FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup 2021/22 - season preview

The wait is almost over, as we are approaching the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup season kick-off with high speed. Only two more weeks and we will enter an epic season. Not only, because the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup tour will feature 10 individual competitions, as well as two mixed-team events in 9 resorts. But also, because it is an Olympic season, which under normal circumstances only happens every four years.

This means that athletes are heading into the second half of the Olympic qualification period, which started on July 1, 2020 and lasts until January 16, 2022.

The FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup season 2021/22 will start off with a highly important Olympic test event in China’s Secret Garden resort on November 28, in order for the athletes to get acquainted with the Olympic course ahead of the major event going down later this season.

The tour will head back to Europe to the classic SBX resort of Montafon (AUT) to kick-off the European leg of the tour with one individual and one mixed-team event, followed by a stop consisting of one individual competition in Cervinia (ITA), on the Italian side of the world-famous Matterhorn, before the Christmas break.

The New Year will start off with back-to-back races in Krasnoyarsk (RUS) on January 07-09, where last year’s FIS Youth World Championships took place in an extraordinary matter. So, it is exciting to see the Siberian resort host an SBX World Cup for the very first time ever.

Then the SBX circuit will return to Italy for one individual event in Chiesa in Valmalenco on January 21-22 and then carry the Italian vibe to the last stop before the Olympics in the world-famous winter sports resort Cortina d’Ampezzo on January 28-29. There, not only the 1956 Winter Olympicsand the 2021 World Ski Championships were conducted, as well as the FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup makes a stop every season, but the Winter Olympics will be held in the Itlaian resort once again in 2026, this time along with Milan.

Then, most of February should be highlighted in everyone’s calendar, because that’s when it’s showtime for THE highlight of the season – the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022. The SBX events will be held in Zhangjiakou with the women’s competition going down on February 9 and the men’s competition on February 10 and the world premiere of the mixed-team event at the Olympic Winter Games on February 12.

We cannot wait to see who will be the ones on top of the Olympic podium holding up the medals with pride and happiness.

The World Cup tour will then continue in Mt. St. Anne, Quebec (CAN) with one single and one mixed-team event on February 25-27.  And after that, in March there will be two joint stops together with the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup.

One is going to be at the Crosspark Reiteralm in Austria on March 10-12 and the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup is slated to finish off its season in Veysonnaz (SUI) on March 20, where once again both Cross disciplines will have their grand finale and crown their respective overall crystal globe winners.

Quick roundup of what happened last season

In order to get you all settled in for the new season, let’s take a walk down memory lane to see what all happened last year to freshen up our memories and see where we’ve left off.
Despite the great difficulties and challenges faced, due to the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic, the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup season 2020/21 turned out better than anticipated. The heavily affected calendar could somewhat be restored and therefore in the end 6 competitions in 4 resorts were conducted.

New on the podium

Let’s start off with who was new on the podium last year, as we witnessed this at the very first race of the season already. Dutch rider, Glenn de Blois surprisingly took his maiden win in Valmalenco (ITA) at the season opener in an outstanding performance, being the first Dutch winner since Feb. 19, 1997. It was a great season for de Blois, as he finished fourth in the SBX overall standings by the end of the season.

We also saw a very strong performance throughout the entire season from Canadian young gun Eliot Grondin. While he made his first jump onto the podium the year before on home soil in Big White, he managed to grab second spot at the season opening race in Valmalenco, just behind de Blois. He then proved his strong shape at the 2021 Idre Fjall World Champs, claiming bronze.

And just after this big event, Grondin made it to his maiden win in Bakuriani (GEO). Just as you thought, it couldn’t get any better, the young Canadian managed to take home the gold medal at the FIS Youth World Championships in Krasnoyarsk (RUS) to top off the season. Needless to say, we can surely expect to see more action from Grondin this season, especially after we saw this shred video on his Instagram profile the other day…

We also saw Kalle Koblet from Switzerland grab his first podium spot in Bakuriani, Georgia, this season, coming in second at the second of back-to-back competitions at the 2023 World Championships venue.

Strong performances

Certainly not new to the podium, but a strong performance including three podium spots last season, secured the third rank for Faye Gulini (USA) in the SBX overall World Cup ranking at the end of the season.

Also, teammate and all-time winningest SBX World Cup athlete Lindsey Jacobellis made a comeback to the podium with a second place in Reiteralm (AUT) and a third place in Bakuriani (GEO).

Crystal globes

On the women’s side, we witnessed World Cup finals as tight as it gets. In the historical women’s big final of the 2020/21 season, Eva Samkova (CZE) and Michela Moioli (ITA) entered the start gate with the exact same number of points. It was a tight battle until the very finish line, where it was Samkova, who managed to dominate the track from top to bottom, only to clinch her third SBX overall crystal globe, edging Moioli off into second rank.

On the men’s side, it was Austria’s Alessandro Haemmerle, who managed to do the three-peat, claiming his third SBX overall crystal globe in a row. It had been a quite successful season for Haemmerle, as he also finally made it onto the podium at a major event, becoming Vice-World Champion 2021 in Idre Fjall, in a super tight finish fight with his friend and rival Lucas Eguibar (ESP), who managed to grab gold for Spain. We warmly invite you to relive this thrilling World Champs final again, because it was just crazy…

The second overall rank went to Eliot Grondin (CAN) and in third came Merlin Surget from France.

Overall, with two completely new venues in the calendar, Bakuriani (GEO), which will be the host of the 2023 FIS Freestyle and Snowboard World Championships, as well as the Crosspark Reiteralm in Austria, the season was a success after all and now it is tame to look ahead as we enter the Olympic winter season 2021/22.

Find out what the crystal globe winners had to say about last season, some special moments in their career and what their outlook is on the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing 2022 in the quick links section below.

Other than that, nothing else to do than lean back and let the excitement grow until it is finally showtime again! T-2 weeks…

QUICK LINKS

Full FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup calendar
SBX season trailer
SBX press kit for the entire season
Photo database free for editorial use
Final World Cup standings 2020/21 women and men
Alessandro Haemmerle interview
Eva Samkova interview