Idre Fjäll showdown: Who will win Ski Cross' Crystal Globes this weekend?

Time, good races, bad races and injuries have distilled things in the race for the women's overall, and the equation is now quite simple.

While third-place Brittany Phelan is still in with a shot of winning the Crystal Globe, it all appears likely to be a straight shootout between the top two athletes for the sport's ultimate prize. In the red corner, wearing the red of Canada, is Marielle Thompson. In the blue corner, wearing the blue of France, stands Marielle Berger Sabbatel.

Thompson started the season in relatively slow fashion, making the big final only once in the five races that started the season in December last year. However, since then she's been largely unplayable, and of the seven races that preceded this weekend's finale, she won five.

Additionally, the three-time Crystal Globe winner heads into Friday's first day of racing 72 points clear of her French opponent in second place, knowing that a win would give her all-important breathing room going into the final day on Saturday.

"It would be very special but I'm not getting ahead of myself, it's super tight right now in our standings," Thompson said of the possibility of a fourth title. "If it goes to me in the end I'd be super happy, but one step at a time."

The Canadian is in the form of her life and has no plans to change the mindset and tactics that have brought her to this point.

"I don't think being the overall leader adds any more pressure than I already put on myself to ski well and have good races," Thompson told FIS. "I'm just focussing on what I need to do each step of the way down each run and not getting ahead of myself.

"Whenever I'm in the start gate I focus on the first few features and then each thing as I go down - one step at a time. It's nothing different just because it's World Cup finals."

Are there nerves? "No more nerves than I feel I always have," she says. "I always have a bit of pressure on myself because I always want to do my very best, so that's my main focus."

Berger Sabbatel has been Thompson's opposite in many ways. Only one big final missed across the entirety of the season means the Frenchwoman has hauled points wherever she's gone, and incredibly sits second in the overall despite not having won a race yet.

Last weekend the 34-year-old lined up alongside Thompson, Phelan and India Sherret in the big final in Veysonnaz, and went out aggressively to chase Thompson who had taken the lead. But Berger Sabbatel lost her balance trying to make a pass on one of the early turns, and slipped to fourth place as Thompson crossed the finish line first. However, Berger Sabbatel is not one to dwell on what could have been.

"I was disappointed after Veysonnaz because I tried to pass Marielle and I couldn't make it and that made me finish fourth in the final," she said. "But I received a lot of messages from racers also who told me that it was good to try to pass there so I have no regrets."

The Idre Fjäll course is one that suits bigger, taller athletes, which means it is not one that suits Berger Sabbatel, who said with a laugh: "Maybe the tactic is to hide some weights in my racing suit!"

The Frenchwoman is determined to make the most of this weekend’s opportunity - "I will go for it and see what happens" - to potentially dethrone the red-hot Thompson. Thompson herself suffered a crash in Thursday's qualifying ahead of the two days of racing, but that won’t stop the Canadian from lining up at the start gate to renew the positive rivalry she has built with her namesake.

"Marielle and I have been super competitive this season and I think it's made both of us better," Thompson said. "We have been really tight in qualifying and then the races as well.

"In the past with Sandra (Naeslund) I've been chasing, but to be head-to-head tight with someone makes both of us better."

Berger Sabbatel added: "I'm really proud to race against Marielle Thompson because she's a great ski cross racer. She has a lot of wins and podiums and medals so it's really great to be able to fight with her on the ski cross track."

‘We're fighting, we're grinding’

The men's race for the overall appears to be a lot more complicated, with only a little over 100 points separating current leader Alex Fiva with sixth-place Erik Mobaerg.

Similar to Thompson, Fiva started the season off the pace, but in 2024 has made the podium his second home. The Swiss skier has made it into the big final in seven of the ten races we've had in 2024 and stood the podium on five of those occasions. Like Berger Sabbatel he is yet to win a race this season, but incredibly is leading the pack with 628 points and appears to have peaked at just the right time.

The 38-year-old last won the Crystal Globe in 2013, but it refusing to allow the size of the occasion to dominate his thoughts in Idre Fjäll.

"My nerves are right now pretty easy," Fiva said. "I'm trying to concentrate on my skiing and not on the overall or the results or anything.

"Since Alleghe or Bakuriani it's really tight, and a lot can happen in the last two races, so I don't think it's more pressure if you're first or second."

Second place belongs to Reece Howden, the Canadian who is also the defending champion. Howden hasn't had the continued success of Fiva but he won races in Nakiska and Alleghe on his way to climbing the standings. The 25-year-old was the overall leader until recently, and had a disappointing run-out at Veysonnaz where he was eliminated before the quarter-final stage.

However, Howden is not dwelling on the result which he says is "water under the bridge".

"Ski cross is a very competitive sport, and when guys are out there being consistently into the top eight all the time it's something special," he said. "It's something that takes more than just skill, being in the right place at the right time.

"I'm not worried about it. Sometimes things work out, sometimes they don't. I'm confident in my skiing and honestly it's not a factor, it's water under the bridge at this point."

As a tall athlete Howden may get the best out of the course at Idre Fjäll - proving that as the fastest qualifier on Thursday - but regardless of the style of features, he insists his approach will not be swayed at this point.

"If the starts are strong that's great - get out in front and hold it," said the Canadian. "It's really nothing different.

"Idre seems to just be a little bit in my wheelhouse, I like to do well here, but really nothing's changing - we're racing top to bottom, the competition's really stiff and we're just going."

Hot on the heels of Fiva and Howden are Sweden's David Mobaerg, who has won two of the last five races to bring himself within a point of Howden in second place, and Florian Wilmsmann.

Wilmsmann is another to have relied on consistency to keep himself in the frame. The German has only missed the semi-finals twice in the last 11 races, ensuring that he has left each venue with valuable points. Wilmsmann comes into the weekend on 574 points, putting him just 54 points behind Fiva with two crucial races remaining.

With the addition of having pre-heats in Saturday's holistic format to add to the drama, we have an exciting weekend of racing to conclude the season in which anyone could still win it - and Howden wouldn't have it any other way.

"Honestly I'm happy," he said. "It should be hard, it shouldn't be easy.

"I'm out here, we're fighting, we're grinding. The guys are really competitive and we're racing hard.

“It's tight, it's anybody's game and whoever can lay it down here wins."

World Cup races in the season finale at Idre Fjäll take place on Friday 22 and Saturday 23 March.