Ryan Regez is one of the best ski crossers in the world. At the start of the Olympic winter, he prefers to keep his plans for the coming months to himself.
16.12.2025, 04:01
16.12.2025, 06:52
SDA
He is an Olympic champion, double world champion and overall World Cup winner. In short: one of the great figureheads of the Swiss ski cross team. But Ryan Regez doesn't want to be specific about his expectations for the coming season.
"A lot can happen"
A look back shows: Things have been different before. A year ago, Ryan Regez was sitting in a hotel lobby the day before the World Cup race in Arosa. His background was a difficult one. After his Olympic victory in 2022, the Bernese athlete had torn his cruciate ligament at the start of the new season in Arosa - for the second time in his career after 2017.
In December 2024, his run to Olympic victory was still the last race he had won. And yet the 32-year-old said at the time before the first home race of the season: "I'm not yet world champion. That's why the World Championship title at home would be the cherry on the cake."
Two world championship titles later, one in the men's event and one in the team with Fanny Smith, Regez no longer wants to be so clear about his goals ahead of the Olympic winter. "I know what you want to hear," he says during a media round and laughs. "But I'm not going to give you the answer like that."
Regez does not say that a second Olympic victory is his goal for the season. Instead, he points out: "There's still a long way to go until February 21. A lot can happen."
The hunger is still there
Last season, towards the World Championships, the master plan worked. This year, too, Regez knows exactly what he is working towards and when he wants to be at his peak. "Of course 'double Olympic champion' sounds good. But until then I have to stay healthy, be successful in the World Cup and have fun. Only then can I give myself the best possible performance."
These are considered words for one of the best in his sport. Regez knows that he has won everything there is to win. He is grateful for this and says that so many successes cannot be taken for granted, especially because of his injuries. "But I also fought hard for it."
But his focus has changed in recent years. He has become more relaxed, he says. "For me, it's no longer just about titles. I keep going because I enjoy it and it gives me so much."
Despite the fun in the foreground, the hunger for more is still there. "It was different after the Olympics. Because for me, Olympic gold is the greatest thing you can achieve as an athlete. After that comes the overall World Cup." Regez won both in the same season. His hunger diminished, but he decided to keep going.
Superstition and a lucky sock
Now that he is back at the top of the world, the decision is proving to be the right one. The self-confidence that Regez was still lacking at the start of the 2024 season is back. The start of the season did not go as planned; Regez missed the first World Cup race of the season in Val Thorens on Thursday because he was eliminated in qualifying, and also had to admit defeat early on one day later, in the round of 16.
But Regez is already familiar with this from previous seasons, and it doesn't bode well for the future. He will get his next chance to show his best form on Tuesday evening in Arosa. For Regez, it is a race that evokes ambivalent memories. On the one hand, he suffered his second cruciate ligament rupture in Arosa 2022. At the other end of the scale is his 6th place in 2024, which released the handbrake on his way to the World Championship title. His cry of joy in the finish area a year ago, when he was finally able to keep up with the best again, symbolizes the weight that fell off his shoulders at the time.
And perhaps it is also a good omen. Because, as Regez says about himself, he is a superstitious person. "At the World Championships, for example, I had a bruise between the toes of my right foot. I stuck a plaster on there overnight and put on a sock. After a few days of training and qualifying, the pressure mark was gone." But because Regez had won the qualification, he continued his nightly ritual, became world champion, put the sock on overnight and became world champion again together with Fanny Smith.
"So I had my lucky sock on my foot for five days. But that's complete superstition," he says with a broad smile. Regez doesn't want to reveal what his other rituals are - he won't say until he has retired. So the question remains as to what will ensure an extra dose of success in Arosa on Tuesday evening. Whether it will be as effective as his sock in March, however, remains to be seen.
