For the week of January 21 - 27, 2004

Aprilia rises on snowboard tour

World Cup star

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Former Sun Valley Snowboard Team member Aprilia Hagglof, 20, of Sweden, is making strides on the FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour.

Stockholm’s Hagglof, who went to school at Hailey’s Wood River High School, started the season with a fourth place in parallel giant slalom at Tannadalen, Sweden in December.

Aprilia placed 13th in the giant slalom at Bad Gastein, Austria in early January.

Hagglof said, "The first race after New Year’s was in Bad Gastein. It always has the best race of the year with a huge TV screen at the bottom, air balloons along the side of the lit-up race hill, and all the tourists and locals of Bad Gastein cheering on their favorite competitors or just enjoying the parallel racing.

"It’s the only night race of the season. I had start number #1 and, with decent riding, I qualified into the finals (top 16). But the fun ended quickly when I fell against Olympic gold medalist Isabelle Blanc in the first round of the finals.

"But a 13th place was one of my better slalom results, so I was happy just to have made the finals."

Hoping for her first podium spot of the 2003-04 season, Hagglof visited one of her favorite hills, Alpe d’Huez, France for two FIS Snowboard World Cup races the weekend of Jan. 10-11.

"The next morning after Bad Gastein, we drove 12 hours to Alpe d’Huez where we had two races in two consecutive days, both parallel giant slalom," she said.

The first day at Alpe d’Huez, Aprilia broke a binding in the middle of her first run and settled for a 13th-place result.

She said, "The first round of the finals the first day I was up against Marion Posch of Italy. I felt confident about my riding but I was a bit unlucky when my binding broke in the middle of my first run. So, again, the fun ended quickly after the first round and I ended up 13th."

Then, on Sunday, Jan. 11, Hagglof defeated world champion Ursula Bruhin of Switzerland in the first PGS round and made the quarterfinals, eventually finishing seventh.

Aprilia said, "The luck turned to my advantage.

"Bruhin won the first run by a half a second but I was confident I could make it up. Even though I was planning on winning, the way it came about didn’t really go as I expected.

"I fell early on the course, but I got up and kept riding, even though Bruhin was about seven gates ahead of me. I was so focused on my course that, when I got into the finish area, I was positive that she had beaten me to the finish 10 seconds before I arrived.

"But when I didn’t see her, I looked behind me as she was crossing the finish line—behind me! I hadn’t noticed that Bruhin had crashed as well.

"So, with so much luck, I advanced to the quarterfinals, where I rode well but not well enough against World Cup leader Daniela Meuli of Switzerland."

Meuli ended up finishing second to Julie Pamagalski of France in the final standings. Isabelle Blanc of France placed third, Marion Posch of Italy fourth and Michelle Gorgone of Sudbury, Mass. ended up fifth. Hagglof of Sweden was seventh.

Other American finishers were Rosey Fletcher of Girdwood, Alaska 12th, Erica Mueller of Steamboat Springs 37th and Stacia Hookom of Colorado 46th.

Next up for Aprilia is a PGS in Maribor, Slovenia Feb. 3. Check Aprilia’s Web site, laprilia.com, under action pictures or modeling for the new leisure wear clothing brand "Courageux."

 

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