World champions wrap up season with Crystal Globe glory in Are

A handful of world champions added more glory to their already impressive January picking the 2021-2022 overall Crystal Globes as the Are 2022 World Cup wrapped up the season in Sweden on Monday (31 January).

Despite weather conditions that cancelled two days of competition, the Lillehammer gold medallists did not miss the last opportunity to strengthen themselves and show a little bit of what lies ahead at Beijing 2022. 

Norway’s Jesper Pedersen added two World Cup gold medals to his three from the World Championships in Lillehammer winning the men’s sitting super-G and giant slalom in Are. 

“Winner of the World Cup overall for the 5th year in a row. Nice end to the World Cup season with two victories here in Åre,” Pedersen posted on social media. “Now we will refine our form before we travel to Beijing at the end of February to fight for gold.”

Dutch skiers Jeroen Kampschreur and Niels de Langen finished the season in second and third, respectively in the men’s sitting overall ranking.

GOLDEN MONTH FOR AIGNER AND FORSTER

For Germany’s Anna-Lena Forster, the January’s collection ended with six gold medals, two of them in Are – which saw her take the women’s sitting overall Crystal Globe. The German also was the most successful female skier at the Worlds with four golds in Lillehammer.

“It was nice [but] I think it was not that fast. It was very turning, the snow was soft, so we have not that much of speed but I had fun”, said Forster, the women’s sitting super-G and giant slalom winner in Are. 

Japan’s Momoka Muraoka finished second and Netherlands’ Barbara van Bergen third in the season’s rankings.

The Aigner family concluded a January to remember as Austria’s 16-year-old Johannes Aigner took his first Crystal Globe following his triumphs in the men’s vision impaired (VI) super-G and giant slalom. He beat Italy’s Giacomo Bertagnolli in the second place in the season followed by France’s Hyacinthe Deleplace.

Johannes’ sister Barbara took a silver in the VI giant slalom in Are, finishing behind fellow countrywoman Elina Stary. While Stary ended the season in third in the rankings and Aigner in fourth, the overall Crystal Globe in the women’s vision impaired category returned to Slovakia’s nine-time Paralympic champion Henrieta Farkasova. who did not compete in Are.

HOME STAR SHINES

Great Britain’s Menna Fitzpatrick finished the season in second place in the women’s VI ranking, but it was another British VI skier who left Are with more reasons to celebrate. After a gold at the Worlds, three-time Paralympic medallist Millie Knight won the women’s VI super-G event in Sweden. 

Home star Ebba Aarsjö really felt herself at home in Are. She shone brighter than anyone else in the women’s standing super-G and giant slalom events, bagging two gold medals – the same amount she grabbed less than two weeks ago at the World Championships in Lillehammer.

She beat Russia’s Varvara Voronchikhina twice in Are, but the Russian skier still managed to take the overall Crystal Globe in the women’s standing – France’s Marie Bochet, who did not compete in Sweden, ended in second in the ranking.

Russia’s Alexei Bugaev clinched a gold medal in the men’s standing giant slalom and a silver in the super-G – behind Austria’s Markus Salcher – in Sweden. Bugaev concluded the season in second place in the overall ranking in his category, with France’s Arthur Bauchet taking the Crystal Globe.

Complete results from the Are 2022 World Cup can be found here. 

The overall season rankings and the individual rankings in each event are available here.