Freestyle Skiing 2016 - 2017 Discussion Thread

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Cox and Graham win to make best-ever day for Australian moguls

 

According to tradition, citizens of Australia typically recognize their country’s national day on January 26th, gathering in public places around the world to conspicuously and boisterously celebrate all the great things about the land Down Under. This year, however, the Australian moguls team decided to move things back a little bit, having their own Australia Day celebrations in Calgary’s Winsport Canada Olympic Park by way of Britteny Cox and Matt Graham taking the respective ladies’ and men’s World Cup moguls wins.

 

While the unseasonably warm temperatures arrived as expected, Saturday dawned much gloomier and windier than had been originally forecast, and the exposed top half of the Calgary moguls course was rocked by gust after gust throughout the day. Still, with a large crowd on hand and the course in pristine condition, the best moguls skiers in the world were able to step up and get it done.

For the ladies, this meant Ms. Cox was once again front and centre.

 

The World Cup leader since taking her first career victory at the season-opener in Ruka, Cox hasn’t looked back since, and on Saturday was able to take her third win in the season’s fourth competition with near-flawless skiing from start to finish. 

 

Qualifying in first and then chalking up the best score in the semifinals, Cox dropped in last in the big final and calmly picked the tricky Calgary moguls course apart, nailing her top air 360, staying smooth through the roll-over section, and putting down a picture-perfect backflip on the second jump to earn herself a score of 82.11 to vault over second place Justine Dufour-Lapointe’s 80.02.

 

“I had such a fun day skiing today,” Cox said following the awards ceremony, “I’ve just been building and building, from my win in Ruka (FIN) through to Lake Placid (USA) and then here today, working on my process and having fun, and with that the results seem to come.”

 

Runner up Dufour-Lapointe put down a hard-charging run that itself could have been the winner save for a couple of small mistakes in the middle section. Justine was followed up on the podium by her older sister Chloe, making for the sixth-straight season with a podium in Calgary for Justine, and the fifth-straight for Chloe. 

 

With her win Cox now has 345 points on the season, holding an 84 point advantage over Justine Dufour-Lapointe’s 261, as the Canadian was able to leapfrog Perrine Laffont (FRA) to take over second place. 

 

Graham bests Kingsbury to break streak

 

Coming into Saturday’s Calgary event Canada’s Mikael Kingsbury had won six straight times at the former Olympic venue, with his only failure to capture victory here coming in 2009/10 at his first career World Cup event. 

 

However, on Saturday that streak would come to an end, as Matt Graham shrugged off the pressure and capped the best-ever day for the Australian moguls team on the World Cup circuit with an impressive win.

 

After Kingsbury came out of qualifiers with the top score, Graham settled into a groove in the semifinals, earning the top score there while displaying the smooth technique that has seen him emerge as Kingsbury’s top contender over the past two seasons.

 

After Kingsbury put down a solid, if not flawless, run to take the lead in the big final, Graham was the only athlete left to challenge the great Canadian, and he rose to the occasion with two near-perfect airs and the fastest time of the round to earn a score of 85.34 and bump Kingsbury’s 83.90 down to second place.

 

“It was super loud up there with the wind and I couldn’t really hear the scores, which I usually like to listen to,” said Graham of his final run, “So, I didn’t know what (Kingsbury) did, but I just thought to myself, ‘Well, I better put a smoking run together,’ and I was able to do that. And to see my score come up with the number one, after my teammate Britt just won for the ladies, that was pretty awesome.”

 

“And it’s nice to knock Mik off that top step every now and then, prove that he’s human. He’s a good mate of mine and we push each other a lot.”

 

Third on the day went to Ben Cavet (FRA), who himself just narrowly missed besting Kingsbury with his score of 82.89. 

 

With his runner-up on Saturday Kingsbury was able to maintain his hold of top spot on the men’s moguls leaderboard, though Graham was able to move into second place and close the gap somewhat, with 246 points to Kingsbury’s 320.

 

The FIS Freestyle moguls World Cup now moves to the legendary venue at Deer Valley (USA) for moguls and the 2016/17 season first dual moguls event, with single moguls set for February 2nd and duals slated to go on February 4th under the lights.

 

 

Full Results Women and Men

 

 

 

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Deer Valley starts in style with Schild and Kingsbury victories

 

The opening event of the three-night Deer Valley Visa Freestyle International competition weekend kicked things off in celebratory fashion on Thursday, with US young gun Morgan Schild taking the second World Cup win of her career on home soil and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) tying French legend Edgar Grospiron for most World Cup podiums with his own win in the Deer Valley moguls competition.

 

After two days of training under perfect sunny skies on Deer Valley’s Champion mogul run, Thursday dawned cloudy and a bit snowy, and come time for the start of ladies finals a persistent low cloud that had settled over the course’s top section became cause for delay. 

 

However, after the stop-and-start ladies’ qualifier the temperature dropped, the clouds melted off, and the rest of the Deer Valley opener got off without a hitch in front the typically electric crowd gathered at venue’s base. 

 

Top qualifier for the ladies was World Cup leader Britteny Cox (AUS), who appeared in the competition’s early stages to be on her way to her fourth victory in five events this season. However, come time for the semi-final Schild, inspired by the huge home crowd, took it to another level and didn’t look back.

 

Schild topped the semi-final and then in the big final simply dominated, with her slightly slower time offset easily by her superior jump package and control through Deer Valley’s steep and deep middle section. With her D-spin 720 being the best ladies’ air of the night and her top turning scores, Schild earned the win with one of the highest ladies' scores of the 2016/7 season - 81.27.

 

The win was an emotional one for Schild, who last topped the podium back in March 2015 in Japan, before a massive knee injury forced her our of competition for nearly two years.

 

“I looked back to my strengths of being tough in the big moguls," said Schild on regaining her winning form, ”People can struggle with that, and it makes me feel more confident to get to those places in the course that a lot of girls don’t go, which is usually filled with a lot of soft snow. To be able to just commit and go as fast as I can into the bottom air, that’s really what went well for me today. I feel like my old self. It’s amazing.”

 

Second place went to Justine Dufour-Lapointe (CAN), as the World Cup second-overall was able to put down a charging run on the course where last season she won both the moguls and dual moguls events. Third place went to Cox, with the Australian able to hold on to the yellow World Cup leader’s bib with her fourth podium of the season. Cox now has 405 points to Dufour-Lapoint's 341.

 

“Deer Valley is known as the Superbowl of freestyle skiing,” Cox beamed following awards, “So to get on the podium here, with my whole family here to watch me, is so special and I’m so happy.” 

 

On the men’s side it was all Kingsbury, all night, as the man who may go down as the greatest moguls man in history skied like he was on a mission. Making up for a second-place performance on home soil last weekend in Calgary, Kingsbury lead from start to finish in Deer Valley for his third win of the season. 

 

Still just 24 years old, Kingsbury now has 36 career victories and 57 podiums, putting him three wins away from surpassing Norwegian acro skier Rune Kristiansen for the most men’s victories in FIS Freestyle World Cup history and tying him with Edgar Grospiron for the most men's career moguls podiums.

 

“I feel the heat from the other guys, but I’m still trying to lead the train,” Kingsbury said from the finish area after his win, “But it’s fun like that. Those guys pushed me hard and it wasn’t easy tonight but I managed to stay consistent and I’m happy with my skiing.”

 

Kingsbury was able to extend his World Cup lead to 124 points over Matt Graham (AUS), who finished fourth on the evening - 420 to 296.

Second place on Thursday night went to Ben Cavet (FRA), who continues a hugely impressive 2016/17 with his fourth podium in five events. Third on the day went to Kingsbury’s teammate Philippe Marquis, for his first podium of the season. 

 

Friday night in Deer Valley sees the focus switch over to the White Owl run for World Cup aerials competition, before it’s back to Champion for the Deer Valley grand finale - the first dial moguls competition of the 2016/17 FIS Freestyle World Cup season.

 

 

Full Results Men and Women

 

 

 

 

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Lassila and Qi battle to victory in snowy Deer Valley

 

Round two of the big Deer Valley Visa Freestyle International World Cup weekend took to the resort’s White Owl aerials venue on Friday evening, where Lydia Lassila (AUS) and Qi Guangpu (CHN) were able to battle through the heavy snow and rise above their competitors to take World Cup aerials wins. 

 

Lassila, the Vancouver 2010 Olympic gold medalist and the Sochi 2014 Olympic bronze medalist, retired from competition following that bronze medal-winning perfmance in Sochi to focus on her family. Now however, at the age of 35, she is back on the World Cup circuit and looking as strong as she ever has, taking a World Cup win in just her second event back after three years off the World Cup circuit.  

 

Qualifying in sixth, Lassila stepped it up in the semifinal, throwing down an essentially perfect full-full to put herself into the big final in top spot, followed closely by the USA’s Kiley McKinnon and China’s Xu Mengtao.

 

In the big final Lassila would watch as first Xu, and then McKinnon stomped their final jumps  solidly in the driving snow, with McKinnon’s final jump score of 95.17 coming in as the highest ladies’ score of the night in any round - up to that point. 

 

Dropping last after McKinnon, Lassila was able to up the ante just enough, skiing away cleanly from a full, double-full, that would earn her score of 95.52 - just enough to nudge the US skier into second place and give Lassila her first World Cup win since January of 2014.

 

“It’s been a couple of years (since my last victory),” Lassila said, smiling from the finish area, “But this is why I came back to competition, this feeling. Under the lights, in these tough conditions, and I can still do it! It’s amazing.”

 

McKinnon’s runner-up podium was the first of the season for the 2014/15 aerials crystal globe winner, while Xu’s podium was her third in three competitions this season and has her now sitting just 42 points back of aerials World Cup leader Danielle Scott (AUS) in the 2016/17 rankings, with 240 points to Scott’s 282.

 

Scott finished the night in 12th after falling in her semifinal attempt.

 

Qi back on tour and back on top

 

On the men’s side, Qi Guangpu returned to competition after missing the last World Cup event in Lake Placid and got right back into the form that gave him a win and a runner-up at the first two competitions of the season in Beida Lake (CHN).

 

Qi was simply untouchable in Deer Valley on Friday night, leading after every stage and taking the eventual win with a score more than 14 points better than his nearest competitor, locking in a final jump double-full, full, full, for a score of 128.96.

 

“It’s a beautiful night for me,” said Qi of his win, “So much snow, tough conditions, but I’m very happy to win.”

 

Qi's win vaulted him over Anton Kushnir (BLR) and back into top spot on the World Cup leaderboard. 

 

Second place at Deer Valley went to Belarus’ Stanislau Hladchenko, whose full, double-full, full, earned him a score of 114.60 and the first podium of his World Cup career. Third place went to Stanislav Nikitin of Russia, who just edged US favourite off of what would have been a home-field win.

 

With Deer Valley in the books, next stop on the aerials World Cup tour is next weekend in Korea’s Bokwang Phoenix Park for the Olympic test event, where the athletes will get their first taste of the venue they’ll be competing in at next year’s PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games.

 

 

Full Results Women and Men

 

 

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Zacher and Chapuis awarded wins in weather-shortened Feldberg SX

 

The first of back-to-back Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup races scheduled to take place in Feldberg (GER) this weekend was cut short on Saturday after noon due to a winter storm that blue into the area during the competition.

 

Weather in Feldberg had been challenging for some time leading up to Saturday’s competition, with a qualification round scheduled for Friday already cancelled before Saturday’s troubles. While the track at Feldberg was in good condition on competition day, and local organizers had large crews on hand slipping and maintaining the course, at some point the battle against snow accumulation and the rising winds became became a losing one.

 

With the cancellation of Friday’s qualifiers, officials elected to go with an alternate start plan on Saturday, expanding the heat format from 32 men to 64, and from 16 ladies to 32, giving every athlete at least one run in a heat and whittling down the field to the standard format in time for televised finals on Saturday afternoon.

 

While these preliminary rounds were completed satisfactorily, the weather took a turn for the worse just before the start of the finals, and by the time the last men’s heat from the round of eight had completed their run, it became clear that the competition would be unable to proceed.

 

With at least one competition round completed officials were able to declare a result, with Germany’s own Heidi Zacher awarded top spot on the ladies’ side and World Cup leader Jean Frederic Chapuis (FRA) taking the victory for the men. 

 

The ladies' podium was rounded out by Fanny Smith (SUI) in second and Sandra Naeslund (SWE), while Brady Leman (CAN) and Alex Fiva (SUI) would take second and third, respectively.

 

Sunday expects to also see snowy conditions, though winds are expected to abate. At the time of this writing, competition officials are expecting to go with the same preliminary heat format as seen on Saturday, with those heats beginning at 10:30CET. Finals are then scheduled 12:30.

 

 

Full Results Men and Women

 

 

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Martinod and Yater-Wallace awarded with top spots following the cancellation of the halfpipe finals

 

Once again Mother Nature had different plans from those of the organizers of the 2017 Toyota US Grand Prix World Cup staged at Mammoth Mountain with strong winds making it impossible to run the show. After several postponement leading to eventual cancellation of the halfpipe finals, top qualifiers from Wednesday, Marie Martinod (FRA) and Torin Yater-Wallace (USA) were awarded with the wins.

Following two days of gnarly weather at the resort, today brought an improvement with sun finally making its way through the clouds. Unfortunately high winds wouldn't let go and as they were creating major safety issues the jury decided to call off the competition. At the end the overall results were determined by the qualifying round results from Wednesday.

 

In the ladies' competition top qualifier Marie Martinod (FRA) took her second win of the season as she strengthen her position on top of the halfpipe World Cup ranking.

"Looking at the weather forecast, we knew the finals could get cancelled," Martinod said following the award ceremony, "Together with my coach we decided to give it all in the qualifications, ski fast and jump high. It worked."

 

Martinod winning run from qualifications included a huge straight air tail grab followed by a back-to-back 540 safety, left and right flair safety and a left 900 safety to finish off her run with 94.00 points.

Second place of the day went to 2014 Sochi Olympic gold medalist Maddie Bowman, while Ayana Onozuka of Japan finished on third.

 

"I keep forgetting that this is an Olympic qualifier because it’s so far out but I’m pretty happy to be sitting where I am right now seeing as it is an Olympic qualifier," said Bowman, "Right now I’m just skiing and having fun."

 

In men's competition it was Torin Yater-Wallace who led the US sweep with Gus Kenworthy finishing on second and Taylor Seaton rounding out the podium on third.

It was a big win for Yater-Wallace, who has struggled with downtime due to illness and injury over the past few seasons and was dealing with a bruised heel through the event. The win at Mammoth was his seventh career World Cup podium, though the last one came at Copper Mountain back in 2014.

 

Yater-Wallace's run included a right double cork 1260 mute followed up by a left 1080 tail, switch right 720 mute, left 900 tail and right 900 tail on his last hit for a total score of 92.33 points. 

 

Kenworthy scored his first podium of the year after winning the Toyota U.S. Grand Prix at Mammoth in 2016. “I don't think I prepared for this event any differently than I would have for any other event," the Telluride native said after the event. “The fact that it's an Olympic qualifier definitely adds a lot of pressure, but I tried not to think too much about the stakes at hand and just focused on landing my run.”

 

Seaton has an excellent showing with a run that featured two more tricks than most other skiers. “I’ve been dreaming of doing this run since I was 14 years old,” Seaton said. “I think it just had to do with a lot of work on fundamentals, doing alley-oop 180s and really just trying to ride the transition of the pipe to squeeze all seven hits in.”

In the overall World Cup standing Marie Martinod leads the way in ladies' field with 200 points, 75 points over the second Annalisa Drew (USA) and 90 points over third Ayana Onozuka.

 

On the men's side of things Kevin Rolland (FRA) still sits on top  with 129 points, however his advantage over his teammate Ben Valentin now dropped to only 4 points. Following today's win Torin Yater-Wallace moved to third spot with 118 points after two competitions.

Mens slopestyle qualifiers and women and men's slopestyle finals are scheduled to go off on Sunday at Mammoth, pending weather.

 

 

Full Results Women and Men

 

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Cox and Kingsbury reign supreme in Deer Valley duals

 

The 2017 Visa Freestyle International at Deer Valley Resort came to a close with an action-packed dual moguls competition on Saturday, where World Cup leaders Britt Cox (AUS) and Mikael Kingsbury (CAN) once again validated their claims to the top with impressive wins in front of a raucous crowd nearly 10,000 strong.

 

Cox has been riding high this season with three victories and four podiums in five events so far this season, including a third-place performance on Thursday night in the Deer Valley single moguls competition, but Saturday night in Deer Valley would be her first career dual moguls finals. 

 

However, despite the pressure, the steep and deep Deer Valley course, and a lightning-fast run by her big finals match-up Andi Naude (CAN), Cox kept her final run as cool and as smooth as she has all season, linking her turns expertly and stomping her airs while beside her Naude unravelled in the second half of the course. 

 

“It’s just been phenomenal,” Cox said of her experience in Deer Valley, “Just the whole way we’ve built up this season with my support team, my family - who are here today from Australia - and my teammates. I’ve been learning so much from them this season and to see Brodie get his first podium today is incredible.”

 

Despite a finals run that wasn’t as tidy as she would have liked, Naude can take solace in the fact that she was the top Canadian on a day when many of her compatriots struggled with the added speed of duals competition in the big Deer Valley moguls.

 

“It was such a great race,” said Naude, “Everyone was pushing it, and the course was really fun to ski. It was difficult, but it brought out the best in all of us.”

 

Third place went to Jaelin Kauf (USA), matching her career-best performance from last season in the same event. 

 

In her small final heat 20-year-old Kauf found herself matched up against her 16-year-old World Cup rookie teammate Olivia Giaccio, and rather than show signs of feeling the pressure the two youngsters seemed to revel in the moment, putting down one of the most closely-fought, entertaining, and speedy battles of the night.

 

While Kauf would take the win and third place, Giaccio’s fourth-place finish in just her sixth World Cup event is one more reason to be excited for an up-and-coming US team that looks to be a force on the tour for years to come. 

 

Kingsbury pulls off Deer Valley sweep for the second time, takes all-time podiums record

Over on the men’s side, Mikael Kingsbury did what no other skier has done before by pulling off the “Deer Valley Double” for a second time, sweeping both the single and dual moguls competitions just as he did in the 2014/15 iteration of the classic event.

 

Kingsbury clobbered his competition through his four duals on the way to the final, with a combined score of 122 - 18 through those rounds, before facing off against teammate Marc-Antoine Gagnon in the big finale. 

 

In the big final Gagnon battled admirably to match Kingsbury’s speed, but come time for judging he simply couldn’t compete with Kingsbury’s brilliant technique, and the final scores came in 22-13 for Kingsbury.

 

“It feels amazing,” an exuberant Kingsbury said from the finish area, “Deer Valley is just like the Superbowl for us, and just to win the singles competition was amazing. But I was fired up today to do the back-to-back (wins) and…there’s no words to describe it. And then to be on the podium both times with one of my teammates…it’s just unbelievable.”

 

With the win, Kingsbury claimed his 58th career World Cup podium, knocking down one more record in a career that has become littered with them as he surpassed French legend Edgar Grospiron for the most men’s World Cup podiums of all time.

 

Third place on the day went to Brodie Summers (AUS) - his first career podium and just one more 2016/17 bright spot for an Australian team that has emerged as one of the best in the world this season. Summers beat Jimi Salonen (FIN) in a scorching small final that saw both athletes lay down impressive runs. 

 

From Deer Valley the moguls World Cup now moves to Bokwang Phoenix Park in Korea for the Test Event ahead of the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Winter Games. Competition in Bokwang is slated to take place on February 11, with qualifications beginning 15:20 local time. 

 

 

 

Full Results Men and Women

 

 

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Feldberg SX World Cup cut short once again

 

Despite a herculean effort from organizers, crews, and officials, the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup in Feldberg (GER) was cut short for the second straight day as persistent snow and wind made the situation too difficult and variable to finish the event.

 

While yesterday organizers and officials were able to carry out competition heats for both ladies and men to facilitate an official result, the heavy snow throughout the day on Sunday made it impossible to get through a full phase of ladies' competition. Because of this, the Sunday’s ladies’ competition will go in the books as a cancellation, with no result.

 

On the men’s side, the men’s preliminary heats were able to be completed. With no further competition phases after the preliminary heats, it went to the World Cup standings, combined with outcome of the first round of heats, to determine the results. Jean Frederic Chapuis (FRA) would be declared the winner for the second competition in a row, with Filip Flisar (SLO) in second, and Alex Fiva (SUI) once again in third.

 

From here, the ski cross World Cup now moves to Idre Fjall (SWE), for a pair of competitions next weekend. A preview for the Idre Fjall events will be forthcoming.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

 

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Maggie Voisin claims the slopestyle World Cup win in Mammoth

 

US freeski team athlete Maggie Voisin has claimed victory in the season's third slopestyle World Cup competition held at the Toyata U.S. Grand Prix in the primer Califorania's ski resort Mammoth Mountain.

Following three days of strong winds, low visibility and snowfalls forcing local organizers to further postpone the competition, Sunday brought a major improvement as we could finally see the riders to drop in and compete for the World Cup points.

 

In the ladies' competition it was 19 years old Maggie Voisin representing USA who stomped her run including a left 270 on the first rail, front 270 off a pyramid gap, switch to switch on flat tube followed by a switch left 180 leading into a right 540 mute, switch left 540 high safety and cork left 900 tail to finish off the things on the jumps. With a high score of 91.40 Voisin took her first ever World Cup win and 100 points in the overall slopestyle standing.

"I'm just so grateful that the weather was able to hold out for the ladies today," said Voisin following the award ceremony, "I'm happy to put my run down and I hope to keep the momentum rolling throughout the season."

 

The second place on the day went to Swiss freeskier Mathilde Gremaud who managed to score her second World Cup podium in just four WC appearances. Johanne Killi of Norway finished on third.

 

Unfortunately, the pattern of week-long challenging weather conditions continued on Sunday and as soon as first men started with their runs, another stormed rolled in, bringing high winds combined with driving snow that led to the cancellation of the men’s slopestyle event. 

The FIS Freestyle Skiing World Cup tour continues next week in Quebec City, Canada.

 

From February 9 to 12, 2017, the season's fourth slopestyle as well as the final big air stop of the Super Series stop will take place during the Snowjamboree 2017.

 

 

Full Results Here

 

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Xu and Kushnir take victory at Olympic test event aerials World Cup

 

The first of this weekend’s two Olympic test event World Cup competitions in Bokwang Phoenix Park - the soon-to-be site of Freestyle Ski competitions at the PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympic Games - saw Xu Mengtao (CHN) lead a ladies’ sweep of the podium for China and Anton Kushnir (BLR) take his third victory of the season in the men’s competition. 

 

Windy conditions on Friday evening in Bokwang made things difficult for all competitors, forcing many athletes to ratchet down the degree of difficulty on their jumps and carefully ration their speed and air time from round to round. Factor in the personality of an unfamiliar venue and the added desire to make a mark at the site when Olympic gold will be awarded in just over a year, and it all made for a dramatic competition.

 

In the ladies’ event it looked like an incredible winter for the Australian squad would add another highlight, as 2015 world champion Laura Peel and World Cup leader Danielle Scott rolled in to the big final ranked two and three behind China’s Yang Yu. 

 

However, in the big final, every one of the competitors save for Xu struggled mightily, with the Aussies fairing worst of all. While Xu’s clean double-full, full, earned her a score of 96.93 for the win, her compatriot Shen took second with a heavy back-slap on her full, double-full that earned a score of 72.26, while Yu completed the Chinese sweep with a relatively easy lay, tuck, for 70.72 points.

 

Xu’s win allowed her to overtake Scott on the leaderboard and retake the yellow leader’s bib”

 

“I’m so happy to have my second win of the season here in PyeongChang and to wear the yellow bib again,” said Xu after awards, “It’s a beautiful victory and I’m proud of myself.”

 

Kushnir takes third victory of 2015/16

 

The men fared a little better than the ladies in putting down the landing gear, though for all three of the podium winners it took all they had to ski away from their final jumps without crashing. And, with all three men finishing with scores within a range of three points, the minor difference in each athletes’ landing would end up making the difference in the results.

 

Kushnir ended up with a score of 119.47 on his full, double-full, full, for the win. Just behind, with a score of 118.55 was World Cup leader Qi Guangpu, who was able to hold on to his advantage on the World Cup leaderboard with the second place result. Third on the night went to Mac Bohonnon (USA), who performed the same jump as Qi but drifted slightly on his and has to fight the hardest for his landing.

 

“To come here and win in Korea is very special,” said Kushnir of his victory, “the weather conditions were very tough with the wind, but I was able to do the jumps I wanted and get the landings and so I’m really happy.”

 

Action in Bokwang continues tomorrow with the World Cup moguls competition. Finals for that event begin at 19:00 local time. Meanwhile, the aerials tour will be moving now to Minsk (BLR) for World Cup competition on February 25th.

 

 

 

 

Full Results Men and Women

 

 

 

 

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Naeslund and Fiva cap perfect day with wins in Idre Fjall

 

The first of two Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup competitions slated to take to the truly epic ski cross track of Sweden’s Idre Fjall resort went off on Saturday morning under picturesque blue skies and some thankfully warmer temperatures, as Sweden’s own Sandra Naeslund and Swiss star Alex Fiva won the respective ladies’ and men’s competitions. 

 

The course in Idre Fjall is truly unique, boasting a feature-heavy finishing straightaway that makes up nearly 2/3s of the track’s total length that makes it simultaneously one of the biggest and most technical venues on the World Cup circuit. With so many variables and places to both lose and gain time fans were treated to an unpredictable and thrilling event.

 

Many of the top competitors on the circuit found themselves on the outside looking in come time for the finals, including World Cup leader Marielle Thompson (CAN) and third-overall Heidi Zacher (GER) on the ladies side, as well as third and fourth-overall men Brady Leman (SUI) and Armin Neiderer (SUI).

 

However, some athletes’ struggles were other’s opportunities, and in the ladies’ big final this meant that Naeslund would face off against Sami Kennedy-Sim (AUS), Katrin Ofner (AUT), and Marte Hoeie Gjefsen (NOR), three ladies who had yet to podium in 2016/17 (or ever, in the case of Kennedy-Sim.

 

While Naeslund was slowest out of the gate, she was quickly able to pull into the lead by nailing the technical start section, while the other three ladies were left to jockey for position behind her. While the battle remained tight throughout the final drag strip, Kennedy-Sim would be able to hold off Ofner and Hoeie Gjefsen to claim her first career World Cup podium. Ofner, racing in the 100th World Cup of her decade-long career, would claim third, while the Norwegian Hoeie Gjefsen would have to settle for fourth. 

 

“To be the winner here in Sweden here is really great,” said the Naeslund from the finish area, “I’ve got a lot of family here and to have the crowd cheering for me is so nice. I knew I could be fast on this course and I felt good all day. It’s just a nice feeling to be able to win.”

The biggest smile on the day went to Kennedy-Sim, who finally reached the podium after several heartbreaking fourth-place finishes in recent years.

 

“I’m thrilled to stand on my first World Cup podium,” she said, second-place trophy in hand, “Especially on a course like this that’s so big and so fast and so technical. I can’t wait to get back racing on it tomorrow!”

 

Fiva holds fast to take third win of 2016/17

 

In the men’s final Fiva would find himself stacked up against his teammate Marc Bischofberger, World Cup leader Jean Frederic Chapuis, and Russian upstart Igor Omelin.

 

Fiva - who qualified second overall for Saturday’s race but will be forced to watch from the sidelines on Sunday after failing to advance to finals for that one - was one of the fastest skiers out of the gate all day, moving smoothly through the tricky start and into the lead in most heats. 

 

However, unlike many who found their lead disappear through straightaway, Fiva was consistently able to hold on, including in the big final when he was able to fend off a last-minute charge by his teammate Bischofberger.

 

“I new I needed a little space for the finish straight because I’m not the best glider,” said Fiva about his final heat, “But I I knew I could handle it if I was out front a bit. I knew they were coming and coming but I held it to the finish.”

 

“This is probably my nicest win of the season,” he continued, “I didn’t think I really liked this track. Last year I was lousy here. So to come out today and get the victory and to be on the podium with my buddy Marc is just awesome.”

 

Just behind Fiva and Bischofberger was Omelin, the 21-year-old veteran of just 20 World Cup starts whose previous best result was 20th place. The benefactor of some lucky breaks as well as some excellent, aggressive skiing, Omelin’s result was a big one for a Russian team that has struggled to find the podium in 2016/17.

 

Competition in Idre Fjall resumes on Sunday with finals beginning at 10:30CET.

 

 

Full Results Women and Men