Can the Swiss emulate Canada's Nakiska home snow heroics?

With the FIS Ski Cross World Cup leaving Nakiska behind and landing in St. Moritz this weekend, can the Swiss team emulate the Canadians and dominate on home snow?

Defending crystal globe winner Reece Howden won his first race of the current season by beating all-comers in the men’s big final on day one in Nakiska on Saturday, but it was the Canadian women who truly took over the podium in front of their jubilant fans.

Not only did Hannah Schmidt win back-to-back races, but she was joined on the podium by Marielle Thompson on day one and Brittany Phelan on day two, meaning only two podium places out of six were occupied by non-Canadians across the two days.

Fanny Smith was one of the non-Canadians to get onto the podium in Nakiska, and she and her Swiss team-mates will be looking for similar success in St. Moritz this weekend, where qualifying takes place on Saturday 27 January ahead of races the following day.

"They’ve been doing really big results, the Canadians in Nakiska, and for sure it will be a team that’s challenging us, but I think we have really good potential for our team here in St. Moritz,” Smith told FIS.

"We’ll see. It’s always a battle until the end and for sure we have this opportunity to race at home and to have this energy from the place, from the people. We have good potential with men and women and we will try to do the best that we can.”

Not only is this weekend a home race for the Swiss, but it's also a chance for everyone to catch a glimpse of the St. Moritz surroundings, which will play host to the Freestyle Ski, Freeski and Snowboard World Championships in MarCh 2025.

“As we’re going to have the World Championships here next year, it’s a good test. We know that this race is pretty special. It’s pretty flat and it will for sure have a lot of possibility of passes,” Smith said.

"The different build of each athlete will also make a difference. The big boys and big girls will have an advantage on this track.

“So then on my side I will need to do even better and use my best skills to be fast on this track. I will not be able to sleep, I will really need to move a lot to make as much speed as I can. We’ll see how it goes.”

Smith endured an up-and-down start to the season, making it to two big finals in the first five races, but not making it past the quarter-finals in the other three.

"It’s not the best start in the season that I was expecting because I had a great preparation this summer," Smith said.

"My body felt great, my technique, my skiing too, but when we started the World Cup we realised that we needed to make some adjustments with my material.

"We made the adjustment in Innichen and I’ve been testing different skis and also competing in Innichen with skis that had only been on the snow five times.

"So for sure we knew that we couldn’t really expect that I would have the fastest skis, but I gave my best on my technique and my skiing."

Those fortunes changed in Nakiska, where Smith made the big final on both days to finally find the consistency that was lacking in the early stages of the season. The 31-year-old is now fifth in the overall standings, and still within touching distance of current leader Marielle Berger Sabbatel.

And now in St. Moritz she will be hoping to go one better and win her first World Cup race of this campaign.

"Every home race is for sure something special," Smith concluded. "I really want to give it all.”

Can Schmidt get back to winning ways?

In the men's section Alex Fiva managed to get third on day one in Nakiska, while Jonas Lenherr claimed victory on day two to send both men up the overall standings and keep up the Swiss charge.

Overall leader Jared Schmidt was unable to get past the quarter-final stage on either race day, meaning Howden and second-place Terence Tchiknavorian were able to gain ground on the man who won three races in a row in Val Thorens, Arosa and Innichen at the start of the season.

Tristan Takats won the first race of the season on day one in Val Thorens, but then endured a tough period as he finished 24th, 16th, 19th and 17th. However, like in the case of Smith, more consistent form arrived in Nakiska, where he made the small final on day one and the big final on day two to cement fourth place in the overall standings.

It means there is only a little over a hundred points between the top four men's skiers, but which of them will stand top of the podium after the big final in St. Moritz this weekend?

Qualification in St. Moritz takes place on Saturday 27 January, with races on Sunday 28 January.