For Media And Other Inquiries:
Get in TouchReece Howden’s (Chilliwack, BC) standout season on the FIS Ski Cross World Cup continued on Friday, with the 27-year-old skiing to a second-place finish in Veysonnaz, SUI to maintain his top spot in the World Cup rankings.
On a challenging course featuring several passing opportunities and punishing quick-rolling terrain, Howden handled the competition swiftly, getting out to quick starts to top each of the 1/8th finals, as well as the quarterfinal and semifinal.
In the final, he got a strong start into the first banked dip and held a significant lead until the final third of the race, when France’s Youri Duplessis-Kergomard executed a swift pass on the inside of a turn to steal the victory.
Howden was able to hold off Switzerland’s Tobias Bauer, who captured third on home snow in front of an energetic crowd, but was not able to catch Duplessis-Kergomard, settling for the second step on the podium.
“I’m feeling pretty good, going into that line I thought I was going to pull it off,” Howden said. “There’s still lots of season left and I’m happy with the skiing. We had a pretty big break for Christmas and it’s always tough to get back in the groove, so this is the first step to doing that.”
The finish marked Howden’s fourth podium of the season, despite it being his first among the top three outside of a win. At the same time, it brought his record-breaking career to 35 World Cup podiums in 84 all-time starts.
No other Canadians found the big final on the men’s side, with Jared Schmidt (Ottawa, Ont.) skied to a second-place finish in the small final, sixth overall. On the women’s side, Hannah Schmidt (Ottawa, Ont.) finished as the top Canadian by topping the small final for fifth overall, behind a podium of Sweden's Sandra Näslund, Germany's Daniela Maier and Katrin Ofner of Austria.
In the World Cup overall standings, Howden remained atop the race for the Crystal Globe with 433 points, a 152-point lead on Duplessis-Kergomard, with Kevin Drury and Schmidt both among the top-10 as well. Among the women, Hannah Schmidt ranks eighth, slightly ahead of Brittany Phelan (Mont-Tremblant, Que.) in ninth.
Now, Howden among others will look to keep the momentumbuilding ahead of the Milano-Cortina 2026 Olympics and the chase to the Crystal Globe.
“The confidence is good, ski cross is one of those things where it’s a lot easier to keep winning when you are winning, because you get a lot more heats in, a lot more skiing in and it skis you into shape,” he added. “I’m going to keep doing what I’m doing, trying to be smart and working on all the recovery and everything we need to do to get the rest of the season off.”
While ski cross saw the best results for Canadians, Friday saw plenty of action across Europe. Over in Austria, Cameron Alexander (North Vancouver, BC) finished 11th in the Kitzbühel super-G, ahead of James Crawford (Toronto, Ont. ) in 21st, setting the stage for Saturday’s Hahnenkamm downhill. Michaela Gosselin (Collingwood, ON) finished fourth in a Para alpine slalom in Feldberg, GER, for the second day in a row.
Racing continues across Europe on Saturday with a second ski cross World Cup event in Veysonnaz, as well as the Kitzbühel downhill and women’s giant slalom in Spindleruv Mlyn, CZE.