Yanick Gunsch stands at the San Pellegrino Pass in the round of 16. © Pentaphoto

South Tyroleans survive qualification at the San Pellegrino Pass

Seven Italians have qualified for the ski cross competition at the San Pellegrino Pass on Friday. Among them are Yanick Gunsch and Dominik Zuech, the two participants from South Tyrol.

29 January 2026

From: cst

A Ski Cross World Cup event is currently taking place in the Val di Fassa. Due to heavy snowfall on Wednesday, the qualifying rounds were postponed to Thursday. The men's competition was for the round of 16, while the women's was for the quarterfinals.

Nine Italian men started the race. Six of them made it through qualifying and will be able to participate in the main event on Friday (starting at 12:30 pm): Yanick Gunsch (Burgeis), Dominik Zuech (Lana), Simone Deromedis, Edoardo Zorzi, Paolo Piccolo and Federico Tomasoni.

South Tyroleans in underdog role in the round of 16

Zuech will face Adam Kappacher (AUT), Ryan Regez (SUI), and Florian Fischer (GER) in his Heat 3 on Friday. Gunsch is up in Heat 4 and will take on Florian Wilmsmann, Niklas Bachleitner (both GER), and the strong Frenchman Melvin Tchiknavorian. Both South Tyroleans are considered underdogs.

In the women's competition, Jole Galli made it to the quarterfinals, while Nathalie Bernard was eliminated. Another World Cup event will take place on Saturday at the San Pellegrino Pass. Qualifying starts at 10 a.m.