Czech skier Nikol Kučerová.
Bakuriani (Georgia) – Czech ski crosser Nikol Kučerová was eliminated from the World Championships in Bakuriani, Georgia right in the opening elimination round. She took third place in the quarter-final race and did not advance to the semi-finals, she was classified in twelfth place. The Swedish Sandra Näslundová and the Italian Simone Deromedis won the title.
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Thirty-three-year-old Kučerová secured her place in the elimination fights, which were originally supposed to take place already on Saturday, but were postponed to today due to strong wind, with the 15th place in Friday's qualification. In the quarterfinals, however, the Czech representative faced tough opponents – the current Olympic champion and defending champion Näslund and the reigning world vice-champion and owner of two Olympic bronze medals, the Swiss Fanny Smith.
Kučerová only kept up with them for a while, then made a mistake on one of the jumps and reached the finish line third with a loss of 3.36 seconds to the fastest Näslund. She was 2.36 seconds behind the second Smith. German Johanna Holzmann finished fourth.
Kučerová equaled her third best result at the championship with twelfth place. She finished in the same position on her debut in 2011, her highest position is sixth in 2015, and four years later she was seventh.
The other Czech representatives were absent in the elimination races. Diana Cholenská and Daniel Paulus did not advance from the qualification.
Näslund took control of the WC for the third time in her career after 2017 and 2021, she won the final with a commanding lead of almost two seconds ahead of the Austrian Katrin Ofner, who at the age of 32 received her first medal from big events. Third was Smith, who won her second world bronze after the 2013 gold and three silvers.
Twenty-six-year-old Näslund confirmed her dominance in women's ski cross. She followed up on her recent triumph from the World Cup, in which she also did not lose a record 17 races in a row.
In the men's race, 22-year-old Deromedis, who won the final in front of Florian Wilmsmann from Germany, won the title in the men's race, third place from last year's championship defended by Erik Mobärg from Sweden.
Deromedis recorded a career-best result. In the World Cup, his highest so far was second place, at the Olympics in Beijing he took fifth place. At the world championships, he finished in 30th place in 2021, in 2019 he was 31st.
World Championship in acrobatic skiing and snowboarding in Bakuriani (Georgia):
Skicross:
Men: 1. Deromedis (It.), 2. Wilmsmann (Germany), 3. Mobärg (Sweden.), 4. Howden (Can.), …in qualification 33 Paulus (Czech Republic).
Women: 1. Näslund (Sweden), 2. Ofner (Austria), 3. Smith (Switzerland), 4. Thompson (Can.), … 12. Kučerová, 20th in the qualification. Cholenská (both Czech Republic).
11:30 team skicross,
12:30 women's and men's parallel bump riding.
