FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup season begins in Cervinia
Dec 11, 2025·Snowboard Cross)
The first FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup races of the 2025/26 season take place this weekend in Cervinia, Italy, starting the quest for the coveted Crystal Globes.
Cervinia, now the traditional host for the opening races of the World Cup tour, will welcome riders to compete in individual races on Saturday 13 December, followed by a Mixed Team event on Sunday 14 December.
After the qualification day on Friday 12 December, Saturday’s racing starts at 11:30 CET. The mixed team races on Sunday begin at 10:00 CET.
Dusek: happy to compete
Jakob Dusek sealed his first of three World Cup victories last season in Cervinia, continuing a strong run of results there in recent years. Dusek’s first-ever World Cup win came in Cervinia in 2021, and he was second there in 2022 before winning the small final in 2023.
However the Austrian is coming in this season with more moderate expectations.
“Because of this, I missed almost the entire on-snow preparation and have only been back on my snowboard for a few days. For that reason, my expectations aren’t very high — being able to participate at all already feels like a victory.”
Dusek is still looking forward to the racing, particularly given the spectacular surroundings of the course.
“Cervinia is something truly special — I just feel very comfortable there, and riding in the shadow of the Matterhorn is incredibly impressive,” he says.
Dusek is part of a strong Austrian Snowboard Cross squad, including reigning Olympic champion Alessandro Haemmerle and Lukas Pachner. Haemmerle won the Cervinia World Cup in 2023 as well as the first of two races there in 2022 when Dusek was second – underlining Austrian dominance on this course.
The younger Austrians are also nipping at their heels. Elias Leitner was named Rookie of the Year for 2024/25, after finishing 34th in his first season, while David Pickl reached the quarterfinals in Cervinia last season.
Dusek and his teammates will reunite with their biggest rivals on the Italian slopes at the weekend, including defending Crystal Globe winner Eliot Grondin (Canada) and the ever-competitive French team.
Moioli hoping independence and family support will bring success
Italian hopes are always high in Cervinia, and reigning world champion Michela Moioli will be one of the home riders seeking the podium this weekend.
However, Moioli – who has won three individual World Cup races in Cervinia, plus the team event in 2023 – is keeping herself grounded ahead of the season start.
Moioli is looking forward to having family support on the ground, with her mother and two nieces coming to watch.
“The first time that my nieces were there I won and I brought them on the podium,” she says, looking back to December 2021. “It was really a meaningful moment for me, and they were really young, they were like one and two years old, now they’re a little bit bigger. I hope they will bring luck to me.”
The Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games champion is also putting enjoyment at the top of her goal list for the upcoming Milano Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
“It’s something really crazy having the Olympics at home and I’m super excited. We’ve been waiting for this race since 2019, so it’s been a long time. I can’t believe that we’re almost there. I’m super excited, I want to enjoy it, I want to have fun,” she says.
Moioli says she is entering the 2025/26 season stronger mentally than before, after a memorable solo trip to Lanzarote with her surfboard and bikes.
“This is something that I also want to bring with myself during the race days. It’s a really important thing to do and to know," Moioli says.
She could well need that mental strength as she lines up against the likes of Lea Casta from France. The French youngster not only won the Crystal Globe last season, but did so after kicking off with her debut World Cup win in Cervinia. Australia’s Josie Baff, Great Britain’s Charlotte Bankes and France’s Chloe Trespeuch have also been consistently among the top riders in Cervinia in recent seasons.
Teams to be tested
Nations will also get a chance to test out their Mixed Team combinations in Cervinia, ahead of the Milano Cortina Olympics. Cervinia has only hosted a Mixed Team World Cup race once before, in the 2023/24 season.
There, it was Moioli and teammate Omar Visintin who triumphed, ahead of Trespeuch and Loan Bozzolo of France. Kalle Koblet and Sina Siegenthaler (Switzerland) came in third.
Bozzolo and Julia Pereira de Sousa won the Mixed Team at the Engadin 2025 FIS Snowboard, Freestyle and Freeski World Championships, with Australia second and Switzerland third.
RACE SCHEDULE
December 12
- Qualifications Men Run 1 @ 11:00 CET
- Qualifications Women Run 1 @ 12:00 CET
- Qualifications Men Run 2 @ 12:40 CET
- Qualifications Women Run 2 @ 13:10 CET
December 13
- Finals @ 11:30 CET
December 14
- Mixed Team Event @ 10:00 CET
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