Sljeme
Place: Zagreb, Croatia
Mountain: Medvednica (Sljeme)
Slalom
Start: 978 m (3,209 ft) (AA)
Finish: 768 m (2,520 ft)
Vertical: 210 m (689 ft)
Medvednica is located in Croatia
Medvednica
Medvednica
Location in Croatia

Snow Queen (Croatian: Snježna kraljica) is a World Cup alpine ski race held in the hills of Zagreb, Croatia. The men's and women's slalom races take place on the Medvednica mountaintop Sljeme, just north of Zagreb, usually in early January. The women's race debuted in 2005 and the men's event was added three years later in 2008. The events are held on the red run ski track (Crveni spust) on Medvednica, starting at an elevation of 985 m (3,232 ft) and ending at 785 m (2,575 ft). Besides the city events in Moscow and Munich, it is the only World Cup event held near a large metropolitan area.

Its current prize fund of €120,000 is one of the largest on the World Cup circuit, with a winner's share of €46,000.[1] The race has been known to attract up to 25,000 spectators, making it one of the largest and the most visited races on the World Cup calendar. The trophy is a crystal crown with past winners' names imprinted on it. At the award ceremony, the winner is presented with a cloak and sits on a throne like a queen (king).

History

The race was originally called "Golden Bear" (Croatian: Zlatni medvjed), but from the 2006 event the name was changed in honor of Janica Kostelić, whose victories in the sport helped popularise skiing in Croatia and also paved the way for the race to be included in the premier competition for alpine skiing. Croatian skiers never finished better than second in the event. In the women's race, Janica Kostelić finished third in 2006, while Ana Jelušić finished second the following year. In the men's race Ivica Kostelić has four podium finishes, three second places and one third place. The all-time leader at Zagreb in women's event is Mikaela Shiffrin, with five wins and seven podium finishes. Marcel Hirscher has won five races in the men's event.[2][3]

In 2013, Mikaela Shiffrin became the youngest winner at the age of 17 years, 9 months, and 23 days.[4] In 2014, the race was cancelled due to lack of snow.[5] Shiffrin, reigning Olympic champion in slalom, defended her crown in 2015.[6] The following year, both races were again cancelled due to lack of snow.[7]

Results

Podium finishers in the slalom races.[8]

Men's race

Season Race date Winner Second Third
2008 17 February 2008 Austria Mario Matt Croatia Ivica Kostelić Austria Reinfried Herbst
2009 6 January 2009 France Jean-Baptiste Grange Croatia Ivica Kostelić Italy Giuliano Razzoli
2010 6 January 2010 Italy Giuliano Razzoli Italy Manfred Mölgg France Julien Lizeroux
2011 6 January 2011 Sweden André Myhrer Croatia Ivica Kostelić Sweden Mattias Hargin
2012 5 January 2012 Austria Marcel Hirscher Germany Felix Neureuther Croatia Ivica Kostelić
2013 6 January 2013 Austria Marcel Hirscher (2) Sweden André Myhrer Austria Mario Matt
2014 6 January 2014 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2015 6 January 2015 Austria Marcel Hirscher (3) Germany Felix Neureuther Norway Sebastian Foss Solevåg
2016 6 January 2016 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2017 5 January 2017 [9] Italy Manfred Mölgg Germany Felix Neureuther Norway  Henrik Kristoffersen
2018 4 January 2018 Austria Marcel Hirscher (4) Austria Michael Matt Norway  Henrik Kristoffersen
2019 6 January 2019 Austria Marcel Hirscher (5) France Alexis Pinturault Austria Manuel Feller
2020 5 January 2020 France Clément Noël  Switzerland  Ramon Zenhäusern Italy Alex Vinatzer
2021 6 January 2021 Germany Linus Straßer Austria Manuel Feller Austria Marco Schwarz
2022 6 January 2022 Cancelled in first run due to bad weather conditions
2023 Not included in schedule
2024

Women's race

Season Race date Winner Second Third
2005 20 January 2005 Finland Tanja Poutiainen United States Kristina Koznick Austria Marlies Schild
2006 5 January 2006 Austria Marlies Schild Austria Kathrin Zettel Croatia Janica Kostelić
2007 4 January 2007 Austria Marlies Schild (2) Croatia Ana Jelušić Czech Republic Šárka Záhrobská
2008 15 February 2008 Finland Tanja Poutiainen (2) Austria Marlies Schild Slovakia Veronika Zuzulová
2009 4 January 2009 Germany Maria Riesch Italy Nicole Gius Czech Republic Šárka Záhrobská
2010 3 January 2010 France Sandrine Aubert Austria Kathrin Zettel Germany Susanne Riesch
2011 4 January 2011 Austria Marlies Schild (3) Germany Maria Riesch Italy Manuela Mölgg
2012 3 January 2012 Austria Marlies Schild (4) Slovenia Tina Maze Austria Michaela Kirchgasser
2013 4 January 2013 United States Mikaela Shiffrin Sweden Frida Hansdotter Canada Erin Mielzynski
2014 4 January 2014 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2015 4 January 2015 United States Mikaela Shiffrin (2) Austria Kathrin Zettel Norway  Nina Løseth
2016 5 January 2016 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2017 3 January 2017 Slovakia Veronika Velez-Zuzulová Slovakia Petra Vlhová Czech Republic Šárka Strachová
2018 3 January 2018 United States Mikaela Shiffrin (3)  Switzerland  Wendy Holdener Sweden Frida Hansdotter
2019 5 January 2019 United States Mikaela Shiffrin (4) Slovakia Petra Vlhová  Switzerland  Wendy Holdener
2020 4 January 2020 Slovakia Petra Vlhová United States Mikaela Shiffrin Austria Katharina Liensberger
2021 3 January 2021 Slovakia Petra Vlhová (2) Austria Katharina Liensberger  Switzerland  Michelle Gisin
2022 4 January 2022 Slovakia Petra Vlhová (3) United States Mikaela Shiffrin Austria Katharina Liensberger
2023 4 January 2023 United States Mikaela Shiffrin (5) Slovakia Petra Vlhová Sweden Anna Swenn-Larsson
5 January 2023 Cancelled due to warm weather and wind
2024 Not included in schedule

List of multiple podium finishers

Rank Name Country Sex Seasons 1st place, gold medalist(s) 2nd place, silver medalist(s) 3rd place, bronze medalist(s) Total
1 Mikaela Shiffrin  United States F 2012– 5 2 0 7
2 Marcel Hirscher  Austria M 2008–2019 5 0 0 5
3 Marlies Schild  Austria F 2002–2014 4 1 1 6
4 Petra Vlhová  Slovakia F 2013– 3 3 0 6
5 Tanja Poutiainen  Finland F 1998–2014 2 0 0 2
6 Maria Höfl-Riesch  Germany F 2001–2014 1 1 0 2
Manfred Mölgg  Italy M 2004–2022 1 1 0 2
André Myhrer  Sweden M 2004–2020 1 1 0 2
9 Mario Matt  Austria M 2000–2015 1 0 1 2
Giuliano Razzoli  Italy M 2007– 1 0 1 2
Veronika Velez-Zuzulová  Slovakia F 2002–2018 1 0 1 2
12 Ivica Kostelić  Croatia M 2001–2017 0 3 1 4
13 Felix Neureuther  Germany M 2004–2019 0 3 0 3
Kathrin Zettel  Austria F 2005–2015 0 3 0 3
15 Katharina Liensberger  Austria F 2016– 0 1 2 3
16 Manuel Feller  Austria M 2013– 0 1 1 2
Frida Hansdotter  Sweden F 2007–2019 0 1 1 2
Wendy Holdener   Switzerland F 2011– 0 1 1 2
19 Šárka Strachová  Czech Republic F 2003–2017 0 0 3 3
20 Henrik Kristoffersen  Norway M 2013– 0 0 2 2

References

  1. ^ Hebar, Srđan (31 December 2014). "Sandra Švaljek: Sufinancirat ćemo Kraljicu unatoč teškoj situaciji". vecernji.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  2. ^ Tomičić, Goran (13 February 2008). "Janica može i bez štapa, Ana na postolju". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  3. ^ Tomić, Antonija (3 January 2012). "Sljeme je spremno za najbolje". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  4. ^ Tolić, Josip (8 January 2013). "Sljemenski spektakl još je jednom zadivio svijet. Je li i Hrvatsku?". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  5. ^ Jurišić, Bernard (28 December 2013). "Otkazana Snježna kraljica na Sljemenu". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  6. ^ Rukavina, Niko (4 January 2015). "Mikaela Shiffrin najvećom razlikom u povijesti Sljemena obranila titulu Snježne kraljice". Sportnet.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 5 January 2015.
  7. ^ Pavić, Marko (28 December 2015). "Stigla službena potvrda: Snježna kraljica otkazana!". vecernji.hr (in Croatian). Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  8. ^ "Results Archive". snowqueentrophy.com. Retrieved 4 January 2015.
  9. ^ "Moelgg enjoys first World Cup slalom win in almost eight years, GB's Ryding secures top-ten finish". Eurosport. 5 January 2017. Retrieved 5 January 2017.

External links

45°54′18″N 15°56′31″E / 45.905°N 15.942°E / 45.905; 15.942

FIS Alpine Ski World Cup pistes
Zagreb
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