After having had a slow start into the season, Rok Marguc finally earned his winter's first podium result at the ramp psl event in Moscow.

“The trust in my equipment, the motivation boost from a good result in Rogla and a perfect final preparation in Kreischberg finally paid off,” said the four-time world championships medallist.

And whilst being fine with his increasing form curve he also stated that “I'm impressed by the strong performance of the Italian team this year. In fact, I have only competed against a non-Italian in the head-to-head duels once this season which was the Rogla quarter final against Sobolev.

It feels like an everlasting Italian national competition. They are for sure the strongest nation besides the Russian squad right now.”

In addition, he underlined that he has a lot of respect for both national rosters as they are not only focusing on the big guns but invest in the future of the team and the sport.

“They do work a lot with the youngsters besides the daily quality work routine with the national team members.”

An invest that also pays off spectator-wise.

“There were about 100 kids only from the Moscow area watching the last psl. So it's important that World Cup riders do give back,” he said.

As a result, Marguc visited the alpine snowboard camp in Rogla earlier this month which is run by former Slovenian World Cup racer Jernej Demsar.

“He is doing a great job and I keep my fingers crossed that he can continue his way. The young Slovenian rides are improving with every little turn they do, and I hope that more and more young kids will join those camps,” the 29-old explained.

Demsar had kicked off hosting camps for the youth this year:

“Our base is Rogla, we train here. That also gave us the chance to visit the World Cup stop. The kids were able to get some backstage impressions. They were impressed, and it gave them a motivation boost.

And visits from top guns like Rok [Marguc] also help to encourage those kids for the future,” said Demsar.

Source: fis-ski.com