Samkova lays down marker with season-opening World Cup win

Eva Samkova was thrilled to come out on top at the season-opening snowboard cross World Cup after beating the reigning Olympic and world champions in China.

The Czech Republic athlete, who won gold at the 2014 Olympic Winter Games and bronze at PyeongChang 2018, took gold on the soon-to-be Olympic course at Secret Garden.

Samkova proved unstoppable out of the gates in the final as she beat Great Britain's Charlotte Bankes - the reigning world champion - and 2018 Olympic champion Michela Moioli of Italy.

Bankes had to settle for silver despite edging into the lead for a brief moment while Moioli secured the bronze medal ahead of Austria's Pia Zerkhold.

"I am tired, really tired. The course is really long and you have to work super hard across all the rollers. It was a really tough fight; I was expecting the girls to come for me," said Samkova.

"Especially in the third bank it was really tight, but I told myself that I have to make it, there is no other way. So, I am super happy to have made it."

The men's big final saw 2021 World Championship silver medallist Alessandro Haemmerle prevail ahead of Italian veteran Omar Visintin and American Nick Baumgartner.

Haemmerle, who has won three overall snowboard cross crystal globes in a row, made a fast start out of the gates and never looked to be relinquishing the lead to his rivals.

The fight for second place was much closer as Baumgartner was pipped to silver by Visintin in the final stages, leaving the USA 39-year-old with the bronze as Austrian Jakob Dusek came fourth.

"It was super tight, I made a really fast start and knew there would be a draft, but I tried to chill more in the upper section and come for some draft myself," Haemmerle said.

"But the race ends on the finish line, so I knew it was going to be tight, but it turned out well."