Swiss storm to ski cross victory at FIS Ski Cross World Cup

At Sunny Valley, Fanny Smith beat Canada's Brittany Phelan into second, turning the tables after Phelan won silver at last month’s Winter Olympics in PyeongChang ahead of Smith’s - who took bronze.

Sandra Naeslund was edged out of third place by Austrian Katrin Ofner but the Swede retains her place at the top of the ski cross World Cup standings with 770 points, ahead of Smith in second place on 479.

Naeslund also remained at the top of the overall rankings, where Smith is seventh, Phelan 15th, and Ofner way down in 51st, making her podium placing all the more impressive.

In the men’s competition, Kevin Drury was pipped to gold by Jonas Lenherr but still improved on his fourth-place finish in PyeongChang. Frenchmen Jean Frederic Chapuis and Francois Place finished third and fourth respectively.

Olympic bronze medallist Sergey Ridzik did not fare so well on home soil, finishing in tenth place overall. Marc Bischofberger, who claimed silver in Korea, retains his place at the top of the ski cross World Cup standings on 457 points, with Chapuis second on 389.

Ridzik is still in fourth place in the competition, four points behind Switzerland’s Alex Fiva, and 22 ahead of fifth-placed Drury, while Place is sixth and Jonas Lenherr is ninth.

Overall, Canadian Mikael Kingsbury leads the rankings with a best in moguls of 95.00, with the highest ski cross athlete, Bischofberger, in eighth place on 50.78.

Chapuis is 13th in the overall stnadings, while Ridzik, Dury and Place are in 22nd, 23rd and 25th places respectively. Lenherr is languishing in 36th place with 26.22.

There are two competitions left in the World Cup series, with one more round in Sunny Valley on Sunday and the final instalment in Megeve, France, on March 17.