Cross Alps Tour heads to Innichen for 10th anniversary weekend
Dec 20, 2018·Ski Cross
Innichen/San Candido (ITA) - The shortened 2018 Cross Alps Tour comes to a close this weekend with back-to-back competitions in Innichen/San Candido (ITA), as the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup makes its annual December stop in the Dolomites. A long double qualification day will go down beginning at 10:30 CET on Thursday, December 20, in Innichen, followed by finals at 13:30 Friday and at 11:00 on Saturday.
With this season marking the 10th anniversary of the first Innichen/San Candido ski cross World Cup competitions there’s a celebratory atmosphere around the town this weekend. And with the course prepped perfectly and the athletes of the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup coming off a hugely successful season-opener in Arosa on Monday, all the pieces are in place for an excellent weekend of racing.
Some of the biggest names in ski cross history have graced the podium at Innichen over the past decade, from Mike Schmid (SUI) and Casey Puckett (USA) to Ophelie David (FRA) and Ashleigh McIvor (CAN), and, more recently, the likes of last season’s double winner Marc Bischofberger on the men’s side and Heidi Zacher (GER) and Sandra Naeslund (SWE), who won last year’s ladies’ competitions.
Monday’s winner in the Arosa ladies’ competition was Fanny Smith (SUI), who began what would be a huge evening of podiums on home soil for the Swiss team with a photofinish victory over second-place Naeslund and third place Marielle Thompson (CAN). Also the top qualifier in Arosa, Smith looks to be in peak form already this season, and a good bet to once again land on the podium at the venue where she scored her first career victory back in 2010/11.
Naeslund and Thompson will once again be worth watching in Innichen, as well as PyeongChang 2018 Olympic gold medallist Kelsey Serwa, who leads all athletes with six podiums at the venue, and Heidi Zacher, who had three straight wins in Innichen before Naeslund snapped her streak at the second of last year’s back-to-backs.
On the men’s side of things it’s once again the Swiss coming in with some momentum, as Jonas Lenherr took top spot on Monday in Arosa, with his teammate Alex Fiva coming in third. Victor Oehling Norberg (SWE) earned runner-up honours in the nighttime sprint event there in Sweden.
The Innichen track is a far different beast than the one in Arosa, though, and some top athletes who struggled with the sprint format will be looking to improve on disappointing results from Monday. Reigning crystal globe winner and PyeongChang silver medalist Bischofberger, PyeongChang gold medallist Brady Leman (CAN), Sochi 2014 gold medallist Jean Frederic Chapuis (FRA), two-time Innichen winner Filip Flisar (SLO), two-time Innichen runner-up Christoph Wahrstoetter (AUT), and a slew of others either failed to qualify in Arosa or found themselves bounced in the early finals heats, and will be looking for redemption this weekend.
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QUICK LINKS:
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