Two events of ski cross were programmed this weekend in Bischofswiesen in Germany. On Saturday, Alizée Baron ends third behind Andrea Limbacher and Ophélie David. It is its third podium since the beginning of the winter. On Sunday, after a very promising beginning of season (5th in Saint Johann and Blue Mountain), Jean-Frédéric Chapuis signed the first podium of his career in the World Cup! He ends third. The next stage will be in Branas (Sweden) the next weekend.

This weekend, the second stage of the World cup of Ski Mountaineering took place on the volcano of Etna, in Italy. The individual race reserved 1350 meters of made uneven positive. While Kilian Jornet leaves for head, he has to distrust the rise of the Frenchman William Bon Mardion. The European champion, 8th of Vertical Race, takes the head of this race little by little. It’s a very beautiful performance for the skier Dynastar. The next stage of the World cup will take place the next weekend in Tesino in Italy.

The fourth stop of Freeride World Tour took place in Roldal, Norway for the first time in this country.
As usual, all the best riders were there in order to win the precious points in the race of the title.

Aurélien Ducroz, Reine Barkered and Richard Amacker were at the top of the face, ready to show their best ski !

Reine is 6th, Richard 17th and Aurélien signs beautiful second place, with a long flight and a huge back flip. He's back in the game, climbing the rankings. Fourth place now overall.

Check out his run :

Next stop in Fieberbrunn in two weeks.

The fact that Massimiliano ‘Max’ Blardone is becoming a dad within a few months seems to have positively influenced the life and the attitude of the Italian giant slalom specialist who celebrated his second victory of the season today at Crans-Montana beating by a few hundredths of a second Austria’s Marcel Hirscher after a fierce battle in both runs.

The racer from the region of Domodossola, in the Northern part of the country, enjoyed his fourth consecutive top-3 finish in the Swiss resort and strongly reinforced his chances to end the season among the best three giant slalom specialists.

2^nd a week ago behind Hirscher at Bansko, in Bulgaria, Blardone seemed more comfortable than usual on the soft spring snow that covered the lower part of the renowned ‘Piste Nationale’ to become the first skier this year to beat the Austrian prodigy in the specialty. “I trained a few days on the upper part of the ‘Piste de l’Ours’ in the nearby resort of Veysonnaz to get used to this kind of soft snow, I guess it was the right choice,” explained the Dynastar champion who has now won a total of seven World Cup races in his career.

“Two months ago, I was not part of the first seed in giant slalom when I won at Alta Badia and now I’m battling with Hirscher and Ligety for the crystal globe, this is pretty exciting I must say. To win that race today is huge for me. I’m very proud to have been able to ski so consistently in both runs.”

“When I was young I watched Alberto Tomba on TV winning his last race here in March 1998. Next time I’ll meet him, I’ll tell him that I’m very excited to be the next Italian after him to have excelled here.”

Interestingly enough, Blardone has still not fully recovered from an ankle injury sustained in January that prevented him to train properly in the weeks following his podium finish at Adelboden. “I could only train around ten days since Adelboden, it’s not a lot but I guess it was still good enough to allow me to move at a very high level,” the Italian veteran also explained. “I hope things will go better from now on to help me to perfectly prepare the next event at Kranjska Gora in two weeks. The Podkoren course is one of my favorites on the tour and I certainly would enjoy reaching another podium there prior the Finals at Schladming. My confidence is at the highest possible level now and there’ll certainly be many fans there to encourage me.”