Welcome to our weekly round-up of the thrilling world of winter sports, where the excitement of the FIS events and other global competitions has kept fans on the edge of their seats. From the snow-covered slopes to the icy tracks, here’s your dose of high-speed action, skilful manoeuvres and thrilling performances from around the world.
FIS ALPINE SKIING WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
February 4: Saalbach, Austria
– Italian Alex Vinatzer’s brilliant last run in Tuesday’s Team Parallel event helped Italy to the gold medal ahead of favourites Switzerland and Sweden down in bronze. Giorgia Collomb beat Wendy Holdener in the first run of the big final with Luca Aerni and Delphine Darbellay hitting back to defeat Filippo Della Vite and Lara Della Mea to put the Swiss 2-1 up ahead of Vinatzer’s defining last clash with Thomas Tumler.
– Tumler lost time late in the course, though, which helped Vinatzer win by 0.61 of a second and the Italians by 0.45 seconds overall to win the first gold medal of the 2025 Championships after their Åre bronze in 2019.
February 7: Saalbach, Austria
– Swiss all-round star Marco Odermatt finally clinched his first Super G World Championship gold medal on Friday after powering to a time of 1:24.57, exactly a second faster than Austrian Raphael Haaser with Norwegian Adrian Smiseth Sejersted in third. Odermatt, who already has one downhill and one giant slalom gold medals to his name, came out of the start gate eighth and completed a near perfect run to triumph.
– The 27-year-old, whose winning margin was the second biggest in World Championships history, said: “It’s crazy. It’s the one gold medal that was missing and now to have this one also in my pocket is another dream come true. This means a lot. It’s unbelievable to be a world champion in three different disciplines. I had a perfect plan in my mind. I did a long inspection, until the very last minute, and I could watch two or three guys from the top. They all more or less confirmed my race tactic, so I knew I could ski my plan and it really worked. It was really the perfect run.”
February 8: Saalbach, Austria
– Czech Ester Ledecká turned her impressive training performances into a bronze medal in the women’s Saturday downhill event itself behind American winner Breezy Johnson and Austrian Mirjam Puchner. Ledecká, 29, said: “In snowboarding I already had two (world championship) gold medals and one silver, so now the collection is complete with bronze from Downhill skiing. I need to work on my snowboard skills right now as well, because the World Championships on snowboard is coming.”
February 9: Saalbach, Austria
– Young Swiss star Franjo von Allmen continued his fairytale season by securing his first World Championship gold medal in Sunday’s downhill with a time of 1:40.68 that saw off home hero Vincent Kriechmayr by 0.24s, Von Allmen’s Swiss teammate Alexis Monney grabbing bronze.
– After Italian Dominik Paris finished an impressive fourth and reigning champion Odermatt fifth, Von Allmen, 23, said: “I am really happy. It is amazing. Really fun we (Monney) can push each other like this.”
FIS FREESKI WORLD CUP
February 6: Aspen, USA
– Austrian freeskier Matěj Švancer produced an excellent Big Air performance on Thursday to edge out Kiwi Luca Harrington in second place with American Konnor Ralph third. Švancer’s first two runs of 95.25 and 95 were enough to impress the Aspen judges and earn him “redemption” for his X Games bronze down the same course in Aspen.
– The 20-year-old, whose victory now sees him lead Harrington by 10 points in the Big Air standings ahead of the final Tignes event, said: “The ‘redemption’ was for the switch front flip. It didn’t have a deeper meaning, it was just the switch front from the X Games, I didn’t lace it.”
FIS NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP
February 7: Otepää, Estonia
– Austrian Johannes Lamparter finished second in Friday’s Men’s Mass Start Normal Hill HS97/10,0 Km behind Norwegian winner Jarl Magnus Riiber with German Vinzenz Geiger in third place, who said afterwards: “It was a really good cross-country race today and it was a great jump as well.”
February 8: Otepää, Estonia
– Saturday’s Men’s Gundersen Normal Hill HS97/10,0 Km saw Geiger turn the tables on Riiber to claim his fifth victory of the season. The 27-year-old said: “It was a perfect jump and first place was a huge achievement for me, something new. The cross-country was a tough battle with Jarl, like I knew it would be. It was a good ending for me.”
February 9: Otepää, Estonia
– Geiger doubled up on Sunday by winning the Men’s Compact with a dominant display 16 seconds ahead of Riiber and German Julian Schmid in third. Geiger said: “Two victories are better than my dreams. This was a perfect weekend. I had so much fun on the hill. The jumping victory yesterday was very special for me and today, again, a fight against Jarl.”
FIS SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP
February 7: Lake Placid, USA
– Canadian Alexandria Loutitt continued her good form of late with third place on Friday behind Slovenian Nika Prevc and Norway’s Eirin Maria Kvandal after placing second in the first jump.
February 8: Lake Placid, USA
– Austrian Daniel Tschofenig settled for third on Saturday at the American stop as Norwegian Johann Andre Forfang won with Austria’s Jan Hoerl in second spot. FIS World Cup leader Tschofenig improved on his jump of 122.5m in the first round with 125m in the second to make the podium.
February 9: Lake Placid, USA
– Four Hills champion Tschofenig secured an eighth World Cup win on Sunday following a stunning final jump of 132.5m with Hoerl second and Slovenian Anze Lanisek third. Tschofenig said: “It was great the second one. We had a lot of time up there, standing in our boots and suits and we lost all feeling in our feet, but I managed to get over it.”
FIS SKI CROSS WORLD CUP
February 9: Val di Fassa, Italy
– Switzerland’s Fanny Smith got back on the podium in Italy on Sunday when she finished third behind Italian winner Jole Galli with France’s Marielle Berger Sabbatel in second. Three-time Crystal Globe winner Smith said of her 79th World Cup podium: “I had a really good start, but on a flat slope like this, they were just coming behind and passing me. I could feel that my stamina was not at its best.”
