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The best alpine snowboarders will participate in the VISA FIS Snowboard Alpine World Cup in Bansko on January 17th and 18th. This was announced by Tseko Minev, President of the Bulgarian Ski Federation. 127 snowboarders from 20 nations have applied to participate the Snowboard Alpine World Cup.
"It will once again be the biggest competition in Bulgaria this winter. The challenge is huge, but I am sure that with the efforts of all the teams, which already have enough experience from previous World Cup starts, we will do excellently. I hope that this benchmark for holding World Cups, which Bansko has shown to the International Federation FIS will be repeated and our assessment will be excellent again. We believe that the weather will be on our side so that everything can happen in a perfect way. All the biggest stars in the parallel disciplines of snowboarding have announced their participation in Bansko. The starts on January 17-18 are the last ones to win quotas for the Olympics in Milan and Cortina, so from a competitive point of view everything will be at its best," commented the chairman of BFSki Tseko Minev. 
Bulgaria will be represented by its best competitors, led by Radoslav Yankov, Tervel Zamfirov, Malena Zamfirova, Petar Gergiovski, Aleksandar Krashnjak and Kristian Georgiev. 
Among the stars who have announced their participation in Bansko are the current Olympic champions in the discipline Ester Ledecka (Czech Republic) and Benjamin Karl (Austria), as well as three of the last winners of the World Cup in Bansko 2025 - Andreas Prommegger (Austria), Ramona Theresia Hofmeister (Germany) and Tsubaki Miki (Japan).
For the Olympic Games, Bulgaria has so far secured two quotas in the men's category for Radoslav Yankov and Tervel Zamfirov and one in the women's category for Malena Zamfirova. Realistic chances for Olympic quotas have Aleksandar Krashnjak and Petar Gergiovski, who last week respectively took second and first place at the European Cup in Folgaria.
"Our goal is to have a full team of four men's representatives at the Olympics. This is the best that can happen. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that we see a Bulgarian victory or at least a Bulgarian podium this weekend," Minev added. 
The chairman of BFSki revealed that the good organization of World Cup starts in Bansko guarantees that in the next six to seven years there will be constant competitions at the highest level.
"Every second year in Bansko there will be a World Cup in Alpine skiing for men - giant slalom and slalom. In the remaining years, starts from the Women's World Cup or those from the Snowboard World Cup will be held here. The contract comes into force next year, so in the 2027/28 season we will certainly have an Alpine start for men."