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 is your dose of high-speed action, skilful manoeuvres and thrilling performances from around the world. Here is all you need to know:

FIS ALPINE WORLD CUP

December 4: Beaver Creek, USA

  • Marco Odermatt (SUI) -1st- Odermatt continued his strong start to the defence of his four FIS World Cup titles with victory in Thursday’s downhill at the American resort. The Swiss star finished 0.30s clear of home hero Ryan Cochran-Siegle with Norwegian Adrian Smiseth Sejersted third and Swiss Franjo von Allmen fourth.
  • After banking his 48th FIS World Cup victory in the first downhill race of the new season – brought forward from Friday due to weather concerns – the 28-year-old said: “That was just a perfect day for me. I really felt good this morning. It was two tough training runs the last two days. I didn’t really feel so comfortable the last two days skiing down the pitch, but today the light was so much better.”

December 7: Beaver Creek, USA

  • Marco Odermatt (SUI) -1st- and Alex Vinatzer (ITA) -2nd- and Henrik Kristoffersen (NOR) -3rd- Swiss all-round star Odermatt led by a huge 0.86s from Brazilian Lucas Pinheiro Braathen and Kristoffersen after the first giant slalom run, then held on to win by 0.23s from fast-charging Italian Vinatzer with Kristoffersen third.

December 6: Tremblant, Canada

  • Alice Robinson (NZL) -1st- and Zrinka Ljutić (CRO) -2nd- New Zealander Robinson produced a superb performance in blizzard conditions to bank her second giant slalom win in a row as Croatian Ljutić also dug deep to finish second 0.94s back.
  • Robinson, 24, said: “That was such a testing race. I remember last time I was here I didn’t have a very good weekend so I was a bit worried coming into this week. We did a lot of work this summer with terrain because that’s always been a weakness of mine, so I’m really glad it’s paid off.”

December 7: Tremblant, Canada

  • Alice Robinson (NZL) -3rd- Robinson led after the first run on Sunday by 0.16s from Julia Scheib, however the Austrian stormed down her second run to triumph with Sweden’s Sara Hector second and Robinson back in third 0.78s behind.

THE SNOW LEAGUE

December 5: Yunding Snow Park, China

  • Mitsuki Ono (JPN) -2nd- The Japanese snowboarder was the class act in the early rounds of the new winter sport head-to-head format, the 21-year-old advancing to the halfpipe final as the top seed where she lost out to 14-year-old Patti Zhou of China to finish second leaving Japan’s Rise Kudo in third.

December 6: Yunding Snow Park, China

  • Eileen Gu (CHN) -1st- Chinese freeskier Gu came through the bottom of the women’s bracket to reach the final against compatriot Kexin Zhang, the 22-year-old coming out on top with Fanghu Li third at Yunding Snow Park – the venue of the Beijing 2022 Games where Gu won Olympic halfpipe gold.
  • Gu produced her best score of 90 in her opening run against Canadian Cassie Sharpe, then eased past Fanghui Li (CHN) before defeating Zhang decisively to claim 100 title points. She said: “It’s so much fun competing in China and sharing the podium with two friends and teammates. Growing up, one of my biggest goals has been to introduce freestyle to more young people, particularly girls. To see the first Snow League event happening here in China is absolutely incredible.”

FIS FREESKI WORLD CUP

December 6: Beijing, China

  • Ulrik Samnøy (NOR) -1st- and Matěj Švancer (AUT) -3rd- Norwegian Samnøy recorded his first FIS World Cup victory thanks to a brilliant Big Air performance where he held off Kiwi Luca Harrington and Austrian Švancer. The 23-year-old former junior world champion scored 89.75 with his first run, then banked a superb second-run 94.25 to eclipse Harrington’s 182.50 leaving Švancer third on 180 points.
  • Samnøy said: “I’ve been working so hard for this and putting it down today and getting the victory lap as well made it all. It was definitely worth everything I’ve put into it. I’m going to keep on pushing.”

FIS SNOWBOARD ALPINE WORLD CUP

December 6: Mylin, China

  • Benjamin Karl (AUT) -2nd- Karl went up against Italian Maurizio Bormolini in the final, however came up just short to finish second on the day and earn 800 points in the season title race. The Austrian veteran legend admitted: “It felt like old school snowboarding. I am 40 now, so I need to go and rest to recover for tomorrow. This is my last season. If I can take an Olympic medal or performances like today, I’ll take it.”

FIS SKI JUMPING WORLD CUP

December 6: Wisla, Poland

  • Ryōyū Kobayashi (JPN) -3rd- The Japanese star came third in Saturday’s Men’s Large Hill HS134 in Poland behind Slovenian Domen Prevc and German Philipp Raimund to sit third in the overall standings.

December 7: Wisla, Poland

  • Ryōyū Kobayashi (JPN) -2nd- Kobayashi went one better on Sunday with an impressive display that nearly banked the win, the former two-time Four Hills winner ending up just behind Prevc again after he scored 281.4 to the Slovenian’s winning score of 282.3 leaving Raimund in third.

FIS NORDIC COMBINED WORLD CUP

December 7: Trondheim, Norway

  • Johannes Lamparter (AUT) -1st- Austrian Lamparter wrapped up victory on Sunday in the Men’s Individual Gundersen Large Hill HS138/10,0 Km thanks to an excellent performance that saw him finish 11.6s ahead of compatriot Franz-Josef Rehrl leaving German Julian Schmid in third.
  • Lamparter, who stretched his overall title lead to 43 points with his 20th individual World Cup win, said: “It was a perfect Sunday with a solid jump and a really good race. It was a really fast start and then a really good pace for the second and third laps. We were always around 20 seconds ahead.”

Credit: Red Bull