Alpine skiing Asia Cup attracts World Cup winners

Some of the world’s top skiers have travelled to Youngpyong, South Korea, for the IPC Alpine Skiing Asia Cup in slalom and giant slalom which gets underway on Tuesday (8 March), after they won World Cup crystal globes in recent weeks.

The competition will be held at the venue for the PyeongChang 2018 Paralympic Winter Games and is being organised by the Korean Adaptive Ski Association.

Japan’s Taiki Morii highlights the men’s sitting field after he secured both the slalom and giant overall World Cups for 2015-16.

His teammate Takeshi Suzuki is also in the running for the Asia Cup having finished second in the overall World Cup standings. Canada’s Kurt Oatway will be similarly keen to capitalise on a great season in which he placed second in the giant slalom World Cup.

Heading out for hosts South Korea is Sang Min Han, who secured podium finishes at two Europa Cups this season.

New Zealand’s Paralympic giant slalom silver medallist Corey Peters is also one to watch.

Japan’s giant slalom World Cup champion Momoka Muraoka headlines the women’s sitting.

Russia’s technical master, world champion Aleksei Bugaev, will compete in the men’s standing as the World Cup No.1 in giant slalom and slalom.

His compatriot, Worlds slalom silver medallist Alexander Alyabyev, has also made the journey to the venue for the 2018 Paralympic Winter Games.

Russian hopes also punctuate the women’s standing with World Championships podium finisher Mariia Papulova.

Canada’s Mac Marcoux and guide brother BJ will compete in the men’s visually impaired, hoping for a good performance against Russia’s world champion Valerii Redkozubov and guide Evgeny Geroev.

Redkozubov took both disciplines in the World Cup, but Marcoux was unbeatable in the downhill and super-G.

IPC Alpine Skiing partner Liski will provide equipment for the Asia Cup.

Results will be available at IPC Alpine Skiing’s website.

Giant slalom will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday (8-9 March) and slalom on Thursday (10 March).