Nothing to separate men and women's top three as Ski Cross season passes halfway mark

With the FIS Ski Cross World Cup season having passed the halfway mark, there is almost nothing to separate the women's and men's top three in the Overall standings.

Canada's India Sherret leads the women's Overall with 595 points and is having the season of her life. Incredibly, the 28-year-old has missed only one big final this season – in the first race in Val Thorens in December.

Since then, she's been in the top four at each stop, winning on day two in Val Thorens and Reiteralm as well as notching three further podium places.

"Leading the standings is definitely a very new experience for me," Sherret told FIS ahead of the next set of races in Val di Fassa on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February.

"I think prior to last year my best result in the Overall was 10th, so it's been a bit of an adjustment for me in a way.

"I'm feeling really good coming into the latter half of the season and I'm confident for sure, but I’m just really proud of myself for how I've performed so far this year and regardless of where things end up for the Overall I know I can be happy with what I've done.

"I think that understanding this better has helped me stay more focused and present because from quali to big finals the goal doesn’t really change. I want to be the fastest and know that I can be, regardless of who is beside me in the start gate."

Beside her in the start gate for both big finals in Veysonnaz was Canadian team-mate Marielle Thompson, who shook off finishes of 13th, sixth, ninth and eighth in the previous four races in Innichen and Reiteralm to make it a double win in Veysonnaz.

"I'm super excited to have both wins in Veysonnaz," the women's defending Crystal Globe champion said.

"I really like the course there, it's super fun and flowy and kind of fits my style and I've had that past success there too. So I had a lot of confidence coming into those races.

"In Innichen and Reiteralm I think I just kind of had some bad luck. I was skiing well, and things just didn't go my way. So I tried to put those behind me and move on, learn from it, and I think I did that pretty well this weekend in Switzerland."

The results sent Thompson climbing up the Overall standings, and she now sits a mere 14 points behind Sherret and three behind Germany's Daniela Maier in second, ensuring she was not set adrift in the second half of the season with another disappointing set of results.

Thompson has now joined Sherret in four big finals, and says the strength of Canada's team is helping all the nation's skiers.

"The history of our Canadian team, we all push each other to be better - both men and women," Thompson said. "I think any day a Canadian can win a race, so it's great motivation for all of us and our team."

Sherret added: "Having the team around me that I do is a huge part of why I’ve been able to achieve the success that I have this year.

"Our team has incredible depth on both the men’s and women’s sides which really helps raise the level for everyone in the group.

"Even though we are competitive with each other I think we also all want to see our team-mates succeed.”

While Sherret and Thompson will be helping each other, there's no doubt they will be focused on themselves as well.

Thompson has been in this position before. The four-time Crystal Globe winner was involved in a tight fight with Marielle Berger Sabbatel all through last season, with Brittany Phelan mounting a late charge.

First in Thompson’s sights will be Maier, who won both races in Innichen and has four other podiums to her name this season. She hasn't been quite as consistent as Sherret, but she has only missed three big finals so far this campaign. And while Thompson chases Maier, the German will in turn be chasing Sherret.

For Sherret, who finished sixth last season for the best return of her career, this is new territory. Her season has not been perfect; on day one in Veysonnaz she started poorly and could not recover in time to catch Thompson and Maier, and on day two she improved on her start but was overhauled by all three opponents as the course wore on - right on the line in the case of Switzerland's Fanny Smith.

She has things to work on and she is aware of it, but anyone who can keep making big finals will stay near the top of the standings as others fall away in the business end of the season.

With nine of the 17 events now behind us and the Overall starting to dilate, Sherret is not shying away. The 28-year-old is living the old Billie Jean King saying that pressure is a privilege.

"I am definitely feeling the pressure of leading the Overall," Sherret said. "I know that Marielle and Dani are very close and are both skiing really, really well this season. I know that they want to win just as much as I do.

"But I'm trying to remind myself that the expectation and pressure I feel are not really external, I'm putting that on myself. I'm learning to manage it, because I think I've always preferred to be a bit of the underdog.

"In the past I've done my best when I know I'm not expected to perform well, but those days seem to be over, so I am doing my best to remember that it's an incredible privilege and opportunity to be able to feel this and I’m really trying to enjoy the moment."

‘I just enjoy the fight’

The men's Overall is not quite as close at the top as the women's but there has been plenty of jostling.

Simone Deromedis was an early frontrunner, taking the lead going into home races in Innichen in December. But Innichen is where Florian Wilmsmann won his first race of the season, and he won another in Reiteralm to wrestle the Overall from his Italian opponent.

However, Deromedis had earmarked Veysonnaz as a track he was looking forward to from the start of the season, and the track delivered with a victory and a fifth-place finish for Deromedis who now once again leads the Overall.

The Italian has amassed 530 points, with Wilmsmann only 15 points behind him in second.

"Veysonnaz was really good," said Deromedis. "It's a track that I like a lot, and I'm super happy about how the weekend turned out.

"It was the first time I was consistent on both days. I found some solid skiing. Better than usual, where it was more up and down."

Wilmsmann said of his performances in Switzerland: "I didn't manage to quite perform at my highest level in the two races. I was not feeling that confident on the ski cross track this year. The qualification times have been good, but I was missing just slightly a few percentages of self confidence in the heats.

"At this point how competitive the ski cross field is, maybe you get through the first round, but at least in the quarter-finals or the semi-finals, you will not make it.

"Especially in Veysonnaz. It was a really tight course with really tight battles, and if you're not at this highest point, you will lose the few close battles, and then you're already out of the race."

Sitting in third in the overall is Youri Duplessis Kergomard, who is 45 points behind Deromedis after an impressive collection of results in the last four races in Austria and Switzerland: fifth, first, second, and first.

The Frenchman finished fourth in the Overall in 2023 and sixth last season. He will be looking to continue his current run of form to improve on those results and win a first ever Crystal Globe.

If there's one person who isn't looking too far ahead, it's Wilmsmann, who knows all too well that the Overall lead can and likely will change many more times before the final races in Idre Fjäll in March.

"For sure a lot of people are talking now already about the Overall World Cup, but it's more or less halfway through the season, so there's a lot of racing coming up," the German said.

"You just have to focus on upcoming races and not on the Overall World Cup. If you're doing great in the races, you will be great at the Overall World Cup as well.

"But for sure it's nice feeling that you can compete with the best athletes in the world. So it's not a negative pressure, but it keeps you going to keep pushing so that you can be on the top."

For Deromedis, who will have plenty of family and friends to cheer him on in Val di Fassa on Saturday and Sunday this week, having the target on his back as the Overall leader is something he relishes.

"Working there with the gold bib for sure is a big push, and also is a kind of a responsibility," he said.

"I enjoy the pressure of being on top and fighting to stay on top. This season there is a lot of guys that are fighting for the top spot and I just enjoy the fight."

Qualification in Val di Fassa takes place on Thursday 6 and Friday 7 February for races on Saturday 8 and Sunday 9 February.