Busy FIS World Cup Weekend Ahead — Alpine, Freestyle, Snowboard Cross, & Cross Country on Race Calendar

Julia Schneemann | | Post Tag for Industry NewsIndustry News
Sofia Goggia
Italian downhill skier Sofia Goggia, the queen of speed, picture: FIS Website

We have a busy weekend ahead with several FIS World Cup events scheduled and we have summarized all the action for you!

Men’s FIS Alpine World Cup in Beaver Creek, CO

Friday, December 2, 2022
Men’s Downhill

Saturday, December 3, 2022
Men’s Downhill

Sunday, December 4, 2022
Men’s Super-G

This weekend will see a return of our men’s speed specialists from Lake Louise. All eyes will of course be on the victors from last week, Aleksander Aamodt Kilde from Norway and Switzerland’s Marco Odermatt. Kilde won a Super-G and a Downhill event last year on Beaver Creek’s Bird of Prey course. Odermatt likewise won a super-G event in 2021 and after his strong weekend at Lake Louise, the 25-year-old will definitely be a force to be reckoned with.

The Swiss are down to 12 skiers after Mauro Caviziel’s awful crash at Lake Louise, which devastatingly puts his season at risk after he had just returned from injury. His little brother, Gino, will be there to defend the family honor. Switzerland’s Stefan Rogentin and Beat Feuz were also strong in training and are both very experienced and successful speed racers.

Austria has again 11 skiers at the start and both Matthias Mayer as well as Vincent Kriechmayr will be strong contenders for a medal and came 1st and 2nd on Thursday’s training run. Otmar Striedinger was the fastest skier on Wednesday’s training run but training days are different from competition days and anything can happen on the day.

Italy’s Christof Innerhofer came second in training at Beaver Creek on Wednesday’s training run and the 11-strong Italian team is always a force to be reckoned with in speed events.

Team USA is sending nine skiers this weekend, with the recent addition of River Radamus to the speed team. The 24-year-old has not competed on the World Cup circuit in Downhill before and is known as more of a technical skier, so it will be interesting to see how his Downhill premier will go. Ryan Cochran-Siegle was the strongest US skier in training, coming 4th and 7th in training on Wednesday and Thursday respectively.

Team Canada is at the start with eight skiers and both James Crawford as well as Broderick Thompson had strong training runs, so definitely keep an eye out for those Canadians. Broderick was a surprise podium finisher last year, so hopefully the Whistler native will want to prove that it wasn’t a fluke.

Watch it on Peacock or NBC.

Women’s FIS Alpine World Cup in Lake Louise, Canada

Friday, December 2, 2022
Women’s Downhill

Saturday, December 3, 2022
Women’s Downhill

Sunday, December 4, 2022
Women’s Super-G

Across the border in Canada, we have the season opener for the Women’s speed events. So far we have had the technical disciplines of Slalom and Giant-Slalom, so the field for the ladies’ speed events will look slightly different. America’s Alpine legend Mikaela Shiffrin will not be at the start, a decision she announced during last week’s races, planning to focus on her key strengths, the technical events instead.

Therefore US supporters will focus their attention on Breezy Johnson, who had a strong season last year, scoring second place in the first three speed events of the 21/22 season. Unfortunately, the 26-year-old suffered an ACL and meniscus tear which ended her season prematurely and crushed her Olympic hopes. She is a promising young talent and definitely one to look out for.

You cannot write about “Women’s Speed Events” and not mention the Italians. This is what Italian skiing is all about: speed. ‘La Regina Della Velocitá’, the ‘Queen of Speed’ as the Italians call her, Sofia Goggia will be in attendance to defend her crown of Downhill champion. Likewise defending Super-G World Cup champion, her teammate Frederica Brignone will be in the starting gates at Lake Louise and a strong medal contender this weekend.

Switzerland will be sending nine women into the starting gates, among them Beijing Gold medal winner Corinne Suter, who is currently ranked second after Sofia Goggia, as well as fellow teammate and winner from Killington’s Giant-Slalom Lara Gut-Behrami, who got Gold in Beijing in Super-G.

Their arch-rival Austria is coming with an 11-women-strong team, including Christine Scheyer, Nina Ortlieb, Stephanie Venier, and Ramona Siebenhofer, who are all very good race skiers.

Never underestimate an underdog though. We also have Norway’s Ragnhild Mowinckel in the starting gates, who has a history of shaking up the status quo and fighting her way from underdog to podium with pizzazz. The other beloved ‘underdog’, Ester Ledecká, who won Gold in 2018 in both alpine skiing and snowboarding and in the World Cup in Lake Louise in 2019, will not be starting this weekend due to a broken collar bone.

Watch it on skiandsnowboard.live.

Ruka Finland
The Moguls course in Ruka, Finland, all prepped to go, picture: Australian Mogul Ski Team

Men & Women’s FIS Moguls World Cup in Ruka, Finland

Saturday, December 3, 2022
Men & Women’s Moguls 

Next up we have the opening event for the FIS Moguls World Cup season in Ruka, Finland. Saturday will see the women’s qualifiers followed by the men’s qualifiers and after a short break the Finals. The typical moguls format sees the best 16 skiers from the qualifiers battling it out for the six final spots. Only the finals result counts for the podium, which has the potential for huge upsets, so tune in and watch this nail-biter event.

On course will be the women’s 2022 Olympic champion and defending World Cup Overall Moguls champion, Australia’s Jakara Anthony. Perrine Lafont, who won Gold in the 2018 Olympics and the Single Moguls World Cup, will be representing France. From Japan, we have Anri Kawamura, who is the second-highest-ranked in single moguls and third in overall moguls. From the US we have Olivia Giaccio, Tess Johnson, Jaelin Kauf, and Hannah Soar competing this weekend.

On the men’s side, we have defending World Cup champion Canada’s ‘King’ Mikael Kingsbury, Beijing Gold medal winner Japan’s Ikuma Hiroshima and Sweden’s Walter Wallberg, ranked second and third respectively in the world after Kingsbury. The Swedish and Japanese teams are very strong and have several strong competitors in the field. It will be interesting to watch Australia’s Matt Graham, who won Silver in the 2018 Olympics but had a difficult season this year following a broken collarbone, dropping from the top of the rankings to 30th place due to his inability to compete the full season. US starters to watch are Cole McDonald and Nick Page.

Watch all the moguls action on skiandsnowboard.live.

Men & Women’s FIS Aerials World Cup in Ruka, Finland

Sunday, December 4, 2022
Men & Women’s Moguls 

On Sunday Ruka will be host to the Aerials World Cup and it should be an amazing competition to watch, with several women now doing quadruple tricks in competition.

Favorites in the women’s field are the two Australians, Laura Peel, and Danielle Scott. Other competitors to look out for are Ukraine’s Anastasia Novosad and Kazakstan’s Zhanbota Aldabergenova. North America has several strong women in the field, such as Canada’s Marion Thenault and Flavie Aumond as well as USA’s Winter Vinecki, Nick Megan and Kaila Kuhn.

In the men’s field, competitors to watch are Ukraine’s Oleksandr Obramenko, Switzerland’s Noe Roth and Justin Schoenefeld from the US. Other strong contestants for a podium include Pirmin Werner from Switzerland, Christopher Lillis from the US as well as Lewis Irwing and Mia Fontaine from Canada.

Watch it on skiandsnowboard.live.

Men & Women’s FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup, Les Deux Alpes, France

Friday, December 2, 2022
Men & Women’s Qualifiers Snowboard Cross

Saturday, December 3, 2022
Men & Women’s Finals Snowboard Cross

After earlier cancellations, the FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup season finally starts in the French Alpes at Les Deux Alpes, to battle it out for the podium in the new cross course. The LOC in Les Deux Alpes worked very hard to make the event happen after a lack of snow forced them to postpone the race. Unfortunately, a cross course requires a fair amount of snow to make the features, so it is fantastic the race can finally go ahead.

Men’s & Women’s FIS Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway

Friday, December 2, 2022
Men & Women’s 10km Skate

Saturday, December 3, 2022
Men & Women’s Sprint Skate

Sunday, December 4, 2022
Men & Women’s 20K Classic

Last but not least we have the Cross-Country World Cup in Lillehammer, Norway, which will also be streamed on skiandsnowboard.live this weekend.

We hope you are planning to catch some of this weekend’s action. Do you have any disciplines you would like us to cover more extensively here on SnowBrains? Let us know in the comments.

 


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