The Best Audience in the World

This year, the world’s top female skiers competing in the fourth consecutive VIP Snow Queen Trophy race were joined for the first time by the world’s top male skiers at the first FIS World Cup event for men. Both took place in mid-February on Sljeme near Zagreb and received nothing but accolades, not only for the exceptionally good organization and the well prepared ski-runs, but also for the special atmosphere created by the audience.

Races like this or the ones in Kitzbühel and Schladming are something you look forward to the whole year. There is nothing better or bigger than this. This is fantastic. The audience simply carried me to the throne. This is how the winner of the first FIS World Cup for Men, Mario Matt, described the atmosphere on Sljeme near Zagreb. Thus, in addition to the snow queen, Sljeme now has its snow king as well. 

The competitors had nothing but words of praise for the fourth FIS World Cup for women and the first cup for men, not only because of the top-notch organization and the exceptionally well prepared ski runs, but also for the special atmosphere created by the audience. The race on Sljeme near Zagreb differs from any other in the Cup: unlike anywhere else, the audience cheers every competitor with equal ardor, which makes the event especially attractive. Not used to this type of support on the other ski slopes around the globe, many competitors have stated that they never experienced such an atmosphere and that that was the additional motif for them to achieve even better results.

This year’s winner of the VIP Snow Queen Trophy Slalom was Tanja Puntianend from Finland, the runner up was Austrian Marlies Schield, and third-place went to Veronika Zuzulova from Slovakia. In the men’s competition, the best was Austrian Mario Matt, followed by Croat Ivica Kostelić, with another Austrian, Reinfried Herbst in third place.
The women’s and men’s slaloms were followed by the humanitarian Hypo Zagreb Sky Legends spectacle in which some of the world's skiing legends demonstrated their skills. The legends - Ingemar Stenmark, Alberto Tomba, Marc Girardelli, Bojan Križaj, Jure Košir, Andreas Wenzl, Gunter Mader, Urška Hrovat, Špela Pretnar and our own Janica Kostelić, all raced for a humanitarian cause. The proceeds went to the Gornja Bistra Special Hospital for Chronic Children’s Diseases. During their impressive skiing careers, the ten skiing legends won a total of 17 gold medals in world competitions and 13 crystal globes in the World Cup. The winner of the charity race was Slovenian Urška Hrovat.