“Grüezi” from the Swiss Alps in Arosa. It was quite the journey from France’s Val Thorens to the Swiss resort, but the ski cross circuit was welcomed by a beautiful bluebird sky and a true winter wonderland, so it kind of made up for the hustle.
Recap of Val Thorens
After a weekend full of firsts and milestones in France, we just want to take a second to take another look at all of it:
– Terence Tchiknavorian (FRA) took his maiden win
– Brittany Phelan and Marielle Thompson (CAN) made their comeback to the podium after injuries
– Italy’s 21-year-old Simone Deromedis made his podium debut
– We saw back-to-back wins for Sandra Naeslund (SWE)
– Both World Champs from 2021, Sandra Naeslund and Alex Fiva (SUI)
– USA’s Tyler Wallasch made it to the big final for the first time ever in his career
A big applause for a truly historic weekend and thank you to the athletes for the show!
Arosa ready for double event
If you have followed the events in Arosa for the past couple of seasons, you know that the Swiss race has really stepped up in a big way, making it for a great show under the flood lights exactly at prime time.
And it is that time of the year again to witness the Swiss sprint night events in the middle of Arosa town. That is right, events as a plural. There will be one individual sprint event on Tuesday night and then one mixed-team event on Wednesday night. This event format will take place for the second time in ski cross history. The premiere was held at the 2023 World Championships venue Bakuriani (GEO) at the official test event last February and it was a huge success.
Each mixed-team consists of a female and male athlete, with the male going down the course first and the women starting out of the start gate in the order and with the respective margin of the men crossing the finish line.
The first-ever mixed-team event was won by the Swiss team of Fanny Smith and Jonas Lenherr, who went full send in Bakuriani earlier this year and showed that they are indeed a strong team. We are curious to see which nation will have which teams in the start gates on Wednesday.
But for now, we have no time to lose, therefore we will head right into qualies on Tuesday morning in order to get time trials and have the brackets for the finals set according to quali times.
The final round of 64 will start at 18:30 CET and then all qualified for the final rounds best of 32 will get into the start gates at 20:15 CET which means prime time television!
Weather forecast looks good – check. Course looks good – check. Athletes are pumped and ready to go – check.
Are you ready?!
Arosa title defenders from December 2020: Fanny Smith (SUI) and Viktor Andersson (SWE).
Current World Cup leaders: Sandra Naeslund (SWE) and Terence Tchiknavorian (FRA).
Qualifications will start at 11:30 CET for women and at 11:50 CET for men, which you will be able to follow on our website via live timing, or via our FIS App.
The team event on Wednesday is slated to go down at 19:00 CET.
WHERE TO WATCH
Tuesday, Dec 14 at 20:15 CET:
ORF Sport+ (Austria), TV2 Sport 2 (Norway), Eurosport 2 (Europe), SRF Zwei (Switzerland)
SVT Play (Sweden), CBC Streaming (Canada), Peacock (USA), Sportschau Livestream (Germany)
Wednesday, Dec 15 at 19:00 CET:
ORF Sport+ (Austria), TV2 Sport 2 (Norway), Eurosport 2 (Europe), SRF Zwei (Switzerland)
SVT Play (Sweden), CBC Streaming (Canada), Peacock (USA)
QUICK LINKS:
