Third time lucky for Croatia’s Sokolovic in La Molina

The 26-year-old impressed on Saturday and his win saw him finish ahead of Japan’s slalom world and Paralympic champion Takeshi Suzuki (1:25.54) and France’s Jean Yves Le Meur (1:26.46).

Croatia’s Dino Sokolovic put the inconsistency that has plagued him this week firmly to rest on Saturday (10 January), by winning the men’s slalom sitting at the IPC Alpine Skiing World Cup in La Molina, Spain.

On Thursday and Friday, Sokolovic (1:25.46) finished fastest in one of his two runs however his failure to string together two good runs cost him podium finishes.

But the 26-year-old impressed on Saturday and his win saw him finish ahead of Japan’s slalom world and Paralympic champion Takeshi Suzuki (1:25.54) and France’s Jean Yves Le Meur (1:26.46).

The women’s equivalent was equally as thrilling. Germany’s five time Paralympic champion Anna Schaffelhuber failed to finish, leaving the way clear for the USA's reigning downhill world champion Laurie Stephens (1:35.00) to claim her first win of the competition by the smallest of margins.

Schaffelhuber’s teammate Anna-Lena Forster (1:35.12) picked up her third podium of the week in second. Kimberley Joines (1:44.53), representing 2015 World Championships hosts Canada, was third.

Two Russian skiers picked up their third wins in La Molina.

Slalom Paralympic champion Valerii Redkozubov (1:17.30) and guide Evgeny Geroev seem unstoppable in the men’s visually impaired, beating another Canadian, Mac Marcoux (1:22.36) and guide brother BJ. The Marcoux’s however improved on their two third places from previous days to lead another Russian, Ivan Frantcev (1:24.69), guided by German Agranovskii, into third.

Spain’s Ana Maria Selvi Solsana (1:48.97) and guide Esther Noguera I Hidalgo also completed the triple in the women’s visually impaired.

The second win of the day for Russia came from 17-year-old world champion Alexey Bugaev (1:17.87) in the men’s standing.

Switzerland’s Thomas Pfyl (1:20.13) claimed his first World Cup podium in second whilst Bugaev’s compatriot Alexander Alyabyev (1:20.71) completed the top three.

The women’s standing saw France’s Marie Bochet (1:24.62) return to her form to beat Friday’s winner, American Stephanie Jallen (1:29.43). Russia’s Inga Medvedeva (1:36.35) retained her 100 per cent podium record in third.

Full results are available.

Slalom races conclude on Sunday (11 January). Weather conditions in La Molina have meant that the scheduled giant slalom events had to be cancelled.

Skiers are in La Molina as part of the preparations for the 2015 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Panorama, Canada, from 28 February – 10 March, which is set to see 130 of the world’s best athletes from 30 countries line-up for the biggest gathering of alpine skiers since Sochi 2014.