The changeable weather in the Austrian Alps slightly messed up the program of Albert Popov.
The Bulgarian skiing star is in Gurgal, where the world cup slalom is on Sunday.
Because of the strong wind, the free ride was cancelled. This means that Popov will have the opportunity to train on the track after the women’s race. Their slalom is tomorrow, but the weather has caused organizers to move it from a reserve start. The temperature in Gurgal is low and at times during the day it reached minus 14 degrees.
Albert arrived in Austria with his wife Denitza and their daughter Kaya, who will be 2 years old in April as she appeared right on Palm Sunday in 2023.
In the first slalom of the new World Cup season, Popov finished 18th at Finland’s Levi Winter Center last Sunday. At the end of February 2023 Albert Popov finished third in the slalom at Palisades Tahoe (USA). This was his first podium for the world cup, and a similar success was previously achieved by the Bulgarian Alpine team by the legend Petar Popangelov on December 16, 1984. in Madonna di Campiglio (It).
At the moment, the rumors in the Austrian media that the two-time Olympic champion Benjamin Reich (with 36 World Cup victories) has plans to follow the example of Marcel Hirscher and return to competitions have not been confirmed. However, Beat Feutz has started serious training. The Swiss speed specialist is the Olympic downhill champion from the 2022 Beijing Games and also has bronze in the event and silver in the super giant slalom from PyeongChang 2018.
Foitz quit 2 years ago. with 16 World Cup wins and a total of 59 podiums. In 2017 In front of his home crowd in St. Moritz, he became the downhill world champion.