Night race SX spectacle in Arosa with Canadian winners

No need to say that the Arosa night time sprint event under floodlight sets a very unique mood to the ski cross competition. Once again fan crowds came to watch their favourite athletes compete head-to-head, of course in big parts Swiss fans, who brought their traditional cow bells to make some good noise and make sure all of Arosa would be awake for the big event.

Although during the day, heavy wind gusts were giving organizers a hard time to get everything ready, the weather gods, once again, ended up being friendly to the Cross Alps Tour and just in race time, conditions seemed to be prefect to get the first heat started out of that start gate, which spectators could see even from the finish.

The ski cross show did not disappoint. Although being a short sprint course, those two negative turns and the finish roller section turned out to be super exciting elements, causing spectators to hold their breaths while watching who could cross that finish line the fastest. They saw some crazy passes, fast skiing, and head-to-head super tight decisions.

As for the women, the fastest four of the day were Montafon winner Marielle Thompson (CAN), Cross Alps Tour leader Sandra Naeslund (SWE), Swiss ski cross queen Fanny Smith and Alexandra Edebo (SWE), who after Montafon managed a second time in a row to get into the big final. When the heat started it was clear that Sandra Naeslund would take the lead, Thompson and Smith following behind and Edebo being in last position. But one mistake by Naeslund lead the way for the regning World Champion Thompson to pass and Smith following close behind. That way Thompson took the win, Fanny Smith coming in second and a disappointed Naeslund in third. Again no spot on the podium for young Edebo this time.
Fanny Smith was clearly happy and very excited by the crowd who came to support and waved a big “thank you” to the fans after the final heat.

On the men’s side of things, the big final saw Swiss hero Alex Fiva, the Swedish Viking Viktor Andersson, who had a phenomenal performance throughout the whole competition, Canada’s speed rocket Kevin Drury and Austrian Adam Kappacher.

Shooting out of the start gate, the guys gave it full gas and one could not tell who was clearly in the lead until after the start section, where Kappacher and Fiva got a little close, causing Kappacher to loose balance and fall, giving Drury the time and space to head into the lead in that first negative turn. Andersson and Fiva fought for that second spot, which in the end Andersson managed to get. Fiva ended up earning a warning for that little contact moment with the Austrian, but still became third in front of his home crowd.

Cross Alps Tour leader are still Sandra Naeslund on the women’s side and in the men’s field, Drury managed to win the leader bib back after this fantastic performance of today.

We are now heading into the final stop of the Cross Alps Tour to Innichen/ San Candido in Italy, where the winners of the Tour will be crowned after back-to-back races on Saturday and Sunday

QUICK LINKS

Arosa World Cup data page (results)
Cross Alps Tour standings Women
Cross Alps Tour standings Men
Cross Alps Tour standings Nation
Arosa Photos (for editorial use)
Full Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup calendar