Utah 2019: Ski Cross preview

Feb 01, 2019·Ski Cross

Ski cross action from the first training session at Solitude Mountain Resort

The biggest 10 days of the FIS Freestyle season kicks off at the Utah 2019 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships this weekend with ski cross action at Utah’s Solitude Mountain venue, where qualifications are slated to go down on Friday, February 1, followed by finals on Saturday.

While Solitude has never hosted an Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup competition, the resort did see Nor-Am Cup action back in the 2016/17 season, where a small collection of World Cup athletes were on hand to put the sweeping Solitude track through its paces - including the Canadians, the Swiss men’s team, and the host US skiers. While Canadian Olympic medallists like Marielle Thompson, Brittany Phelan, and Brady Leman found themselves on the podium at Solitude back in 2017, the best of the best are now gathered at the resort looking for world champs gold, and it will be a far tougher competition this time around.

Tops on the current ladies’ ski cross World Cup is Fanny Smith (SUI), winner of the Voss 2013 world championships, and with three total world champs medals to her name. Smith has elevated her game this season, tearing up the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup so far in 2018/19 with podiums in five out of six events, including four wins. In nearly any scenario the 26-year-old will be tough to beat at Solitude.

The aforementioned Thompson isn’t far behind Smith on the leaderboard, though, as the Sochi 2014 Olympic gold medallist continues to round into form after missing all of last season due to injury. World championships gold is the lone major award missing from Thompson’s trophy case, and you can count on her to be hungry to change that fact at Solitude.

Reigning world champion Sandra Naeslund (SWE), PyeongChang 2018 gold and silver medallists Kelsey Serwa and Brittany Phelan (respectively), Alizee Baron of France, and Heidi Zacher of Germany should all also be in the mix at Saturday’s finals.

On the men’s side it’s Bastien Midol (FRA) coming into Utah 2019 as the most dominant skier on tour, holding a 161 point lead on the World Cup standings - an advantage which becomes even more impressive when you consider that the next eight behind him behind him are separated by less than 100 points. Midol has a silver medal from the Voss 2013 world championships to his name and the fastest skis on tour at the moment, and on the speedy Solitude track he could be very hard to catch.

However, chasing him down will be some of the highest-stakes players in the game, amongst them his teammate Jean Frederic Chapuis (who recently became the winningest ski cross racer in World Cup history, to go along with his Sochi 2014 Olympic gold, Voss 2013 world champs gold, and three crystal globes), PyeongChang 2018 gold medallist Brady Leman of Canada, Swiss legend Alex Fiva, reigning world champion Victor Oehling Norberg of Sweden, and a slew of others who are all capable of stepping up when it matters most.

Competition Programme

Friday, February 1

14:30 - 15:20 MST - Men's Ski Cross Qualification

15:35 - 16:05 MST - Ladies' Ski Cross Qualification

Saturday, February 2

13:00 MST - Men's and Ladies' Ski Cross Finals

Watch live:

ORF Sport + (Austria), CT Sport (Czech Republic), live-stream on www.areena.yle.fi (Finland), L'Equipe (France), Silk Universal & Silk Sport HD1 (Georgia), BBC Red Button (Great Britain), Ziggo Sport Extra (Netherlands), Match Arena (Russia), SRF Zwei (Switzerland), NBC Sports Gold & Olympic Channel (USA).

Live-streaming will be also available on FIS Freestyle Youtube Channel (geo-blocked in countries with exclusive media rights agreement).

2019 World Cup Leaders

Ladies: Fanny Smith (SUI)

Men: Bastien Modal (FRA)

2018 Olympic Champions

Ladies: Kelsey Serwa (CAN)

Men: Brady Leman (CAN)

2017 World Champions

Ladies: Sandra Naesland (SWE)

Men: Victor Oehling Norberg (SWE)

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