The past weekend brought pleasant emotions to fans of winter sports in this country who provided strong support to Bulgarian riders in the Snowboard World Cup events that took place in the mountain resort of Bansko.

Bulgarian snowboarding star Radoslav Yankov started his participation a bit disappointingly on the first day of the races, failing to pass the qualifying round in the parallel giant slalom. That is how in the first start of the discipline winner became Canadian Jasey Jay Anderson, followed by Nevin Galmarini from Switzerland and Italian Edwin Coratti.

On Sunday, however, 28-year-old Yankov brought joy to the big number of fans, placing fourth in the second parallel giant slalom event. Yankov passed his qualification by finishing seventh, before winning the races against Kaspar Fluetsch from Switzerland and Rok Marguc from Slovenia. In the semi-final, Radoslav Yankov lost against Edwin Coratti, whose level of performance this season has been very high. In the race for the third place, the Bulgarian lost against two-time world champion Andreas Prommegger from Austria, while winner became Nevin Galmarini, who is also the current leader in the Snowboard World Cup standings.

Speaking to reporters, Radoslav Yankov admitted that he felt pressure by his desire to justify the audience's great expectations, but added that he was pleased with his performance and was calmly looking forward to the upcoming Winter Olympics.

In the second parallel giant slalom event for women in Bansko, Bulgarian Teodora Pencheva, who did not pass the qualifying round during the first day, placed 25th, this being her best performance during the season. Winner became Julia Dujmovits from Austria, while second and third placed Ramona Hofmeister and Selina Joerg from Germany.