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

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

October 18, 2020 - On Sunday, in Soelden, Austria, the best Croatian skier Filip Zubcic kicked off his new World Cup season in the giant slalom, a discipline in which he achieved his first victory last season and finished third in the overall standings.

Going into Sunday's performance, Zubcic was second in the FIS giant slalom rankings, behind Frenchman Alexis Pinturault. The 27-year-old from Zagreb said on Saturday he is ready for the traditional opening of the season in Soelden, where he made his debut in the World Cup eight years ago.

"We are expecting a slightly different opening of the season because there will be no audience, no fans. I feel great, I ski well, I believe I am in solid shape, and I can't wait for the season to start," said Zubcic ahead of his 105th appearance in World Cup races.

The Zagreb native shone in the second half of last season, before it was interrupted due to the coronavirus pandemic, when he climbed the podium three times, winning second place in the giant slalom in Adelboden, Switzerland and Hinterstoder, Austria, and achieving his first victory in Naeba, Japan.

Thanks to these results, Filip was third among the giant slalom skiers at the end of the season with 368 points and in the fight for the small crystal globe, and with 475 points, he was 14th in the standings for the big crystal globe.

Reaching full competitive maturity, Zubcic enters this season as one of the favorites for a high place in giant slalom races. He will be able to continue to prove his ski versatility in slalom.

So far, performances in Soelden have not been too lucky for Zubcic because he was only once in the second run and among the points winners. In 2015, he finished in 12th place. He failed to qualify for the second run three times, and twice he was left without a place in the first, which was the case last season.

But now, he will also have the advantage of a better starting number, as he would start among the top seven.

"As for my goals, I would like to ski as well as possible in both runs, without calculations. I think that then the result will not be missed," concluded the best Croatian skier.

The first giant slalom run in Soelden was held at 10 am on Sunday, in which Zubcic was solid. 

HRT Screenshot

Namely, the Croatian skier is currently 78 hundredths of a second behind the currently leading Swiss Gino Caviezel, who achieved a time of 1:08.13 with the starting number 12. For a long time, the leader was Slovenian Žan Kranjec, who had the first starting number and achieved a time of 1:08.19.

Croatia's best skier started well and was four-hundredths better than Kranjec in the first pass, but by the second pass, he lost his rhythm and was 1.18 seconds behind. He finally managed to accelerate and finished the first run with 72 hundredths of a second behind Kranjec.

Last season’s big Crystal Globe winner Alexander Aamodt Kilde failed to finish the first run.

The second run is scheduled at 1:15 pm. You can watch the broadcast on HRT 2. 

More soon...

Source: HRT

To read more about sport in Croatia, follow TCN's dedicated page.

Vedran Pavlek announced the new ski season in which Croatia will have the right to four slalom skiers for the first time in history.