It was the last week of action for the Audi FIS Ski World Cup before the tour headed to Are (SWE) for this week’s Season Finals.
Ofterschwang (GER) played host to two technical races for the ladies, which saw Ragnhild Mowinckle (NOR) continue her upward rise as she claimed the giant slalom victory ahead of Viktoria Rebernsburg (GER) and Mikaela Shiffrin (USA). The Norwegian was also the surprise winner of two medals at the recently concluded Olympics. On Saturday, Shiffrin found herself in a familiar position atop the slalom podium as she edged Wendy Holdener (SUI) for the sixth time this season. The win also powered Shiffrin through to the Overall FIS World Cup title for the second straight season.
Up in Kvitfjell (NOR), the men enjoyed their last speed races before the finals. In Saturday’s downhill it was a déjà vu from Kitzbühel as Thomas Dressen (GER) edged Beat Feuz (SUI) to take the victory. In Sunday’s super-G, hometown hero Kjetil Jansrud took both the victory on the day and wrapped up the discipline globe.
Cross-Country
One of the top weekends on the FIS Cross Country World Cup Tour presented by Viessmann came to a close crowning the 50 km and 30 km winners. Dario Cologna (SUI) finally added the elusive Holmenkollen 50 km title to his list of accolades as he beat Norwegian Martin Johnsrud Sundby in a photo finish.
On Sunday, Marit Bjoergen won a record seventh 30 km title at the famed Oslo venue. The Olympic gold medalist in the same event had to come from behind to top American Jessica Diggins.
Ski Jumping
Kamil Stoch (POL) currently leads the Raw Air standings as part of the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup presented by Viessmann, after competitions in Oslo and Lillehammer (both NOR).
On Tuesday night, he won the individual event in Lillehammer ahead of teammate Dawid Kubacki and Robert Johansson (NOR).
Last Sunday, local hero Daniel Andre Tande won the first individual competition of the Raw Air series in front of an enthusiastic home crowd at Holmenkollen in Oslo. Austria’s Stefan Kraft and Michael Hayboeck completed the podium in second and third place respectively.
The Norwegian men continued their march of dominance in the team event last Saturday. Daniel Andre Tande, Andreas Stjernen, Johann Andre Forfang and Robert Johansson took an impressive win with 1098.7 points. They came in almost 60 points ahead of the second-place Polish team, Austria won the fight for third place only 0.4 points ahead of Germany.
Adding to the Norwegian triumph list was Maren Lundby, who won her home event in Oslo on the iconic large hill in front of the Royal Family and Norwegian Prime Minister. The Olympic gold medalist has already also earned the Overall Season title as well.
Nordic Combined
Rounding out the action at in Holmenkollen was the FIS Nordic Combined World Cup presented by Viessmann, which saw Akito Watabe (JPN) claim victory and also have the honour to meet King Harald V again to collect his fourth King’s Cup. Watabe skied superbly and finished a clear 15.5 seconds ahead of Germany’s Fabian Riessle. Mario Seidl (AUT) out-sprinted Watabe’s pursuer in the overall standings, Jan Schmid, for third position and finished 20.3 seconds behind Watabe.
Snowboard
The FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup tour moved on to Moscow (RUS) for one individual and one team event race.
In Saturday’s individual action, Eva Samkova (CZE) and Alessandro Haemmerle (AUT) kept the momentum from victories last weekend and stormed to victory under the lights in Moscow.
While Samkova and Haemmerle triumphed in the first ever in-city SBX race, Michela Moioli (ITA) and Pierre Vaultier (FRA) finished well enough to wrap up the fight for the FIS Snowboard Cross Overall Season title with just one event left on the calendar.
In Sunday’s Team action, French duo Nelly Moenne Loccoz and Chloe Trespeuch as well as Italy's Emanuel Perathoner and Omar Visintin claimed victory in the season's third Team SBX race of the FIS Snowboard World Cup. The 350 metre sprint course saw many of the heats go down to the wire and both teams had nail-biting finishes to earn the victories.
Scuol (SUI) hosted the FIS Alpine Snowboard World Cup tour and Ester Ledecka (CZE) came in as the favourite and did not disappoint as she cruised through the qualifications and first three rounds of the finals. But in the final she had her work cut out as she edged Alena Zavarzina (RUS) by a mere 0.02 seconds. With the victory Ladecka now owns the Parallel Giant Slalom crystal globe as well as the ladies’ FIS Alpine Snowboard Tour Overall crystal globe.
Oskar Kwiatkowski (POL) earned bragging rights on the day, but hometown hero Nevin Galmarini’s third-place finish was enough for him to clinch the parallel giant slalom small globe and the FIS Alpine Snowboard Overall title.
Also in Switzerland, the scheduled moguls event in Airolo (SUI) was forced to be cancelled due to heavy fog that did not lift in time to stage the competition.
