Beijing 2022 preview: Ski cross

Well, this is it! The moment that athletes have been waiting for, for four long years. THE major event of this season. The Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022!

It definitely wasn’t an easy road to get here, the Olympics officially kicked off on February 4, we witnessed nothing but world class, history-making fantastic sports events.

In midst of a very busy schedule, the ski cross Olympic Winter Games will go down in the Zhangjiakou at the Genting Snowpark at the course that athletes got the opportunity to officially test in November 2021 as the World Cup season opener. To be precise, on February 17, it will be time for the female athletes to get after the medals and one day later on February 18, it will be the men’s turn.

Thanks to the Olympic test event, the athletes had the chance to take a good look at the course and to see what will be in store in time for the battle of the five rings.

Just a few details on the course itself: The start is at 2.048m and the finish at 1.881 m, the course length is 1.240 m with a vertical drop of 167m

No defending female Olympic Champion

So, to take it right away: the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Champion in ski cross Kelsey Serwa (CAN), has retired and will therefore not be fighting to defend her title. That leaves the way open for a brand-new Olympic Champion in Beijing 2022. But who? Let’s take a look at the options, shall we?!

It only appears clear to list one name first here: Sandra Naeslund (SWE). Current World Cup leader, 2021 World Champion and winner of 9 out of 10 World Cup competitions this season so far is showing some incredibly strong skiing this year. With always being far ahead of the rest of the heat at the competitions, but also quite a margin ahead and winning all qualies this season, Naeslund is just simply doing everything right. As you can imagine, bets are high on the Swedish 25-year-old athlete for an Olympic gold medal.

World Cup runner-up Fanny Smith (SUI) has been chasing Naeslund all season long, but has never managed to edge her Swedish rival off the top spot. Although Smith crashed at the World Cup in Nakiska in January and was forced to leave out the following two World Cup competitions in Idre Fjall (SWE), she sure did focus on rehab and getting ready in time for the big show. And she will for sure be hungry for one thing and one thing only and that’s the Olympic gold medal.

Canada’s Brittany Phelan, who missed out the entire 2020/21 season due to rehab following a bad crash in Megeve (FRA), made a strong comeback statement this Olympic season, taking two podium spots and making it into the small final three times beside the big ones. Oh, and Phelan is the current Vice-Olympic Champion. Pretty obvious that the Canadian is going to be chasing after the highly anticipated medal as well.

And one can also never count out Phelan’s teammate Marielle Thompson, who also came back after a season-ending injury last year and returned to the top spot of the podium, showing that she must be counted in for any kind of serious medal battles. The 29-year-old, who currently sits in third rank at the World Cup standings, knows how it is to win an Olympic gold medal, as she did so at the Sochi 2014 Games.

Brady Leman has some serious competition

Well, it’s a whole different story on the men’s side, as the defending Olympic Champion from 2018 is Brady Leman from Canada and he definitely did not retire just yet. Quite the contrary, Leman showed some very strong skiing back in November at the season-opener on the Olympic track at the test event in Secret Garden. He made it to second spot on the podium, just behind Sergey Ridzik from Russia. Was that already some kind of a sign that we should be reading for the Olympics?

Leman isn’t the only one hungry for that gold medal though. The only male athlete winning three World Cup competitions this season is Switzerland’s Ryan Regez. Just in time before the Olympics, he won back-to-back races in Idre Fjall (SWE), which also earned him the leader bib for the first time in his career. The tall Swiss guy showed that he is in strong shape and definitely hungry for more. It will be his first-ever Olympic Winter Games.

Of course, one can never count out Bastien Midol (FRA), who has been fighting over the leader bib with his teammate Terence Tchiknavorian, just up until the last race in Idre. Both Frenchmen showed really good performances this year with Midol taking four podium spots, of which one was a victory, this season. Tchiknavorian claimed his maiden World Cup victory this year as well and besides that he took three podium spots this season. Midol and Tchiknavorian sit in second and third rank at the World Cup standings respectively.

Well, we can speculate and predict all we want, but, as it is quite common at major events, we could very well witness a surprise among the medallists of this year’s Olympic Winter Games. Because you know, quite literally everything and anything is possible and mega events like these do have their own rules. Our tip is tune in and find out!

The women will start the Olympic day off with seeding runs at 11:30 LOC and then straight to finals at 14:00 LOC on February 17. Men’s Olympic showdown will kick-off on Friday, February 18 with seeding runs at 11:45 LOC and finals will drop in at 14:00 LOC sharp. Don’t miss it!

PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Champions - women

Gold: Kelsey Serwa (CAN) – retired

Silver: Brittany Phelan (CAN)

Bronze: Fanny Smith (SUI)

PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Champions – men:

Gold: Brady Leman (CAN)

Silver:  Marc Bischofberger (SUI) – not nominated for Beijing 2022

Bronze: Sergey Ridzik (ROC)

QUICK LINKS:

• FIS Freestyle Beijing 2022 data page

• Full SX Olympic competition schedule

• SX Coursemap Beijing 2022

• Beijing 2022 official website

• SX photos