Beijing 2022 OWG preview: Snowboard cross

So, it’s finally here, the time to battle it out for THE gold medal that everyone wants. The medal that athletes only get to fight for every four years. The medal that is probably the most important one to win in an athlete’s career. The time has come to witness snowboard cross action at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022.

Despite a lot of challenges of course, due to the pandemic and its circumstances, not only on the organiser’s side, but also on the Federation’s side and for the National Olympic Committees, everybody joined forces to make this huge event possible. From February 4 until February 20 the 24th Olympic Winter Games are taking place in three venues as “Beijing 2022”. The Olympics are scheduled to include a record 109 events over 15 disciplines in seven sports.

In midst of a very busy schedule, the snowboard cross Olympic Winter Games will go down in the Zhangjiakou cluster at the course that athletes got the opportunity to officially test in November 2021 in Secret Garden. To be precise, on February 9, it will be time for the female athletes to get after the medals and one day later on February 10, it will be the men’s turn.

Olympic test event in November gave a great sneak peak

Back in November 2021, the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup kicked-off already with the Olympic test event at Secret Garden, giving the athletes the opportunity 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 on 2.046m and the finish at 1.879 m, the course length is 1.253 m with a vertical drop of 167m

Back then, it was 2020/2021 crystal globe winner Eva Samkova (CZE), who was the fastest on the Olympic track with 2021 World Champion Charlotte Bankes (GBR) coming in second and 2018 PyeongChang Olympic champion Michela Moioli (ITA) rounding out the podium.

Unfortunately, “Ms. Moustache”, Eva Samkova suffered a pretty bad ankle injury in both legs at the mixed-team event in Montafon (AUT) back in December, which resulted in surgery and the bad news that Samkova would not be able to make it back in time for the Olympics. It would have been the third chance for the Czech athlete to grab an Olympic medal after 2014 Sochi gold and 2018 PyeongChang bronze. We wish Eva a speedy recovery and hope she will come back stronger!

That leaves us with World Cup leader Charlotte Bankes, who managed to jump on five out of six podiums so far this year, taking three victories. Hence, the leader bib. Bankes seems to be in an incredible shape in such an important season like this one, so chances are pretty high, she could take home her first Olympic medal.

But of course, the competition doesn’t sleep either. Michela Moioli will enter the Olympics as defending Olympic Champion. And having grabbed the last World Cup win before the Games, for sure left her with quite some confidence. Will the 26-year-old be able to hold against the pressure of a defending champion?

And then there is Chloe Trespeuch, Sochi 2014 Olympic bronze medallist and also very strong in her World Cup performances so far this year with four podium spots up until today. It is to be expected that the tall athlete will attack for another medal to take home to France.

But then there is also Trespeuch’s teammate Julia Pereira de Sousa Mabileau, who just at the age of 16 years, became Vice-Olympic Champion in Pyeongchang 2018. Maybe the major event will again give her some extra boost of motivation to grab another medal?

No defending Olympic Champion on the men’s side

On the men’s side, things look a bit differently, as the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Champion Pierre Vaultier (FRA) did retire in the meantime and so one thing is absolutely sure: there will be a new Olympic Champion in snowboard cross in 2022! But who?

Let’s start with three-time SBX crystal globe winner Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT), who has been very strong in his riding in the past couple of years. At the 2021 World Championships in Idre Fjall (SWE), he also managed to win his first World Championships medal. In a super tight photo finish, he lost the gold medal to his friend and competitor Lucas Eguibar from Spain. Haemmerle entered this season with back-to-back wins, but afterwards got a little unlucky with crashes in the following competitions. But, just in time, he made it back to the podium at the final World Cup before the Olympics at the night event in Cortina. Will he be able to take his first Olympic medal at last?

Lucas Eguibar. Yes, the tall Spaniard is one that we never can count out, because just as at the World Champs in 2021, he grabbed the win in an absolutely stunning day of riding, although ahead of the big event, he didn’t seem to be having his best performances.

But then there is also a little German surprise on our list. Martin Noerl won three World Cup races in a row this season, just before the Olympics, which made him the new World Cup leader actually. If that is not a boost of confidence, we really don’t know what is. His riding was super clean and consistent lately. Just in time for the five rings?!

And we have to make one more mention here, as we are getting to the end of our thoughts about potential medallists. Nick Baumgartner. The 40-year-old American started off with great racing, taking two podium spots at the beginning of the season. After that, he left out a couple of World Cups to focus on some more training. Will he be in for the podium battle on February 10?

Or, as it is quite common at major events, will we 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. Guess, we will just have to wait and see...

Mixed-team event to make its Olympic debut

And then there is one more thing we have to mention. The mixed-team event will make its Olympic debut in Beijing 2022, which gives SBX athletes the possibility to win another medal. It’s a relay format, where a man and a woman are a team with the men starting first and the women then start with the margin that the men crossed the finish line. This means, the start gates for the women open at different times and then it’s the women’s job to fight for passes and grab the podium spots. The first woman crossing the finish line determines the team that wins.

Current mixed-team World Champions are Team Australia with Belle Brockhoff and Jarryd Hughes. But there are a lot of other strong teams out there, who will for sure give it their all and everything to take the first Olympic medal for this event. Watch out for Italy, France, USA and many more. The mixed-team event is scheduled for February 12.

Well, that’s it, that’s all that we can give you as a little preparation for the upcoming shows of the year. The rest, we all have to be patient and witness on the days of. We don’t know about you, but we….can’t….wait!

Defending Olympic Champions from PyeongChang 2018 – women’s snowboard cross:

Gold: Michela Moioli (ITA)

Silver: Julia Pereira de Sousa Mabileau (FRA)

Bronze: Eva Samkova (CZE) - not competing due to injury

Defending Olympic Champions from PyeongChang 2018 – men’s snowboard cross:

Gold: Pierre Vaultier (FRA) - retired

Silver: Jarryd Hughes (AUS)

Bronze: Regino Hernandez (ESP)

QUICK LINKS:

• FIS Snowboard Beijing 2022 data page

• Full SBX Olympic competition schedule

• SBX Coursemap Beijing 2022

• Beijing 2022 official website

• Previous Olympic Champions in SBX

• SBX photos