Zacher and Fiva on top in the first race in Idre
Jan 19, 2019·Ski Cross
The first of two back-to-back competitions slated to open the new year for the Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup tour took to the monster course at Sweden’s Idre Fjall resort on Saturday morning, with Heidi Zacher (GER) and Alex Fiva (SUI) taking wins in a thrilling day of racing on the tough Swedish track.
It was an extremely exciting ladies’ competition as Heidi Zacher stormed to the victory at the venue where she tore her acl last season, making her comeback to the Swedish World Cup event a truly special one.
Despite a slow start in the big final, launching it off the starting gate from the last spot behind Lisa Andersson (SWE), Fanny Smith (SUI) and Marielle Thompson (CAN), Zacher worked her way through to pass their rivals one after another, coming on top of the pack in the final straight section and keeping her lead until the finish line.
Looking for redemption on the track that kept her sidelined for the most of the 2017/2018 campaign, also putting her dream of an Olympic medal in Korea aside, Zacher grabbed her career’s seventh World Cup victory on Saturday and her first podium spot this season.
The second place on the day went to Marielle Thompson, with Fanny Smith rounding out the ladies’ podium in third. It was Thompson’s second top-3 finish this season, while Smith jumped on the podium for the third time in 2018/2019 following her back-to-back victories in the first two races of the campaign in December.
Worth mentioning is also an impressive performance from the 21-year-old Lisa Andersson, who earned her career’s best result with the fourth place finish on the home course in Idre. Despite leading the way from the start in the big final, Andersson couldn’t quite keep the pace set by her more experienced rivals and had to settle for a spot just outside the podium.
Nevertheless, a massive performance by Andersson give the Swedish plenty of reasons to be excited ahead of tomorrow’s second day of racing, with Sandra Naeslund also looking to improve on her 17th place finish from Saturday’s event.
In the overall Audi FIS Ski Cross World Cup ranking it’s Smith who jumped back into the first spot and leads the field with 305 points. Naeslund sits in second with 274 points, while Thompson follows up on third with 270 points.
Moving over to the men’s event Alex Fiva went for his career’s third victory on the Swedish track and his second podium finish this season.
Following the World Cup leader Bastien Midol (FRA) almost all the way down the track in the big final, Fiva waited for the perfect moment to gain more speed on the rollers and pass the French skier right before the finish line.
“I was really not expecting to win today,” said Fiva, “It’s a difficult course and with all the rollers here your legs are dead after the second turn already. At the begging of the day I had some problems, but it all turned out well and I’m really happy.”
Midol finished the Saturday’s race in second behind Fiva for his third consecutive second place finish on tour.
The battle for the third spot went on between the Austrian Ski Cross Team athletes with Daniel Traxler and Adam Kappacher wrapping out an exciting day of racing in Idre in third and fourth place, respectively.
With a third spot on the day Traxler also grabbed his careers’ first World Cup podium.
In the men’s ranking Bastien Midol leads the way with 290 points, while Alex Fiva sits second with 219 points. Bastien’s older brother Jonathan is ranked third with 186 points.
The ski cross action in Idre continues tomorrow with the second race scheduled to take place at 10:45.
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