Naeslund and Lenherr winning last race before World Championships
Feb 17, 2023·Ski Cross
Race day number two here at Crosspark Reiteralm brought us some warm temperatures and it kind of felt like the first spring race of this season. For the many spectators which were watching the race, it where the perfect conditions to enjoy the spectacular show in front of the beautiful Dachstein mountains. For the organizer it was a bit trickier to handle the temperatures, but they did an amazing job and presented us a well prepared course for Fridays race.
New race new athletes on the podium. Next to the all-time winner Naeslund and the experienced Lenherr, we saw a lot of new faces on the podium for the second FIS Ski Cross World Cup at Reiteralm.
Naeslund sharing the podium with some new faces
Next to the Qualification winner and World Cup leader Sandra Naeslund (SWE) in red we had Jole Galli (ITA) in green, Alizee Baron in blue and the young Austrian Sonja Gigler in yellow waiting for the gate to drop.
It was no big surprise that Naeslund was the fastest women not only on the start but also in the whole start section. She got followed by Baron, close behind the only athlete who made it to the big final on home soil Gigler and Galli in fourth position.
The gap to the unbeatable Naeslund got bigger and bigger while the other three athletes were skiing down the first half of the course in the same order close together. Galli tried to pass the Austrian for several times but always had to stop her attack to not cause a crash.
Right before the big Pisten Bully jump Baron came short on a roller which slowed her down and opened the door for Gigler to pass her right after the jump. Baron followed the Austrian into the next turn who took the outside line, while Galli who was in third position took the inside line and managed to ski head-to-head with Baron. The two were so close together, that the French was afraid to cause a crash or ski into the next gate, so she passed that gate on the outside and got ranked as fourth because of missing a gate.
Naeslund who was even further in front of her prosecutors than on Thursday’s race won her 37th world cup race, Gigler achieved her career best result by getting second on home soil and Galli who was fourth in the last two races and never stood on the podium in her career so far completed the podium.
Lenherr on top of the podium after more than four years
Friday’s big final men also brought us some new faces we haven`t seen on a podium till now. In fact, Oliver Davies (GBR) in blue and Tyler Wallasch (USA) in yellow. Next to these two, we saw the winner of the previous day David Mobaerg (SWE) in red and Jonas Lenherr (SUI) in green.
The American Wallasch who already showed some really good skiing the day before was the one with the fastest reaction time, followed by Lenherr, Davies and Mobaerg. The four men were so close together till the first turn, that the young Swede struggled to make the turn in between Davies and Lenherr and crashed. Lenherr had to slow down to avoid crashing into Moebaerg while Wallasch took the outside line which brought him to the second place behind Davies.
From this point on it was already clear that Wallasch and Davies will achieve their first podium today. The only question was now whom of the three remaining athletes will cross the finish line in which position.
Lenherr already tried to pass Wallasch in the next turn but failed. The three athletes were skiing their way down till the big jump in this order, when Wallsch made a mistake which opened the door for Lenherr to pass him.
Lenherr showed some really good skiing over the next rollers where he gained more and more speed. Davies didn’t realize that the fast Swiss was coming from behind and so took the outside line leaving the space for Lenherr to take the inside line in the next turn. Like in many heats before we saw that with enough speed the inside line in this turn was the perfect chance to pass and so did Lenherr.
Davies tried to keep up and take the last chance after the last turn to overtake Lenherr again but he failed. Nevertheless all three athletes were super happy with their results.
Lenherr was back on top after over four years and that exactly before the World Championships next week, Davies got second which is his best world cup result in his career and Wallasch got third which is also his first career podium. The crashed Swede in the end got ranked fourth.
New and old World Cup leaders: Sandra Naeslund (SWE) and Reece Howden (CAN)
The Ski Cross circuit continues its journey to the most important race of the season on 18th February, which means there is no time to recharge the batteries at home for most of them. The FIS Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships in Bakuriani (GEO) takes place from 19th February till 5th March. The Ski Cross competitions will start with the single event on 24th February and end with the mixed team event on 25th February.
As the Ski Cross World Cup in Germany had to be cancelled due to too warm temperatures, the next Ski Cross World Cup will take place in Veysonnaz from 10 – 12 March 2023.
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