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)

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.

Medvednica is located in Croatia
Medvednica
Medvednica

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

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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

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Podium finishers in the slalom races.[8]

Men's race

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Season Race date Winner Second Third
2008 17 February 2008   Mario Matt   Ivica Kostelić   Reinfried Herbst
2009 6 January 2009   Jean-Baptiste Grange   Ivica Kostelić   Giuliano Razzoli
2010 6 January 2010   Giuliano Razzoli   Manfred Mölgg   Julien Lizeroux
2011 6 January 2011   André Myhrer   Ivica Kostelić   Mattias Hargin
2012 5 January 2012   Marcel Hirscher   Felix Neureuther   Ivica Kostelić
2013 6 January 2013   Marcel Hirscher (2)   André Myhrer   Mario Matt
2014 6 January 2014 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2015 6 January 2015   Marcel Hirscher (3)   Felix Neureuther   Sebastian Foss Solevåg
2016 6 January 2016 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2017 5 January 2017 [9]   Manfred Mölgg   Felix Neureuther  Henrik Kristoffersen
2018 4 January 2018   Marcel Hirscher (4)   Michael Matt  Henrik Kristoffersen
2019 6 January 2019   Marcel Hirscher (5)   Alexis Pinturault   Manuel Feller
2020 5 January 2020   Clément Noël     Ramon Zenhäusern   Alex Vinatzer
2021 6 January 2021   Linus Straßer   Manuel Feller   Marco Schwarz
2022 6 January 2022 Cancelled in first run due to bad weather conditions
2023 Not included in schedule
2024
2025

Women's race

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Season Race date Winner Second Third
2005 20 January 2005   Tanja Poutiainen   Kristina Koznick   Marlies Schild
2006 5 January 2006   Marlies Schild   Kathrin Zettel   Janica Kostelić
2007 4 January 2007   Marlies Schild (2)   Ana Jelušić   Šárka Záhrobská
2008 15 February 2008   Tanja Poutiainen (2)   Marlies Schild   Veronika Zuzulová
2009 4 January 2009   Maria Riesch   Nicole Gius   Šárka Záhrobská
2010 3 January 2010   Sandrine Aubert   Kathrin Zettel   Susanne Riesch
2011 4 January 2011   Marlies Schild (3)   Maria Riesch   Manuela Mölgg
2012 3 January 2012   Marlies Schild (4)   Tina Maze   Michaela Kirchgasser
2013 4 January 2013   Mikaela Shiffrin   Frida Hansdotter   Erin Mielzynski
2014 4 January 2014 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2015 4 January 2015   Mikaela Shiffrin (2)   Kathrin Zettel  Nina Løseth
2016 5 January 2016 Cancelled due to lack of snow
2017 3 January 2017   Veronika Velez-Zuzulová   Petra Vlhová   Šárka Strachová
2018 3 January 2018   Mikaela Shiffrin (3)     Wendy Holdener   Frida Hansdotter
2019 5 January 2019   Mikaela Shiffrin (4)   Petra Vlhová     Wendy Holdener
2020 4 January 2020   Petra Vlhová   Mikaela Shiffrin   Katharina Liensberger
2021 3 January 2021   Petra Vlhová (2)   Katharina Liensberger     Michelle Gisin
2022 4 January 2022   Petra Vlhová (3)   Mikaela Shiffrin   Katharina Liensberger
2023 4 January 2023   Mikaela Shiffrin (5)   Petra Vlhová   Anna Swenn-Larsson
5 January 2023 Cancelled due to warm weather and wind
2024 Not included in schedule
2025

List of multiple podium finishers

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Rank Name Country Sex Seasons       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

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