Sandra Näslund won the big crystal ball in ski cross. Daniela Maier secured second place. Kilian Himmelsbach surprises among the men.
The big question of the day was quickly answered: The winner of the overall Ski Cross World Cup for the 2025/26 season is Sandra Näslund. The Swede stayed cool in her home town of Gällivare, near the Arctic Circle. In the quarterfinals, she confidently took first place in her heat, smothering any hope of a furious comeback by Olympic champion Daniela Maier. The lead was unassailable even before the start of the semi-final.
Maier and Näslund fight each other Head-to-head racing
Even before the race it was clear: Maier’s chance of winning the big crystal ball was more of a theoretical nature. The Black Forest woman slipped far behind Näslund in the World Cup races in Craigleith, Canada, with two fifth places in the overall World Cup. The Swede’s lead before the race in front of her home crowd was 175 points. Getting this lead across the finish line in the last two races of the season was purely a formality for the world-class athlete.
Maier and Näslund showed in their heats that they are definitely the best two drivers this season. The two ski crossers dominated their races at will, seemingly effortlessly making it to the final as first. There should be another exciting showdown there – even if the fight for the big crystal ball had already been decided.
Näslund with record season
They took to the slopes side by side, where a neck-and-neck race developed. Its outcome reflected the course of the World Cup. In the end, Näslund crossed the finish line with a narrow lead, but still unchallenged. Maier came second – and thus secured second place in the overall World Cup for the second time in her career.
“It’s perfect. There are a lot of friends here who all came specially”said Näslund after the race, which, in addition to her fifth overall World Cup, also gave her a record number of points for the entire season. “I had to drive incredibly fast. I thought the whole time that Dani would overtake me.”said Näslund and concluded with the words: “There’s still one more race.” As soon as she had uttered the words, one heard: “Yaaaaay” from the mouth of competitor Maier, who wanted to congratulate Näslund.
Podium: Himmelsbach causes a big surprise
Kilian Himmelsbach (SC Sonthofen) caused a small sensation among the men. While Niklas Illig, Florian Fischer and Jonas Bachl-Staudinger were all eliminated in the round of 16, the Allgäu player fought his way through round after round. Himmelsbach only slipped into the World Cup squad due to numerous injuries to the German ski cross celebrities around Florian Wilmsmann and Niklas Bachsleitner and the 23-year-old took advantage of his chance. In the quarterfinals he fought his way to second position shortly before the finish and reached the semifinals, where he left Ryan Regez and Evan Klufts behind and moved into the grand finale.
Himmelsbach went into the fight against Reece Howden (USA), David Mobaerg (SWE) and Reece Howden (CAN) as a big outsider – and still caused a big surprise: In Mobaerg’s victory, Himmelsbach actually crossed the finish line in third place and thus secured the first podium in his career and pulverized his best World Cup result to date (16th place).
