Swiss ski acrobats before the next test

The Freestyle World Championships in Deer Valley two years ago became the festival of Swiss ski acrobats. In Almaty, the Swiss team faces a difficult mission if it wants to repeat its successes.

It has been a month since the Swiss ski acrobats returned to the place of their great triumph, Deer Valley. In February 2019, the star of the Swiss team rose in the ski resort above Park City in the US state of Utah, with that of Noé Roth outshining all the others: World Cup gold in the team and bronze in the individual jumping was the outstanding result of the shooting star and son from Zug by national coach Michel Roth. Two years later, Deer Valley has again served the Swiss as an oasis of well-being, on the occasion of the World Cup final rehearsal in the World Cup, Roth celebrated the first World Cup victory of the season in Utah, Pirmin Werner came third.

It would still be bold to deduce from this that the Swiss ski acrobats would compete as favorites for the World Cup in Oi-Qaragai, near Almaty, in Kazakhstan. The current balance of power certainly gives hope for further Swiss medals, but the favorites are different. Above all Russia with Maxim Burow, who is still flawless in this World Cup season. The 22-year-old competed five times in the World Cup this year, but the world champion was never beaten. Only the travel restrictions imposed due to the corona virus were able to slow down Burow. The Russian has already been decided as the overall World Cup winner, he will inherit Roth.

Thanks to Burow’s constancy, Russia is also one of the toughest challengers to the Swiss defending champions in the team event. The two teams combine similar prerequisites: a broad and balanced squad for men, hardly any alternatives for women. While Michel Roth in the men’s quartet with Noé Roth, Pirmin Werner, Dimitri Gygax and Andrin Schädler can decide on the starters in the team event after the individual competition on Wednesday and take into account the form of the day, the selection is practically fixed for the women. Although Alexandra Bär has also received a World Cup squad, the national coach should not be able to get past Carol Bouvard. Two years ago, the Zurich native formed the world championship team together with Gygax and Werner.

The absence of the Chinese team, which is not competing abroad due to Corona, prematurely removes several medal contenders from the decision. For the Swiss team, however, the following applies: if you can keep up with the Russian team, you won’t have to fear China either.

Marco Tadé is back

As expected, Marco Tadé and Nicole Gasparini traveled to Almaty from the Swiss team for the mogul slope races. While it will be the first major title fights for 23-year-old Gasparini, Tadé, who is two years older than him, already knows what it feels like to be a World Cup medalist. Four years ago, Tadé won bronze in the Spanish Sierra Nevada. Due to persistent knee problems, he was unable to defend his third place in the parallel mogul race two years ago in Deer Valley, now the Ticino is definitely back. At the season opener in Ruka, Finland, he made it onto a podium again in second place for the first time since 2017.

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