Naeslund continues winning streak and Regez wins tight photofinish
Jan 23, 2022·Ski Cross
Wow, what an absolute amazing second race day here in Idre Fjall with another home soil win in front of the Swedish crowd. With slightly better weather conditions than on Saturday and a clear sky, it was just a pure joy to watch the ski cross go down for a second time this weekend on this exceptionally cool track.
Naeslund simply stays untouchable
For the big final of women, we saw three of four athletes, who were there yesterday, which was Sandra Naeslund and teammate Alexandra Edebo, bronze medal winner of Saturday, France’s Jade Grillet-Aubert and Austria’s Katrin Ofner in the start gate.
As the gates dropped, Sandra Naeslund once again was the one to hit every single one of the start section elements perfectly. In that way, she was able to get into the lead of the heat, yet once again. Katrin Ofner was the one to get into second position, but Saturday’s silver medallist Edebo was very tight on the Austrian tails, whereas Grillet-Aubert didn’t seem to be able to fight for the podium spots on Sunday.
With Naeslund in the clear lead, it was a battle for second and third spot between Ofner and Edebo. Coming up to the big jump, the “Swedish Viking Princess” Edebo landed not as clean as the Austrian, but was able to get into Ofner’s draft immediately.
After the following jump, it was Ofner, who did not manage a perfect landing, but instead, her body got compressed when landing, which caused her body to lose the tension and then the Austrian athlete got out of balance, losing control over her skis, which resulted in a crash that unfortunately took Edebo out, as she was exactly in the line that Ofner crashed into.
With Edebo and Ofner out, Jade Grillet-Aubert of course passed them and was the lucky one to take second rank, coming over the finish line 2.25 seconds behind Naeslund. As Ofner managed to get back on her skis and get into the finish, she was the third to round out the podium.
“It’s been some really good skiing this weekend, which I am very happy with and of course I am happy with the wins. For me, it’s so much fun skiing on this course, but it’s also a tough one. I also really hope that Alexandra is ok,” Naeslund said after the big final.
Ryan Regez wins again in super tight photo finish
The very last final heat of men, before the Olympic Winter Games, consisted of the following four gentlemen: Saturday’s winner Ryan Regez from Switzerland, Austrian Tristan Takats, home hero David Mobaerg (SWE) and Vice-World Champion 2021 Francois Place from France.
Already after the start gate dropped, you could tell that David Mobaerg was hungry for the win on home soil. He shot out of the gate, over the start section and straight into the lead. Just at his tails were Ryan Regez and Francois Place, whereas Takats had made a little mistake at the landing after the first jump and lost a little bit of speed.
Over the next roller section, the following step-down and into the negative turn, Mobaerg was still in the lead. Regez and Place came out of the negative turn literally neck-and-neck and somehow Takats also got closer to them again.
It was yet again the finish section that had us hold our breaths, as the heat got super tight one more time, as Regez generated so much speed over the dragon back element, over the rollers that he literally came next to Mobaerg just at the finish line.
The photo finish then showed that Regez had taken the win by the slightest of margins probably in ski cross history. Wow! That…is ski cross, ladies and gentlemen!
“Wow, that was incredibly tight for the win. David has been doing some really solid skiing this season and has already two wins and he would have deserved another one here in front of the home crowd, but I made it! WOW!” That’s what a very happy Ryan Regez, who with this win also is now the new World Cup leader, had to say after taking the victory.
World Cup standings
The World Cup ranking before heading to the Olympics was clear before Sunday’s competition for Sandra Naeslund. She would keep the leader bib, no matter what. With a great margin ahead of runner-up Fanny Smith from Switzerland, who did not compete in Sweden, Naeslund would stay on top of things. And behind Smith, it is still Marielle Thompson sitting in third rank, although also the Canadian team did also miss out on the Swedish competitions before the Olympics, which also did not give them the chance to gain more points for the World Cup standings.
On the men’s side of things, however, it’s a different situation, since it has been a battle between French teammates Terence Tchiknavorian and Bastien Midol all season long. Terence Tchiknavorian entered Sunday’s competition as World Cup leader, however did not manage to defend the position. Regez with the double win this weekend earned 200 points, shooting him straight into first rank with a total of 477 points.
This is actually the exact same number as runner-up Tchiknavorian has, but since Regez had more wins this season, this counts for a stronger overall performance. In third place, it’s Bastien Midol, who wasn’t able to get into the big finals here in Idre Fjall.
The next couple of days it will be time to recharge batteries and to get ready and prepped for THE major event of the season – the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022. The event that every athlete is looking forward to for four long years. The Olympics are being held from February 4 – 20, 2022. The women’s ski cross competition will be held on February 17, followed by the men’s ski cross competition on February 18.
We cannot wait to witness the medal battle on this huge occasion and you can rest assured that we will fill you in on every single detail of the Olympics! So, make sure to stay tuned!
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