January 6, 2021 - After the ladies took on Sljeme on Sunday, a total of 55 male skiers competed in the first run of the Snow Queen Trophy in Zagreb on Wednesday.
The first slalom started at 12:15. The Croatia ski team has four representatives on Sljeme this year - Filip Zubčić, Istok Rodeš, Matej Vidović, and Samuel Kolega.
Croatia's best hope for a good result on Sljeme was in Filip Zubčić, currently eighth in the overall World Cup standings. He reached that spot by winning first and third place in Santa Caterina and 10th in Alta Badia in three giant slaloms. In the slalom this season, his best result is 20th place from Madonna di Campiglio.
Zubčić achieved his best slalom result in his career on Sljeme. He was 15th in 2015, and the victory went to Austrian Marcel Hirscher.
Hirscher has the most victories on Sljeme and was even proclaimed king of Sljeme five times. Last season, Frenchman Clement Noël won the competition. This season, the biggest favorite is the Norwegian Henrik Kristoffersen, the leader in the overall slalom standings after two races. In Alta Badia, Swiss skier Ramon Zenhäusern celebrated, and in Madonna di Campiglio, it was Kristoffersen.
Kristoffersen was the first to start in today's race, while Croatian skiers Filip Zubčić started at number 16, Istok Rodeš at 33, Matej Vidović at 52, and Samuel Kolega at 53.
And what a great first run it was for Croatian skiers.
Namely, Zubčić had the 10th best time and is 49 hundredths of a second behind a place on the podium!
The great performance of Rodeš gave him a high 18th place, while Samuel Kolega also qualified for the second run in 30th.
Finally, Matej Vidović, Croatia's final skier in the first run, also qualified for the second run with the 21st best time! This is a historic day for Croatian skiing, as all four Croatian representatives will perform in the second run for the first time!
In the second run, which was scheduled for 15:30, three Croatian skiers achieved the result of their career in slalom - Zubčić finished fifth, Vidović 12th, and Kolega 15th place. Rodeš finished in 23rd place.
Source: Index.hr
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