Lenherr claims maiden World Cup triumph in Watles

Lenherr was knocked out in qualification on Saturday but it was a different story 24 hours later as he made it all the way through to the final before winning the showpiece by edging out compatriot Alex Fiva.

That was the first time that Swiss racers have occupied the top two steps of the podium at a ski cross World Cup event since December 2012 – when Fiva was joined by Armin Niederer – while Canada's Brady Leman took third.

That bronze medal saw Leman narrow the gap to Olympic champion Jean-Frederic Chapuis, who finished down in 13th, in the overall standings to 60 points.

In the women's event, Olympic champion Marielle Thompson of Canada showed her class to take gold with overall leader Anna Holmlund of Sweden in second and Germany's Heidi Zacher in third.

Holmlund is still comfortably atop the overall standings with 590 points as Alizee Baron of France on 389 and Zacher on 339 are her closest challengers.

Sportsbeat 2016