QUEEN
With the Snow Queen slalom scheduled for Jan.
3 at Zagreb-Sljeme, Croatia, organizers worked
24 hours a day for several days to combat the
ill effects of 10 days of rain. Mother Nature finally cooperated the night before the event, as
temperatures dropped and the green and brown
landscape was covered in snow and wearing a
wintry face for race day.
IcingROYAL
In its sixth year, the FIS Audi Women’s World Cup Snow Queen
competition in Croatia was as regal as ever, but North American
racers weren’t close to the throne BY SHAUNA FARNELL
With nearly 10,000 extremely noisy spectators lining one of the
World Cup’s longest slalom courses — and 135,000 euros in prize
money to be split among the top 30— the Zagreb race is among
the most exciting on the Cup. With the Snow Queen status to be
claimed, it’s easily the most festive event on the women’s circuit
(check out video at youtube.com/watch?v=GyhwGLZYh Y8).
The top 10 racers from the first run were all within a second of
each other going into the next run, and the fight for the throne
