Wilmsmann ignoring thoughts of Crystal Globe as Ski Cross season heads for crescendo

Florian Wilmsmann says he is focused on his skiing rather than the Crystal Globe as the FIS Ski Cross World Cup heads to its penultimate stop in Veysonnaz on Saturday.

Three races remain in the World Cup season; one in Veysonnaz this weekend and two in the final weekend at Idre Fjäll a week later.

Consistent skiing from Reece Howden has seen the Canadian top the men's overall with 566 points, while a surge from Alex Fiva in the second half of the season has put the Swiss skier in second on 548 points. Wilmsmann is in third place, 52 points behind Howden with two weekends of racing to go.

It's perhaps not where Wilmsmann thought he'd be after the opening three races; treacherous qualifying in the first race of the season saw Wilmsmann place 48th, and he suffered a disqualification the following day to ultimately leave France without any World Cup points.

In Arosa he qualified but did not make it past the first set of heats, which meant he had nine points after three races.

"After the first three races, there were no really great result for me there," Wilmsmann said ahead of the Veysonnaz race on 16 March.

"In Arosa I just wanted to put up a big show and then I just wanted to ski too good, too fast and this is never a good base where you can ski fast."

Wilmsmann says an adjustment in mentality allowed him to fix things in Innichen's two races shortly before Christmas.

"I just tried in Innichen to ski what I can ski at this point, and I just didn't want to worry about the results too much, like 'I have to make first podium there or have a good race there' - I just wanted to concentrate on my skiing," he said.

Day one in Innichen brought a 14th-place finish but Wilmsmann came third on day two, and with that his season was underway.

"It worked out on the second day really well and I was really happy to get the first podium there of this season," he added.

"It was also really good, especially for 2024, to have a first good result. It made the training between the next races easier. So I was in the end more satisfied with this December; how it worked out."

The turn of the year brought three further podiums as the 28-year-old continued to climb the standings. However, he reflects that the fact he joined the conversation for the men's overall made him lose focus on what had taken him there - particularly in the last two races in Austria where he narrowly missed out on a place in the big final on both days.

"I recognised in Reiteralm I was worrying too much about the Crystal Globe, and when you start thinking about the Crystal Globe it doesn't make your skiing easier," he says.

"You just have to let it go and just ski how you're going to ski it."

Whether he's found the right formula for continued success will be evident this weekend, where Wilsmann will have his work cut out for him. Crystal Globe rival Fiva stuttered on day one in Reiteralm with a 28th-place finish, but has made the big final in six out of the nine World Cup races in 2024 and will be a tough prospect to beat on home snow in Switzerland.

Howden, on the other hand, is the only one of the top three to have won races this season, topping the podium in his home race in Nakiska in January before matching that feat in Alleghe last month.

He's had the most evidential success, but the Canadian's form has dipped at just the wrong time, making it to just one big final in the four races that have followed that Alleghe victory, and notching results of 17th, 42nd and 11th in the other three events. Despite that, he's one of the trickiest skiers to pass once he gets out in front, and won't give up his lead on the course or the standings without a fight.

Then there’s the arrival of Erik and David Mobaerg on the scene, the Swedish siblings who started the season off the pace but in 2024 have registered three first-place finishes and six big finals between them. Erik has been the more consistent of the two and sits in fourth place on 507 points, while David Mobaerg is in seventh on 480.

The pair flank French duo Youri Duplessis Kergomard and Terence Tchiknavorian, who haven't quite had the consistency required up until this point to make a dent in the overall lead of Howden and co, but who remain a threat in sixth and seventh place with 505 and 491 points respectively.

It all means that there are only 86 points that separate the overall leader with the man in seventh place, making these next three races increasingly more important as we reach the sharp end of the season. Wilmsmann is all too aware that the tight nature of this season's race for the overall would make it all the sweeter for whoever stands top after day two in Idre Fjäll.

"When I do think about the Crystal Globe it's crazy achievement, especially in our sport," he said. "You have to have so many good races and not just the good races, you have to do a really good run in every race.

"I think when you win the Crystal Globe in the end, it's like the proof that you did a lot of things the right way.

“This year's competitive field, it would be a great honour to have such an achievement. There's still three races to go, a lot can happen so you have to focus on every race itself and not have too many thoughts about the Crystal Globe."

The unstoppable force or the immovable object?

The women's race, on the surface anyway, appears to be more clear-cut - Canada's Marielle Thompson and France's Marielle Berger Sabbatel are out in front on 832 and 810 points respectively.

Injuries have accounted for some athletes who would have hoped to still be competing at this stage of the season, including Sandra Naeslund, Hannah Schmidt and Fanny Smith - but that is not to take away from the impressive form of Thompson and Berger Sabbatel.

Brittany Phelan, who won the first World Cup race of her career last time out in Reiteralm to move up to third in the standings, is 138 point behind Canadian team-mate and leader Thompson. Though Phelan is capable of making up the current deficit over the next three races, she concedes it may be a bridge too far to expect the in-form pair above her to drop enough points at each of the next three events.

"We have three races left, so that's definitely on a lot of people's mind and Marielle and Mar (Berger Sabbatel and Thompson) are quite far ahead in a pretty tight battle there, so that'll be interesting to see," Phelan said.

"I think it would take some very poor performances on their side and some really good ones on my side to kind of make a further jump.

"I'm just going to focus on each race individually and try to do the best I can with each run there. At the end of the season, where that puts me in the overall - that's cool."

If the season does come down to a straight shootout between the two Marielles, it will be a clash of the unstoppable force and the immovable object. Thompson started the season slowly by her own high standards, only making one big final in the first five races.

A second podium in Nakiska kept her within touching distance in the leaders, but since then the afterburners have been well and truly on as she won four of the last six races to take the overall lead and announce herself as the woman to beat.

Conversely, consistency has been key for immovable object Berger Sabbatel, who has only once this season failed to make it to a big final – showing that while ski cross is a sprint sport, a ski cross season is a marathon. Incredibly, the 34-year-old is yet to win a World Cup race this season but still remains in hot contention to win her first Crystal Globe.

However, it's likely that Berger Sabbatel can afford to continue that stat if she’s to take the overall, such is the form of Thompson. Can either of them make a big statement and put one hand on the Crystal Globe on Saturday?

Qualification for the Veysonnaz takes place on Friday, 15 March ahead of World Cup races on Saturday, 16 March.