The World Alpine Ski World Cup event, which took place in the period February 22 to 24 in Bulgaria’s Bansko, once again offered ski lovers in this country a positive experience after a four-year absence of the world's best skiers on the runs in Pirin Mountain. In 2015 two World Cup events were held for women and now the men arrived in Bulgaria, including skiers from the Top 10. Several events remain until the end of the World Cup program this season and the weekend in Bansko was of great importance for many skiers. This made competitions tense, offering many interesting moments and surprises for viewers.

The program started on Friday with an alpine skiing combined event. Eyes were focused on current leader in the World Cup rankings, Marcel Hirscher (Austria), who had already secured the cup in the slalom events before the end of the season. However on Friday, he stayed second after Alexis Pinturault from France, who in addition to winning the race secured the cup in the alpine combination. Slovenian Stefan Hadalin placed third, just one hundredth of a second behind Hirscher. With a sense of humor, Hirscher apologized to Hadalin and said he knew well what it was like being behind with a hundredth of a second. In the Alpine combination there was Bulgarian participation, too. Yoan Todorov with starting number 63, finished last at 32nd place.

Fans eagerly expected the Super-G, scheduled to take place on Saturday. The heavy snowfall over Bansko in the night, however, pleased free riders but brought great troubles to organizers. Despite the efforts of hundreds of people, the preparation of the super giant slalom run could not happen by noon and the start was canceled.

On Sunday, the weather in Pirin was more favorable and allowed for the planned giant slalom event for the day to be held. This season it is hard to find someone faster than Hirscher, but in the dramatic race, the Austrian lost for a second time to Henrik Kristoffersen from Norway, being 4 hundredths of a second behind at the end. Although Hirscher was the fastest skier in the first run, the Norwegian showed great shape in the second run and won the race. Thomas Fanara from France placed third. Bulgarian Albert Popov started with number 57 and finished 32nd.

"I was not lucky enough to get into the top 30 and ride in the second run, but it was an important experience for me," Popov told media.

The other Bulgarian, Yoan Todorov, stared with number 63 and finished at 51st place. Bansko will surely remain in the memories of many young alpine skiers who arrived with the aim to gain experience in World Cup competitions and showed good performance. All of the skiers enjoyed very enthusiastic support from the Bulgarian audience, which gave them extra motivation.

Big sporting events attract children's interest in sports and this is important in a country whose population is the least engaged in mass sport among all other EU Member States. For the joy of fans of skiing, Alpine Ski World Cup competitions will return to Bulgaria in 2020 when two women's races are to take place in Bansko.

English: Alexander Markov