Ester Ledecká looks likely to win the overall FIS Snowboard World Cup title this season ©Getty Images

Athletes will have the final chance to earn spots at the upcoming Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang when they travel to Rogla this weekend to compete in two parallel giant slalom events at the International Ski Federation Alpine Snowboard World Cup.

This weekend will be the sixth time in a row that Rogla, a peak on Zreče Pohorje mountain in Slovenia, has hosted the event.

Overall women’s World Cup leader Ester Ledecká of The Czech Republic will return to the snow this weekend after missing the last event in the Austrian town of Bad Gastein.

The two-time World Championship gold medal winner has an excellent record on the 450-metre long Slovene course, with wins in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

She will hope to have made it five wins out of five parallel giant slalom events this campaign by the time the competition finishes on Sunday (January 21).

With the 22-year-old likely to be topping the podium on Rogla this weekend, the remaining two medals are set to be contested between three German athletes.

These are 2013 Winter Universiade bronze medallist Selina Jörg, Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, who has previous success on the course having won gold in the classic slalom at the 2016 Junior World Championships, and Ramona Theresia Hofmeister, who claimed bronze in the giant slalom at that same competition.


The race for gold in the men’s event is far more open with three different riders having won the three parallel giant slalom races so far this season.

Switzerland's Nevin Galmarini won the last event in Lackenhof, Austria, and currently leads the parallel giant slalom rankings on 2,300 points.

The other two parallel giant slalom gold medallists of the season, Austria‘s Alexander Payer and Russia‘s Andrey Sobolev currently sit second and third, respectively, on 1,650 and 1,600 points.

Sochi 2014 silver medallist Galmarini is arguably the favourite for this weekend’s races given his form whilst he also won last year’s event on Rogla.

Sobolev will also fancy his chances though as he has had similar success on the Slovene course, taking the title in 2016.

However, home athlete Zan Kosir, who has been making his comeback from injury this season, will also be among the frontrunners as he has been on the podium in all four of his last starts on home snow.

Competition racing will start at 2:30pm local time on both Saturday (January 20) and Sunday (January 21).