The FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup tour will make its long-awaited return to Erzurum, Türkiye, this weekend, marking the first time the event has been held there since 2018.
This year’s competition will introduce the mixed team event for the 2024/25 season, in addition to the usual individual men’s and women’s races.
The event kicks off on Friday, February 28, with qualifications at 11:20 local time (09:20 CET). The individual finals will take place on Saturday, March 1, starting at 13:30 local time (11:30 CET), while the team finals will be held on Sunday, March 2, also at 13:30 local time (11:30 CET).
Although it has been seven years since the tour last visited Erzurum, some familiar faces from the 2018 event will return to compete, including men’s winner Omar Visintin (Italy) and third-place finisher Alessandro Haemmerle (Austria). On the women’s side, Michela Moioli (Italy) and current World Cup leader Charlotte Bankes (Great Britain), who finished third and fifth, respectively, in 2018, are also back in action.
Bankes enters the Erzurum event as the overall leader, holding a 65-point lead over France’s Lea Casta after victories in Cortina d’Ampezzo and Beidahu. On the men’s side, Canada’s Eliot Grondin, despite a semifinal crash in Cortina, leads by a comfortable 125 points over France’s Aidan Chollet.