The champion of the triumph in the World Cup and the winner of the inaugural race of the season in China, Samková had up to twelfth time in the first qualifying race with a second loss to the fastest Briton Charlotte Bankes. In the changeable weather, when it was blowing, snowing and foggy, it was not optimally lubricated at the beginning of the qualification.
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“What we did to the boys didn’t go to us again. I felt a bit during that ride that I didn’t have as much speed as in training. The loss of a second downstairs surprised me,” said the two-time Olympic medalist in a media record. “Eva may not have advanced from the first qualifying race for the first time in her life and she had to repeat,” coach Marek Jelínek commented on the first race.
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For the second time, Samkova improved by three seconds. She was the only one to get under the minute and with a time of 59.83 she was almost two seconds faster than the winner of the qualification. “Fortunately, the boys changed the oil. In the second race, it was almost snowing, there was better visibility. In the end, I gave the fastest ride, but it really changed a lot, it was not very comparable in terms of conditions,” added Samková.
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In Montafon, the Czech snowboardcross star experienced a similar qualification as in 2013, when she advanced as the thirteenth after winning the second race. At the beginning of the Olympic season, she won the race.
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Hopjáková competed for the first time since January, advancing to the quarterfinals from fifteenth place. She managed to return after a severe covide and other health problems. Kubičík also had a successful premiere in this year’s World Championship, who did not finish the first race, but secured the promotion from 29th place in the second. “After the concussion and the forced break in training, it is a great satisfaction for Honza and a great promise before the next races,” said Jelínek.
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Radek Houser, who missed out on the two-place elimination rounds in China, was far from successful in qualifying this time. He finished 62nd. Nineteen-year-old Sara Strnadova, who started with an injured shoulder after a fall in training, finished forty-first.
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