie Bochet, the reigning world champion in the women’s standing events, will continue her compelling rivalry with German slalom Paralympic champion Andrea Rothfuss.

Slovakia’s Petra Smarzova, a Paralympic bronze medallist, and US skier Stephanie Jallen have also enjoyed podium success this season.

Races start on Monday (2 February) and Tuesday (3 February) with giant slalom and continue on Wednesday (4 February) and Thursday (5 February) with slalom.

Results will be available here.

Panorama 2015 runs from 28 February until 10 March and will expected to gather 130 of the world’s best athletes from 30 countries in the biggest gathering of alpine skiers since Sochi 2014.

Media accreditation is available here.