Swiss double win in Idre with Smith celebrating 100th World Cup start

Fanny Smith (SUI) won the big final in her 100th ever World Cup start in Sweden’s Idre Fjäll. What a way to celebrate the occasion! Although it seemed that home hero Sandra Naeslund would be unstoppable that day winning every one of her previous heats, the big final win was not in the cards for her today.

The big final saw next to Smith and Naeslund the Canadian duo Marielle Thompson and Brittany Phelan mixing it up.
Naeslund had the fastest with Thompson sitting tight behind her in second. Smith and Phelan both struggled with bad starts at first, sitting quite a bit behind Naeslund and Thompson.

Smith was fighting to get closer to the leading squad and finally got the chance when she chose the highest line for the negative turn, generating enough speed for the following rollers and jumps to get into first position.
Phelan took the chance to pass her team mate Thompson after a jump, getting into third position and coming closer to the front with Naeslund and Smith fighting until the very end, but finally it was Smith who managed to celebrate her 100th World Cup start with another win, also defending her last year’s win in Idre.

“It is really cool. It was my 100th World Cup start today, so I am really happy to win this race. It is always a lot of fun being here in Idre with such a great track. It’s also great to have my family here for this occasion, they come here every year to cheer me on and that’s amazing,” a very happy Smith comments.

Switzerland had a double win to celebrate when Ryan Regez also managed to grab the podium’s top spot after battling down the 56 elements for the last time that day in the men’s big final against home hero Viktor Andersson, and Olympic Champion Brady Leman (CAN) and World Champion Francois Place (FRA).

Andersson was the fastest out of the gate and took the lead, but a very fast Regez managed to pass him after a turn, having Andersson getting into second place. The negative turn seemed to be a crucial point also at the men’s big final, when Regez and Andersson took the lowest line, having Leman and Place pass into first and second respectively.

It was not until the very last roller section that Regez managed to generate so much speed to make it a double pass just before the finish line, putting Leman into second and Place into third, kicking Andersson off the podium.

“I am really happy. I was having a really great race up until the finals, where I messed up the start completely, but then managed to pass, got in the lead and then I got totally blown off by the negative turn, but I managed to hit the elements perfectly in the bottom section and just take the win,” an always smiling Regez said after the race.

One couldn’t have asked for a tighter battle at this very special course in Idre that athletes love so much.

Unfortunately we saw also two major crashes in the previous heats, taking veteran Filip Flisar (SLO) and Romain Detraz (SUI) out of the competition. Also World Cup leader Kevin Drury suffered from a crash and was not able to fight for a podium spot today.

World Cup leaders after today’s competition are Sandra Naeslund with a margin of 59 points before Fanny Smith and Marielle Thompson in third.

On the men’s side, Kevin Drury still holds the lead with a total of 508 points and now Ryan Regez in second with 379 points and Kristofor Mahler, who did not qualify for today’s race, in third.

It is now time to recover the legs after today’s competition as quickly as possible to be all set for another great day of racing tomorrow. Don’t miss another great showdown in Sweden!

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Sunday, Jan 26

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QUICK LINKS

Idre Fjäll World Cup data page (results, brackets, etc.)
Full women’s results
Big final Women (video)
World Cup standings Women
Full men’s results
Big final Men (video)
World Cup standings Men
Idre Fjäll Photos (for editorial use)
Full Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup calendar