It was a spectacular day at Gore Mountain on Monday for the 2023 FISU World University Games skicross competition at Lake Placid.

After the qualifiers and semi-final rounds, Lin Nakanishi of Japan and Nikola Fricova of Slovakia quickly broke away from the women’s four finals, with Nakanishi ultimately victorious.

Elizabeth Filiatrault from Canada was third.

“Winning was a big surprise for me because I didn’t expect it at all, I was really nervous,” Lin said with a laugh. “Moreover, this morning I dreamed that I was not on the podium.

“But in the last race I felt really good and was able to do it. My main focus was on the start.”

In the men’s race, Scott Johns of Great Britain won the gold medal, gaining a comfortable lead over his opponents. Silver and bronze, however, were a tight battle as Germany’s Tim-Ole Mietz defeated teammate Niklas Illig.

“I am very happy and relieved that it is over. I just put a lot of pressure on myself to perform. I’m grateful it went well,” said Johns. “I had a semi-final loss but was able to advance to the final and take first place.”

Skicross has something that makes it so attractive. It is a very exciting sport to watch and is really unpredictable. Anything can happen, accidents, surprises in the last few meters, even a wrong move can change an athlete’s race.

We experienced all this on Monday at the FISU Games.

Celebrations and fun moments were felt in the atmosphere of Mount Gore as spectators waited impatiently near the finish line.

“I see athletes coming down,” shouted the excited children.

The athletes, of course, celebrated too. As they crossed the finish line, they raised their hands to applause and flashed beaming smiles to the thousands of cameras capturing the moment.

On Tuesday, there will be another freestyle skiing competition with freeski slopestyle qualifying runs for women and men.

Written by Julieta Boschiazzo

We would like to thank the official partner of FISU, Qiaodan Ltd., which has been providing outstanding uniforms to the FISU family and international technical officials since 2015. Qiaodan is a valuable partner for FISU as it continues to provide support during postponing events due to the global pandemic and recently extended its partnership with FISU to and including 2025.