Idre Fjäll TRE opens SX show in 2021
Jan 19, 2021·Ski Cross
After two fantastic opening Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup events in December in Arosa (SUI) with its double night races and back-to-back competitions in Val Thorens (FRA), it is now time to solemnly open the year 2021 for some great ski cross action in Sweden with the “Idre Fjäll TRE” event.
For the first time, we are going to witness not two, but three competitions in Idre Fjäll. The first one will be a 600m sprint on the finish straight of the course on Wednesday, January 20, promising to be one tight battle from start to finish. It’s a setting that has never been taking place like that before, so it will be interesting to see, how athletes are going to battle it out at one straight line full of jumps and rollers.
On the following weekend on January 23 and 24, a pair of full-length races await the ski cross athletes. And anyone who has ever watched the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup competitions in Idre Fjäll before knows, this big and technical course is nothing short of excitement, action and some amazing passing opportunities.
A very special fact is that three weeks later, the FIS Cross World Championships 2021 will take place at this course, as it was confirmed last week by the Swedish Ski Federation, the organizing committee of Idree Fjäll, FIS, Infront and all other parties involved. That for sure adds to the excitement of being here.
What happened so far this season?
With three wins for Sweden, of which we saw two maiden victories, one for Alexandra Edebo on the women’s side and one for David Mobaerg on the men’s side, in the opening races in Arosa (SUI), the Swedish team did make a clear point that they are to be watched out for this season.
Even if overall ski cross crystal globe winner 2019/20 Sandra Naeslund was not able to compete in the December races, here teammates made sure to stand out in the very first races of the season with Viktor Andersson winning the second of back-to-back night races in the Swiss resort.
With 6 podium spots within 2 race days, the Swiss team however also made it very clear that they are in for the battle quite strongly this season. One second place and one win for Fanny Smith, joined at third place by team mate Talina Gantenbein with her maiden podium on the second race day in Arosa and then veteran Alex Fiva and Joos Berry claiming second and third respectively at the first competition and Ryan Regez coming in second on race day number two on home soil – those results speak for themselves.
Of course, team Canada came in quite strong as well at the opening races at the Swiss resort. World Champion Marielle Thompson claiming second place and crystal globe winner 2019/20 managed to grab third place on day two in Arosa.
The entire ski cross circuit then moved to France’s Val Thorens resort for back-to-back competitions, where Fanny Smith claimed another win in a row which raised the number of her overall victories to 25, which also means that the Swiss athlete is only one win away to tie Ophelie David’s all-time-record up to date of 26 victories, which is the most for a man or woman so far in ski cross.
Surprisingly, it was young French newcomer Jade Grillet-Aubert coming in second and claiming her maiden podium in Val Thorens. Grillet-Aubert managed to get into the big final on the second day of competition as well, due to a crash however, did not make it onto the podium that day. Marielle Thompson managed to grab third place twice in a row at the French resort.
On the last competition before the Holidays, it was Austria’s Katrin Ofner claiming her maiden win and making it probably one of the best Christmas gifts for herself ever. On second place we saw Daniela Maier (GER), who was the winner in a real head-to-head battle with Marielle Thompson in that big final on the second competition day.
On the men’s side, Jonathan Midol was able to grab his first win in Val Thorens, making it also a special memory with a victory on home soil.
Young Canadian Reece Howden came in second on day one and stepped up his game a notch in order to claim his second World Cup victory on the second race day in Val Thorens.
Germany’s Florian Wilmsmann rounded out the podium on the first race day, whereas it was once again Ryan Regez (SUI) finishing in second and World Champion Francois Place (FRA) claiming third on that last heat of the day in Val Thorens.
Injuries and comebacks
Unfortunately, home hero and 2019/2020 ski cross crystal globe winner Sandra Naeslund, who had suffered from a knee injury during training before the season started, will not be able to compete and defend her Idre Fjäll winning title from 2020. Although, Naeslund claims that her rehab process is going well so far, she will need a little bit more time to recover until she will be able to compete again. We wish her the best of luck with her recovery!
Also, the “Swedish Viking Princess” as she calls herself, Alexandra Edebo, winner of the very first competition of this season in Arosa (SUI), suffered from a severe concussion when crashing in Val Thorens (FRA) just shortly before the Christmas break in December, and therefore will not compete in Idre. Although Edebo reported on Instagram that she is feeling better, she also stated that her recovery will still take a little time. We wish also Alex a quick return to competition and lots of health!
Some unfortunate news also came from the German team after the Europa Cup competitions in Reiteralm (AUT) earlier this January, where Daniela Maier won the first competition, but unfortunately crashed during training on the next day and tore her ACL in her right knee and therefore will be missing the rest of the season. We wish her a quick recovery!
Also, Idre Fjäll title defender Daniel Bohnacker (GER) will not be competing any time soon, as he was diagnosed with a herniated disc and needs to undergo a rehabilitation process in order to be able to comeback to competition mode.
We have one comeback to announce however, as Swiss athlete and 2017/18 ski cross crystal globe winner Marc Bischofberger will be finally returning to the circuit, after he missed the December races due to a shoulder injury.
More maiden podiums or tied records?
We are all excited to see who is going to give us the ultimate ski cross show this weekend in the Swedish resort.
Will we see more young guns wanting to grab those podium spots?
Will Fanny Smith be able to tie David’s record of 26 wins? Will Ryan Regez be able to step up his game and defend his Idre Fjäll winning title from race day number one in 2020?
We all know, only one thing is certain in ski cross and that’s the fact that anything can happen at any given moment! Especially on this big, technical course in Idre, tactics are highly important. It is not seldom that athletes start out of the gate as fourth, but cross the finish line first.
So, better tune in and don’t miss the show!
Idre Fjäll title defenders from January 2020: Sandra Naeslund (SWE) and Daniel Bohnacker (GER) – both not competing due to injuries.
Check out the clip to take a little recap on how the Idre Fjäll competitions looked last year to get you all set:
The sprint competition is set for January 20 at 13:00 CET with a Pre-Heat Qualification at 11:30 CET, which you can follow via FIS App or Live Scoring on our Website.
WATCH LIVE
Wednesday, Jan 20, at 13:00 CET:
TV: ORF Sport+ (Austria), Eurosport 2 (Asia), Eurosport 1 (Europe), CZ SPORT (Czech Republic), TV2 SPXRT (Denmark), Arena 4 (Hungary), Z Extra (The Netherlands), SVT 1 (Sweden), SRF 2, RTS2 (Switzerland)
Livestream: FIS Freestyle Youtube channel (please see countries where the livestream is going to be available HERE), CBC (Canada), NBC
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