(Sportcom) – “It could have been a whole different story,” shared snowboarder Arnaud Gaudet, ranked 14th in the parallel slalom at the World Cup in Bad Gastein, Austria. An error made at the top of the track and a course slower than that of his opponent led to his elimination on Tuesday.
The best riders in qualifying chose their race lane for the elimination heats, which was a clear advantage, as the results show.
Only three of the 16 duels were won on the red course. Among these three winners, two benefited from the fall of their opponent, while the third won by a tenth of a second.
“With all the holes, it wasn’t easy to win on the red course,” said Gaudet, who found out the hard way on the first round. The Quebecer was eliminated by the Austrian Alexander Payer, winner of the race by a margin of 1.53 s.
Gaudet intended to make a more direct start by crossing the first gates in order to generate speed thereafter. However, he fell behind and was unable to catch up.
“I was trying to get back on my line and found myself in survival mode. I would have liked to follow the initial plan, but I quickly deviated from that and I am disappointed,” he said.
Size rival
Gold medalist in this event at the World Cup in Winterberg in December, where Gaudet was ranked 28th, Payer was later defeated in the grand final by the Italian Maurizio Bormolini.
The German Stefan Baumeister completed the podium by winning by 0.13 against the Austrian Fabian Obmann in the small final.
“Payer did well today and finished second. He was a tough opponent to start with. The key would have been to qualify a little higher and to be able to choose my course,” said Gaudet, who was surprised by the famous red course during qualifying.
Among the first to set off, he was unaware of the state of the track.
“I had a great run. The snow was hard, but changed drastically at the last four gates to soft, salty. It surprised me and I lost a lot of time because it was stoned. The other snowboarders saw me and were able to adjust,” he said.
Gaudet was the only Canadian to advance to the playoffs in Austria. He will return to action on Wednesday in the team parallel slalom.