FIS Snowboard officials and local organizers carried out a successful inspection at one of the most exciting young venues on the snowboard cross World Cup tour this past week in Baquiera Beret (SPA).

The 2018/19 edition of the Baquiera Beret competition will be the snowboard cross World Cup’s second visit to the highly-regarded resort, after Baquiera jumped in at the last minute to host competition in 2015/16 when another Spanish resort was forced to pull out of their scheduled event. 

With the excellent cooperation shown by the Royal Spanish Winter Sports Federation (RFEDI) in achieving a top-level event under those difficult circumstances in Baquiera Beret in 2015/16, as well as the resort’s pedigree as the largest and most-visited mountain resort in all of Spain, FIS Snowboard Race Director Uwe Beier expressed his excitement with Baquiera Beret once again hosting SBX World Cup action in 2018/19.

"We are looking forward to the second edition of SBX World Cup competition in Baqueira,” said Beier, “After the 2015/16 event, when the organizer was successfully jumped in at the last minute as a late replacement for a cancelation of another Spanish competition, RFEDI together with the highly motivated organizers in Baquiera Beret have proven their ability to hold top-level competition. This season all involved are aiming even higher, and we expect to deliver one of our season highlights with a high-quality snowboard cross World Cup event.”

During the inspection Beier, along with technical advisor Alberto Schiavon, assessed the course slope, establishing a slightly adjusted line from the 2015/16 version of the Baquiera Beret event to more optimally utilize the race piste for SBX action. 

With Spaniard Regino Hernandez winning bronze at the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games and Spain's Sierra Nevada playing host to the 2017 World Snowboard Championships where Lucas Equibar took silver in individual SBX and Eguibar and Hernandez together claimed silver in the team event in front of their nation's King Filipe VI, the Spanish crowd is certain to be excited to cheer on their heroes on home soil.

The competition in Baquiera Beret will replace the originally scheduled La Molina event, and will take place on March 1-2, 2019, with qualifiers on March 1 followed by finals on March 2.