Austrian Benjamin Karl won the start of the Alpine Snowboarding World Cup in the parallel giant slalom in Bansko. The Olympic champion prevailed in the final battle over Canadian Arnaud Godet, who was the fastest in the qualifications, and recorded his 28th World Cup victory, BTA reports.
During the competition, Swiss Gian Casanova became the main obstacle for the Bulgarian representatives, after successively eliminating Tervel Zamfirov and Radoslav Yankov. The two nationals started strongly, ranking third and sixth respectively in the qualifications, but in the final standings they remained fifth and tenth.
Yankov was eliminated in the round of 16 after an extremely contested duel with Casanova, lost by the minimum difference of 0.07 seconds. A little later, Zamfirov delighted the audience in Bansko with a victory over Slovenian Jean Koshir, but in the quarterfinals he was also stopped by the Swiss in another equal clash.
With this, Zamfirov failed to repeat his best ranking in Bansko from last season, when he finished fourth. Casanova secured a place on the podium after a victory over German Yannick Angenend in the small final.