Slovenia's male winter sports athletes excelled in their respective World Cup events overseas the past weekend. Snowboarder Tim Mastnak won a parallel giant slalom event in Yanquing, China, while alpine skier Miha Hrobat finished third in the season opening downhill in Beaver Creek, US, and Žan Kranjec placed third in the giant slalom at the same venue.

Mastnak, 33, chalked up his fourth World Cup victory in Yanquing on 7 December. He beat Italian Mirko Felicetti in the semi-finals before emerging victorious in the finals against Felicetti's teammate Maurizio Bormolini, who crashed out.

"I love China very much, I won the last World Cup here in 2019. I couldn't have asked for a better performance," said Mastnak, who won silver at the Beijing Olympics two years ago.

"It's been a while, but I've never stopped believing I'd win again. There have been a few defeats, but today I'm very happy to be back on top. It wasn't easy because the conditions were difficult, it was windy and very cold," he added.

He went on to finish fourth in the parallel slalom at the same venue on 8 December, proving he has made progress in that discipline. He is now in the lead in the World Cup standings.

The promising weekend for Slovenian fans opened with Miha Hrobat, 29, clinching his career best in the famed Birds of Prey downhill in Beaver Creek on 6 December.

Alpine skier Miha Hrobat pictured in Courchevel, France, in Febriary 2023. Photo: Aleksander Mladenović/STA

Carrying bib No. 1, Hrobat had the benefit of opening the race.

He finished third, 0.35 seconds adrift of the winner Justin Murisier of Switzerland, who beat his compatriot Marco Odermatt, the best downhill skier of the last season, by 0.20 seconds to win his first World Cup victory.

Hrobat's is the first podium for Slovenian male downhill specialists in four years since Martin Čater won a World Cup race in Val d'Isère, France. Overall, Slovenian male skiers won 10 podiums in this most prestigious speed discipline.

"We didn't know Miha can reach that high, but we knew he is skiing great ... Third place is an excellent result, one and two for Switzerland and three for Slovenia," Hrobat's coach Aleš Brezavšček commented.

"It may come as a surprise to many, but I'd been already fast in the preparatory period. Somehow, this year everything fell into place for me," Hrobat said, praising his team and Atomic for doing a great job with the new skis.

He unfortunately skied out of the super-G just before the last checkpoint the next day, but Žan Kranjec did his fans proud by finishing third in the final event of the Beaver Creek Alpine Ski World Cup meet, the giant slalom on 8 December.

Skier Žan Kranjec pictured in a men's World Cup giant slalom event in Kranjska Gora in March 2023. Photo: Stanko Gruden/STA

Kranjec finished 0.58 second behind the winner, Thomas Tumler of Switzerland, who scored his first World Cup win ever, and 0.12 seconds behind Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, the Norwegian who competes for Brazil this season.

He was second after the first run, but was overtaken by Braathen in the second run, to finish third in what is his first podium finish of the season and his 15th career World Cup podium.

"I'm very happy with the third place. I had many problems and could not find my speed in the US in the past, so I'm very satisfied with this achievement," Kranjec said.

The 32-year-old noted that a longer training period in the US helped him a lot. "We came to the US much earlier, and I managed to have some good training sessions. I competed well, but there are always little things that can be done better."

The Beijing Olympics giant slalom silver medallist is confident ahead of races in Val d'Isère the upcoming weekend, where he will be one of the favourites for top spots.