Livigno (ITA). With exciting head-to-head duels the final Parallel ranking as part of the 1999/2000 NOKIA Snowboard FIS World Cup was decided today at Livigno. Two times double French victory with NOKIA rider Matthieu Bozzetto and Karine Ruby claiming the wins in today’s race and Bozzetto and Isabelle Blanc at the same time taking the Parallel World Cup chrystal globes.

Matthieu Bozzetto has already claimed the Parallel title prior to the final race but however, it turned out to be an exciting competition today. Bozzetto, who had missed to make it to the podium for more than six weeks in a row wanted to conclude the season with a win to be regarded worth for the trophy and he worked it out today.

‘That was excellent,’ he said, relieved, ‘it was a confirmation of the title but I also needed a good result for the Overall World Cup. I was afraid not to make it since I had a couple of bad races, was disqualified a couple of times after I rode too aggressive, so today I made sure that this would not happen again. I seriously checked the terrain, really calculated my riding and stayed concentrated a lot all the time. Except for the last two runs I didn’t make any mistakes, there we go.’ Being asked about the color of his hair – he changed it to fire red – he explained: ‘I just did it for fun, like I’ve done at the Olympics, but I will not keep it for next season although it flashes like hell…’ His teammate and friend Nicolas Huet, who was safe for second place before today, had also planned for a good final race but dropped out in the round of 16 already and was really upset. ‘It works like a consolation to be second in the World Cup,’ he said, ‘I don’t like to drop out in the first round, but for me it is always the decisive one. Once I get over it, I’m fine for the rest of the finals. I’m glad to be second in the final standings but this fault should not have happened.’ Felix Stadler from Austria still had to fight for third place in the ranking and it was exciting until the very last heat. He met the Slovenian Dejan Kosir in the duel for third place and was really upset when ending up fourth while Kosir claimed his first podium after one year. What Stadler did not recognise by that time: The final duel between Bozzetto and Richard Richardsson was to decide for third place overall since the Swede could have edged Stadler out of third place only if he won against Bozzetto which finally didn’t happen. ‘I did calculations almost all night,’ Stadler said when he discovered that he has made it to third place, ‘I was really disappointed when I finished fourth today and thought I have missed the final podium. It’s just great that it worked finally – 40 points really is not a big gap – since I really wanted to finish in the top three.’ With Richardsson finishing second today he ended up fourth place in the Parallel standings.

Isabelle Blanc needed to finish second today to claim the World Cup globe. NOKIA rider Manuela Riegler from Austria would have been the only one who could have closed the gap and send Blanc to second place but when the Austrian was beaten by Sweden’s Sarah Fischer in the quarter finals Blanc was safe for the title. Having been beaten by Fischer in the semi finals Blanc finally finished third by winning over Claudia Riegler in the consolation round. ‘It has been a lot of pressure over the last few races,’ she said, ‘the top riders have been quite close and we all had to go through a lot of runs. When Manu dropped out today I could take it a little easier. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t win, it would have nice to win the race and then claim the World Cup but Sarah was very strong. My best time has been in the beginning of the season but I think I started to think too much after half way, next year I will just go from race to race. I has been quite a time ago this year that I made it to a podium so it was nice to finish third here and then calim the globe.’ Manuela Riegler finally finished fifth today and took second place in the final parallel standings. ‘It really hurts that I didn’t make it,’ the Austrian said, ‘I was in a good shape, felt good and was prepared to face her in the next heat (semi finals), I was even sure I would beat her there. I’m really disappointed although second is fine as well. The only consolation is that Margherita Parini (ITA) didn’t do better than me today since we are still fighting for the overall title, so I will focus on the Snowboard Cross tomorrow to make it safe since I don’t like the decision to be taken on the last day only.’ Karine Ruby from France was not smiled upon by success this season but could claim her first alpine win today by beating Sarah Fischer in the final duel and the French even moved up to third place in the Parallel World Cup. ‘It’s so nice that I won this race at the end of the season,’ she said, ‘this will push my motivation for the training and a new start next season.’

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