Snowboard European Cup Sochi-2012

First snowboard test events on the Olympic courses of the Rosa Khutor Snowboard Park and Freestyle Centre in Sochi will be held from the 23rd to the 26th of January, 2012 in snowboard parallel events: Parallel Slalom, Parallel Giant Slalom and Snowboard Cross. These competitions will open the Olympic snowboard test events program two years prior to the start of 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Young athletes from the European Cup teams will be the first to test the Olympic courses for parallel events and Snowboard Cross. Some of them will certainly establish themselves as members of their national Olympic Teams by the time 2014 Winter Olympics starts. Nevertheless, right now almost ready World Cup level Olympic courses in turning events will become a tough test for young athletes from different countries. It's common knowledge that the European Cup courses are generally easier than the ones the athletes will be competing on in Sochi.

Concerning Snowboard Cross a lot of the World Cup competitors will come to Sochi which will season the test events in this discipline.

Despite the fact that Russia has vast experience of holding not only the European Cup events but also the World Cup, that was held several times (for example in Moscow and Moscow Region), Sochi stage of the European Cup is a landmark for snowboarding. The experience of holding such events will certainly help the organisers of Sochi stage of the European Cup to hold the first 2014 Winter Olympics snowboard test events on high level.