Under pure sunshine for the second consecutive day, the Snowboard Cross riders faced perfect conditions in Schönried, Switzerland. The course was technical and, apart from being wide in the upper part just after the start, it was pretty narrow toward the finish area which meant the riders had few chances to pass their rivals in this head-to-head race.

	SBX Action

Aussie Zeke Steggall had been the fastest in the qualification and therefore seemed a shoe-in for the finals. He was ready to add another good standing to his overall results after his win last season in Kreischberg, Austria (he did poorly in the first two SBX races this season). His best result this season was a third place just two weeks ago in Les Gets, France.

"It was pretty close at the start, everyone wanted to get ahead of the others since the course was quite narrow further down. I'm glad I worked it out...."— Zeke Steggall

Steggall, the tall blond from Down Under, fulfilled this promise by taking the gold today. "I felt pretty good already in the qualification this morning and it's really good that I could follow up on this in the finals," he said. "You had to continuously work on this slope, it was pretty close at the start, everyone wanted to get ahead of the others since the course was quite narrow further down. I'm glad I worked it out."

The 1997-'98 Snowboard Cross World Cup champion Alex Koller, of Austria, is the second rider to get another podium under his belt. It's been a long time coming for Koller.

"The last time I made it to top three was back in 1998 at the Tandadalen World Cup finals. It's a really good feeling and although I'm happy I would have loved to even win today," he said. "My major goal is top three in the final World Cup standings and being second today helped a lot. I always needed to motivate and convince myself that all the practice has not been in vain. That's why I'm really happy with the result."

France's Thomas Ligonnet made it to third place ahead of Markus Ebner from Germany. "That's fine," Ebner said, although this was his second fourth place in just one week. "I'm happy that I made it that far since I was thinking about not racing after my 12th place in yesterday's giant slalom, but then I just wanted to overcome my frustration and it worked all right."

Sylvain Duclos from France is leading the Snowboard Cross standings, ahead of Sweden's Pontus Stahlkloo, although neither were at the start today. Steggall is now third overall.

	The lead

Carmen Ranigler from Italy made the women's race a surprise one. She has never won a World Cup race though she has been constantly moving up over the last couple of weeks. In the final run it was she and Manuela Riegler head-to-head from the start and, with just a nose length, she finally captured the gold.

"I tried to attack at the start because the course was too narrow for that further down," Ranigler said. "But I didn't manage to take the lead so I had to wait until the finish and worked it out there."

Riegler took second ahead of Marie Laissus from France. Germany's Sandra Farmand took fourth.

Laissus though is still leading the standings, with Ranigler now in second and France's Julie Pomagalski, who finished sixth today, in third.

The next stage, the season's fifth halfpipe, is scheduled for Grächen, Switzerland, next Saturday.

—Britta Semmler, MountainZone.com Correspondent