Northern hemisphere alpine ski season to get underway

World and Paralympic champions are eager to get kick-off the Europa Cup on Thursday (19 November). 18 Nov 2015

Claudia Loesch of Austria competes in the Women's Slalom at the Sochi 2014 Paralympic Winter Games

ⒸGetty Immages

By IPC

The opening IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup races have attracted more than 60 skiers from 14 countries to Landgraaf, the Netherlands, to get the northern hemisphere season underway from Thursday (19 November).

To celebrate, an IPC Alpine Skiing 2015-16 Media Guide has also been published today.

The guide is packed with information about skiers to look out for as well as facts, statistics and information about how to cover the race season which takes in six World and multiple continental Cups.

Two of the athletes likely to impress during the slalom races on the indoor slopes in Landgraaf are Austrian world champion Claudia Loesch and her German rival Anna-Lena Forster in the women’s sitting.

Loesch had a great 2015 World Championships in Panorama, Canada, leaving with triple gold. However Forster also featured on the slalom podium with bronze.

In the men’s sitting, Forster’s teammate Thomas Nolte also returns after his Worlds top three slalom finish. He will face fellow German Georg Kreiter who won his first world titles in super-combined and giant slalom last season.

Anna Jochemsen is the home favourite in the women’s standing after her top five Europa Cup finish and inaugural World Championships medals in 2015. German Paralympic champion Andrea Rothfuss, the Europa Cup winner from last season, will be looking to steal the show.

On the men’s side, Austria’s Markus Salcher has vowed to focus on technical events this season after a disappointing Worlds campaign which saw him lose his downhill and super-G titles.

In the women’s visually impaired, the Belgian duo of Marie-Morgane Dessart, guided by Marine Antoine-Francoise, and Eleonor Sana with guide Chloe Sana, return after their World Championships debut.

Poland’s Maciej Krezel and guide Anna Ogarzynska, who took overall second place in the Europa Cup last season, headline the men’s visually impaired.

The 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing Europa Cup runs between 19-20 November and will feature two slalom races.

Results will be published at the IPC Alpine Skiing website and live updates posted to @IPCAlpine and Facebook.

Alongside the competition, more than 70 athletes from 17 countries will be competing in the opening snowboard World and Europa Cup races at the same SnowWorld Landgraaf indoor venue.

Results and coverage from those competitions will be available at the IPC Snowboard website and updates at @IPCSnowboard and Facebook.